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Erotic Ghost Story Trilogy: Limited Edition
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray B - United Kingdom - 88 Films Review written by and copyright: Eric Cotenas (20th February 2025). |
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The Film
 Erotic Ghost Story: "Big sis" Pai Su-su (Hong Kong Gigolo's Stella Lau) has convinced her sworn sisters Hua-Hua (Robotrix's Amy Yip) and Fei-fei (Hitomi Kudô) to take the path of Daoist cultivation in order to resist temptations that would only be spiritually harmful to normal women but they, as fox spirits who have taken the form of human beings and must remains so for thirty-six days if they are to lose their animal essence permanently, are vulnerable to jealous spirits and lustful demon gods including Wu-tung whose temple Su-su visits and experiences a strong reaction to the multi-headed god's effigy. Su-su resists the offer of help from the priest Kuei (The Iceman Cometh's Lam Chung) who she suspects want to hinder her transformation in favor of serving handsome young but meek scholar Wu Ming (The Reincarnation of Golden Lotus' Tan Lap-Man) so that he may focus on his studies. Her sisters – who have thus far resisted fleshly temptations by indulging with one another – become curious about her secretive behavior and separately fall in lust with the scholar. Su-su eventually gives into her desires as well. So blinded are they by lust that they do not realize until too late that they are starting to revert to their literal animal nature and vow to send Wu Ming away so that he may focus on his studies; however, nothing is truly as it seems even to immortal beings. One of the first Category III erotic films following the introduction of the classification introduced in the wake of concerns about onscreen violence in A Better Tomorrow, Erotic Ghost Story did not have the exploitation/mainstream/international art house crossover appeal of the subsequent Sex and Zen but it did prove a domestic box office success and laid the groundwork for subsequent efforts classier and/or trashier. While A Chinese Ghost Story seems like the obvious influence on this looser, more episodic narrative of woodland wandering and sweaty sex scenes even during the middle where Wu Ming cannot seem to settle for any one of the women despite Su-su being presented throughout as the real lead. Only then does the film's more overt model suddenly become much clearer as The Witches of Eastwick. Subplot character Mrs. Wang (Eastern Condors' Ha Chi-Chun) is no longer a kinky variation on Bewitched's invasively nosy Gladys Kravitz and actually the former film's Felicia Alden right down to vomiting up stone fruit pits and turning aggressive on her husband (Forbidden City Cop's Manfred Wong), sexually in this case. The latter half of the film does become more horrific than the Hollywood film with the rape and face-eating of an innocent maiden (Kamimura Kiyoko) but does have its lighter moments including the visualizations of the sisters' animal characteristics emerging but the film ends rather abruptly without much of a coda on a dramatic note when much of what preceded it was rather silly. Production values are decent, with much of the production looking like a Shaw Brothers period production with some lovely visual effects and so-so practical ones largely overshadowed by the gorgeous photography of Lam Nai-Choi (The Story of Ricky) who also directed. A sequel would not come until two years later, but this might have had more to do with the pace of Hong Kong film production and the Category III boom with the participants already moved onto other projects before the film even hit theaters.  Erotic Ghost Story II opens up with a recap of the film that oddly swaps the names of the three sisters and elides the intervention of the priest altogether – possibly due to the concurrent popularity of the girls and guns films – while also swapping the names of Hua-hua and Fei-fei for some odd reason since the cameo return of Yip and Lau as fairies sent from the Heavens to destroy Hsiao-yen (Young and Dangerous' Tsang Siu-Yin) who has entered a sinful union with Wu-tung who has inhabited the body of Chiu Sheng (Untold Story's Anthony Wong). Wu-tung manages to kill both of them, but not before they burn Yen at the stake and the dying fairy secretes Shen's stolen spirit in the body of a newborn child of the village chief given the name Fang Yu-yin. Wu-tung becomes destructive, causing the local villagers to adopt the practice of offering up virgins annually for him to ravish for their yang – while a female demon (Ichijo