Eureka Entertainment in October will bump up their martial arts catalogue with the release of Ghouls Gone Wild. Three films that are wildly entertaining tales of ghosts, magic and supernatural mayhem from East Asia. Presenting in new 2K restorations, with all three films make their UK Blu-ray debuts as part of the Eureka Classics range.
Following the breakout success of pioneering genre films Encounter of the Spooky Kind, The Dead and the Deadly and Mr Vampire, horror movies became a mainstay of film production in Hong Kong and Taiwan throughout the 1980s. Collected here are three of the standout titles from that horror boom, starring the likes of Chow Yun-fat (The Seventh Curse), Wu Ma (A Chinese Ghost Story) and Ricky Hui (Mr Vampire): Scared Stiff, The Haunted Cop Shop and Magic of Spell.
Lau Kar-wing (Crouching Tiger, Fatty Dragon) directs Scared Stiff, in which a young everyman develops the ability to enter other people’s dreams following an accident – and then finds himself using his gift to bring a sadistic murderer to justice. Co-written by Wong Kar-wai (Ashes of Time) and indebted in equal measure to Mr Vampire and Fright Night, The Haunted Cop Shop sees cops and crooks alike forced to confront vengeful beings from beyond the grave in a police station built on a site of violence. Finally, in a supernatural wuxia fantasy on par with The Miracle Fighters and Shaolin Drunkard, Magic of Spell follows a kung fu master who must defeat the infernal demon responsible for his mother’s death.
Ranging in tone from laugh-out-loud comedy to straight-faced terror (sometimes in the same film) and featuring a litany of ruthless killers, restless spirits, vengeful jiangshi and infernal devils, Scared Stiff, The Haunted Cop Shop and Magic of Spell encapsulate the incredible range of Chinese-language horror filmmaking in the 1980s.
Check out the releases Official Trailer…
LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES*:
Limited Edition of 2,000 copies | Limited edition O-card slipcase featuring new artwork by Darren Wheeling | 1080p HD presentations on Blu-ray from new 2K restorations | Two presentations of Scared Stiff, the original Hong Kong theatrical cut and uncut extended version | Original Cantonese mono audio tracks | Optional English subtitles, newly translated for this release | New audio commentary on Scared Stiff by East Asian cinema expert Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival) | New audio commentaries on The Haunted Cop Shop and Magic of Spell by genre cinema expert Arne Venema and filmmaker Domting | Restless Spirits – new interview on the history of horror cinema in Hong Kong and Taiwan with film writer, curator and East Asian film expert Fraser Elliott | Limited edition collector’s booklet featuring an essay on the borrowing and remixing of world genre traditions in Scared Stiff, The Haunted Cop Shop and Magic of Spell by Iain Robert Smith, author of The Hollywood Meme: Transnational Adaptations in World Cinema | * All extras subject to change
1987-1988 | 93,95,84 MINS| HONG KONG/TAIWAN| CANTONESE | 1.85:1 OAR | HORROR / MARTIAL ARTS/ COMEDY | Region B
Ghouls Gone Wild will get a Blu-ray release on 19th October part of the Eureka Classics range.
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