EROTIC GHOST STORY

By: Craig Reid
Date: Saturday, May 26, 2001

Director Ching Siu Tung's 1990 mega-hit A CHINESE GHOST STORY (88-minutes)inadvertently triggered the birth of Fant-Asia erotica, films that took the elements of this 1987 film and added R-rated sex and nudity. EROTIC GHOST STORY was the first film of this type was. Adapted from the book 'Liao Zai,' an ancient anthology of X-rated Chinese stories, which describes peculiar scatological situations with scantily clad ghost-fairies performing bizarre sexual acts, the film was directed by Nam Nai Choi, and starred the voluptuous Amy Yip.

Disguised as an insipid scholarly mortal, the three-headed demon Wu Tung (Wen Shu), who sucks out the life force of innocent girls through sexual intercourse and skin-ripping feasts of violence, is attracted to three beautiful fox-fairy sisters, Hua-Hua (Yip), Fei-Fei and Shu-Shu (Ye Zi Mei). Folklore dictates that because fairies exist on the first plain of immortality, they have a close relationship with humanity and therefore have a difficult time controlling their carnal pleasures with mortal men. But if they can control themselves for a prescribed period of time, they can become human. Yet these sex-starved nymphs unwittingly allow themselves to be seduced by the apparently shy mortal. Realizing they are tricked, and after a series of rather imaginative erotic situations and WITCHES OF EASTWICK-ish escapades, these fairies team up with a Taoist priest to send Wu Tung back to the evil Netherworld from whence he came.

Besides its two sequels, a barrage of similar soft-porn, category III film fantasies quickly erupted, flooding Hong Kong's cinematic affairs with controversial subjects and storylines.

THE DISC

Picture quality excellent. This DVD is available from Tai Seng Video (1-888-668-8338 or www.taiseng.com). EROTIC GHOST STORY comes only in English and Cantonese with subtitles in 5 languages; the English version is less harsh sounding than the Cantonese version.