Sayuri) drains them of their yin – in hopes of quelling his anger and bestowing good favor; as such, the village girls are eager to marry lest they be entered in the lottery. Years later, Yu-yin has blossomed into a beautiful young woman (Happy Ghost II's Charine Chan) who meets handsome fisherman Shan-ken (Outlaw Brothers' Kwok Yiu-Wah) just as her number comes up. Wu-tung believes he sees Hsiao-yen reincarnated in Yu-yin but he is prevented from claiming her when Shan-ken attacks him with an axe. Weakened by his need for yang, Wu-tung retreats to the underworld to recuperate in a cocoon; whereupon, the jealous female demon sets out to kill Yu-yin. With the village believing that the demon has finally been killed, Yu-yin is allowed to become engaged to Shan-ken; however, the female demon takes the form of a young woman Shan-ken rescues from drowning, allowing her to infiltrate the household, seducing Shan-ken's already horny brother Ta-ken (The Blue Jean Monster's Chow Chi-Hung) and his insatiable wife (Kong Hang-Ngai). Repelled by Yu-yin's special birthmark, the female demon can only gift her a slow-acting soul-stealing hairpin but Wu-tung is about to unleash his libidinous wrath on the village and only Yu-yin's union with a male virgin can give her the power to fight him. Whereas as mentioned above, the first Erotic Ghost Story was a loose remake of The Witches of Eastwick, Erotic Ghost Story II looks like a cross between Masters of the Universe and a hair metal music video with Category III Anthony Wong bearing his soul (and everything else) in a G-string, phallic rubber tail, and a wild white wig hissing like a cat. Despite the powers supposedly imbued in Yu-yin, she is a very passive character, as is Shan-ken who spends part of the climax encased naked in a block of ice in an image evoking either The Empire Strikes Back (or perhaps Galaxina) with most of the fighting done by Shan-ken's sister Chen (Sex and Zen III's Chik King-Man) and a dwarf monk (Wong Woon-Lok). The underworld climax drags on for quite some time including a lengthy sequence of Chen trying to distract Wu-tung by mewling like a cat and the sexual union between the two leads scored to the entirety of a theme song. Although the film indulges in some lengthy sex scenes, there is more posing and choreography but overall less heat than the sweaty fumblings of the first film. There is also an overtly conservative moral that "a demon who rises above lust is human but a human assisted by lust is satanic," that robs the ending of what emotional poignancy it attempts to evoke. Like the first film, Erotic Ghost Story II was both directed and shot by a cinematographer, in this case Peter Ngor who had started out at Shaw Brothers before going to Golden Harvest in the eighties and lensing the first two Mr. Vampire films, Armour of God, Sex and Zen, as well as second unit on films like Sammo Hung's Millionaire Express and Wong Kar Wai's Days of Being Wild; and perhaps either the lower budget or just a difference in aesthetic tastes between Ngor and the latter film's director Michael Mak is the reason Erotic Ghost Story is less of a visual stunner than the other film.  Erotic Ghost Story III: Chu Chung (A Chinese Torture Chamber Story's Kenny Wong) is no mere wandering swordsman, he is fleeing an arranged marriage made by his parents in childhood to Liu Hsiao (Chik King-Man again) who is doggedly following him across dangerous terrain. Seeking shelter, the reluctant duo enter a derelict temple and discover that it sole occupant is the Master Lamp Wick (Doctor Vampire's Shing Fui-On) tasked with looking after the Wick Tower and constantly in danger of burning to death if he allows the flame to go out; as such, he preserves his yang by shrinking himself down to minuscule size. Exploring the temple, Chung is drawn to a painting of three fairies that he believes are beckoning him. Despite warning Chung about the danger of a fleshly union between human and immortal – particularly one with such a masculine yang as Chung which Wick has deduced from his time of birth – Wick opens up the Hellgate and allows Chung to enter it with the stipulation that he return within twenty-four hours (timed by a spiral incense stick) or not at all. Chung meets the three sisters and is instantly drawn to Chi-Meng (From Beijing with Love's Pauline Chan) whose father foretold her that she would stay in Hell until a man took her back with him to Earth. Their sexual union is spied upon by a witch (Cheung Ging-Fa) to whom the sisters are handmaidens, and she hosts a banquet in honor of Chung's and Chi-Meng's "marriage." Unfortunately, "Old Demon" Chia Yuan (City on Fire's William Ho) crashes the festivities, ravishes several of the fairies and makes off with Chi-Meng. Chung convinces Chi-Meng's sisters to lead him to Chia Yuan's lair where his yang proves formidable against the axe-swinging demon, but it is only after besting the old demon that he learns that he is the guardian of the Hellgate who has been preventing the other demons from crossing over to the real world. The witch captures Chung, planning to sexually drain him of his yang in the forty-nine days she must wait until she can open the Hellgate and rule the mortal world unless Chi-Meng's love is stronger than her fear of the witch and Hsiao can overcome her own jealousy – after renewing Chung's yang with her own virginity – when she is dragged through the Hellgate. Director Ivan Lai Gai-Ming's follow-up to the outrageous The Blue Jean Monster, Erotic Ghost Story III is more explicit than the second film but also feels the least satisfying with plot-oriented scenes that are just filler for extremely lengthy bouts of simulated sex and female masturbation set to a synthesizer score that makes heavy use of the that little joystick that bends and warps the sound samples. The sex scenes are almost anti-erotic in their overemphasis on their pictorial quality like the kind of videos produced in the nineties by Playboy and Penthouse (who had just endorsed Sex and Zen). The first two films had some climactic fight scenes with some wire-assisted choreography, but this entry features more energetically choreographed, shot, and edited action choreography – by Phillip Kwok (The Bride with White Hair) who also choreographed the climax of the first film – that at the same time feel more conventional with the only real novelty coming from the Master Lamp Wick shrinking himself to brave a forest of pubic hair to take a Fantastic Voyage into the witch to fight her from the inside out. The ending is typically schizoid in its ping-ponging between emotions, mourning a self-sacrifice and celebrating a happy union, and delaying the usual abrupt freeze frame credits ending for one last, long bout of softcore sex. Pretty much all of the sex scenes, including an orgy during a cannibal feast, in the overall context of the three series entries seems to embody the excess of Category III as a genre at the peak of the rating's popularity with audiences and the industry; it delivers but it might not be worth revisiting compared to the other entries. 
Video
88 Films released the first Erotic Ghost Story on its own back in 2021 from a then-new HD master. The trilogy set under review makes use of a brand new 2K restoration conducted alongside the other two entries. The 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen Blu-ray looks similar framing-wise but is overall brighter, making the colors of some of the set dressing, wardrobe, and visual effects a little lighter while still remaining punchy. Some of the rough edges of the effects are more evident with inflating bladders threatening to crack the make-up laid over them to look like flesh, as well as the head- and facial hairpieces to make Lam Chung look more like Mr. Vampire-era Lam Ching-ying.  Erotic Ghost Story II also had a couple non-anamorphic PAL-converted English-subtitled Hong Kong DVDs before a Joy Sales remaster but it did not make its Blu-ray bow until late last years as part of Shout! Factory's under-the-radar Golden Harvest Vol. 1: Supernatural Shockers six Blu-ray set which presumably has the same 2K restoration 88 Films has utilized for their 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen Blu-ray. Shot with more backlighting, smoke, wind, filters, and even more billowing drapes than the first film and possessing a predominately blue and red color scheme with some occasional lavender flames, the film must have looked smeary and blocky as hell on the old Hong Kong DVDs but on Blu-ray a variety of skin tones and saturated wardrobe remain stable under different lighting and motion conditions with no glaring issues.  Erotic Ghost Story III had two non-anamorphic, PAL-converted Hong Kong DVD editions before Fortune Star's remaster (also PAL-converted but anamorphic). We do not know if Shout! Factory's Blu-ray from last year in the Golden Harvest set uses the new 2K restoration utilized by 88 Films for their 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen Blu-ray but it manages to convey the rich color scheme without smearing or distorting skin tones while the extra resolution does make the lines of some opticals more evident as well as some of the make-up appliances like Wick's partially-bald hairpiece. 
Audio
Erotic Ghost Story's audio options include Cantonese and English LPCM 2.0 mono tracks. Both are post-dubbed and the Cantonese with English subtiltes is obviously the way to go; however, the English dub should be sampled for the "dumplings and soup bowls" scene. Seasoned Hong Kong cinema viewers may wonder if the subtitles referring to the demon sex god as "Wu-tung" is correct, and indeed it is.  Erotic Ghost Story II was never dubbed into English – even by Fortune Star in the DVD-era apparently despite them preparing new English dubs for the sometimes longer Hong Kong versions of some of their other Golden Harvest titles – so the only option is a Cantonese LPCM 2.0 mono track in which the actors are post-dubbed by other performers apart from Wong. The track cleanly conveys dialogue, effects, and scoring – including an anachronistic use of sexy noir-ish saxophone that nevertheless suits the emotions of the characters to the point of parody – while the theme song sounds a little lower in volume as if the production was embarrassed to use it for the draggy final sex scene. Optional English subtitles are free of errors, and a close listen to the narration (in both Cantonese and the Mandarin track of the version exported to other territories confirms that it is the narration and not the subtitles that swap the names of the first film's characters in the recap).  Erotic Ghost Story III was not dubbed for English export so the only option for the Hong Kong version is the post-dubbed Cantonese LPCM 2.0 mono track with optional English subtitles. Dialogue is all post-dubbed by other actors while the synth and guitar score makes more of an impression than the effects track apart from the action sequences. The optional English subtitles are free of any noticeable errors. 
Extras
For Erotic Ghost Story, all of the extras have been ported from the 2021 Blu-ray starting with a pair of commentary tracks. The first is an audio commentary by Asian cinema experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema who discuss the explosion of the Category III rating with audiences despite the stigma the actresses often suffered for appearing in them – with a realistic apprehension about being typecast – the difficulty of casting Chinese actresses who would do nudity and how importing Japanese A/V actresses became as much of an industry as casting other "types" including "ugly actresses." They also note how Amy Yip first became popular with the film, although Sex and Zen was the one that would launch her into stardom, even though she never actually did nudity with various camera tricks, angles, and the occasional doubles to show nothing more of hers than her cleavage on which the camera lingers. They also note the inconsistency of explicitness among the film's scenes as a sign that filmmakers were still trying to find their way with the rating. Of the popularity of the Category III rating, Leeder recalls that a film in which he had a small role titled "The Sad Story of Saigon" that bombed at the box office was extensively re-edited and re-shot to become the Category III film Rape in Public Sea. The second track is an audio commentary by film critic/author Samm Deighan who discusses Category III as both a classification and as a genre and the elements that became synonymous with it as the latter even though the classification covered a wider variety of films. Deigan also discusses the film as a hybrid of genres beyond the erotic, including how it twists the tropes of A Chinese Ghost Story like the naive scholar falling in love with a ghost, as well as the collaboration between the director and producer/director Wong Jing (Magic Crystal) including films that moved away from Golden Harvest's crime films to adult-oriented fantasy incluiding this, his later Category III film The Cat and the earlier comedy The Ghost Snatchers. Also ported over is the "Celebrity Talk Show" TV show episode (45:58) shot on the set of the film with the hosts – writer/composer actor James Wong (Once Upon a Time in China), writer Kuang Ni (The 36th Chamber of Shaolin), and producer Chua Lam (Armour of God) – interviewing the cast and joking around (provoking some quizzical reactions from the actresses). The disc also ports over the Hong Kong theatrical trailer (2:37), the Tai Seng video trailer (1:35), and the still gallery (4:07).  New to the trilogy set disc is the film's longer Mandarin version (95:16). Like the Mandarin cut of Sex and Zen included on 88 Films' recent Blu-ray, it is longer but far less explicit, removing any instances of full frontal nudity, using cutaways and slow motion on some sex scenes – the kind familiar to Western viewers from softcore cable but done as a film optical rather than a video switcher effect – and entirely different takes for others (the scene between Wu Ming and Fei-fei is now shown from a wider angle with a bit of foreground set decoration occluding their nether regions). The opening title sequence is also entirely different with the actors introduced through still photographs laid on top of a blue tablecloth and the rest of the credits illustrated with other publicity stills from the film. Erotic Ghost Story II's Hong Kong version is accompanied by a new audio commentary by East Asian film expert Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival) who reveals that the literary source for all three films was Pu Songling's "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio" which was also the source for A Chinese Ghost Story (along with the King Hu's earlier Legend of the Mountain) which were less overt horror than supernatural romanticism. He reveals that the production company Diagonal Films was founded by actor Lam Ching-Ying, producer Chua Lam, and director/cinematographer Lam Nai-Choi, and that it was slightly less successful than the first although Djeng is of the opinion that it is the better film even if it overdoes things to distinguish it from the first film with a "full-frontal tour de force performance by Anthony Wong" whose presence here lead to subsequent Category III offers (he describes Wong's look here as KISS or Twisted Sister-inspired and possibly the input of Japanese special effects supervisor Sagawa Kazuo (The Last Dinosaur). Djeng also reveals that "BMG Melody Bank" credited with the score means the use of stock music (apart from the theme song). The Mandarin version (92:36) is not only shorter but swaps the Hong Kong version's four minute recap for a sixteen minute one that rehashes more of the story while still managing to be less explicit. Sex scenes are shortened but not completely snipped away, a few flashes of frontal female nudity and most of the male rear nudity is cut and the highlight acrobatic threesome sex scene – possibly inspired by Sex and Zen is entirely absent (along with much of the lesbian duo before it) – but Wong's phallic tale remains on view. The disc also includes the making-of piece (15:16) of more recent vintage not included on any other releases featuring writer Abe Kwong (The Inspector Wears Skirts) who seems to have disowned the film, noting that he was not on the same wavelength as Ngor and felt his own input was minimal, while assistant director Tenky Tin (Bullet to Survive) speaks better of Ngor but also notes that the Japanese actresses did not care about closed sets while the Chinese did, and also that Wong never felt the need to cover up between takes or cover his genitalia despite the Category III requirements so Ngor had to frame those scenes carefully. A hilarious Wong recalls the nudity and particularly the long underwater scene which was shot thirty-to-forty-five seconds at a time over several hours. The disc also includes the the Hong Kong theatrical trailer (1:57) and a still gallery (3:40).  The Hong Kong version is accompanied by a new audio commentary by East Asian film expert Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival) in which he again notes the literary source while also revealing the two specific stories the film draws from, one involving the Master Lamp Wick character and the other the "mirror on the wall" as a gateway. He also notes that the work as a whole satirizes the Qing dynasty and also expresses women's concerns about control over their sex lives. He also reveals that the film was much less successful than the previous two so the series did not continue, with the 1997 Erotic Ghost Story starring Category III king Elvis Tsui produced by a different company that nevertheless attempted to pass it off as a sequel. Although Djeng notes the career of the late Pauline Chan, he is more enamored of Chik King-Man who he describes as the best thing about both the second and third films (while also noting that she did indeed do all of her own nude scenes despite the fact that the camera shows her face and the rest of her body separately as she were body-doubled, possibly suggesting the addition of more nudity to the final product). Djeng also discusses the film's score by Tats Lau who once had a synthpop band with the other Anthony Wong. The Mandarin version (77:30) is significantly shorter than the Hong Kong cut which is perhaps understandable do to the considerably lengthier sex scenes and just how much more sleep-inducing slow motion, less explicit angles and cutaways would have been for the censored version with the more graphic parts of the main sex and masturbation scenes cut, as well as a chunk of the orgy cut and some alternate takes with the women in sheer gowns. The disc also includes the Hong Kong theatrical trailer (3:08) and a still gallery (3:52). 
Packaging
The three discs – each with a reversible sleeve with original Hong Kong poster artwork and brand-new artwork from Ilan Sheady – come in a limited edition rigid slipcase featuring new artwork by Sheady, six premium collector's art cards, a double-sided foldout poster, and a booklet featuring new writing on the film by Zoe Rose Smith & archive article by Dylan Cheung (not supplied for review).
Overall
Although it never had the international and art house crossover appeal of Sex and Zen, Erotic Ghost Story laid the groundwork for more ambitious (and outrageous) Category III efforts, and the Erotic Ghost Story Trilogy is kind of an overview of the evolution of Category III not only as a classification but as a genre in itself.
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