October 19, 2026, Eureka is releasing the 2-Disc Blu-ray (Region B) for the Ghouls Gone Wild collection, which includes 1987’s Scared Stiff, 1987’s The Haunted Cop Shop and 1988’s Magic of Spell.
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 (Skinny 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. Eureka Classics is thrilled to present all three films for the first time on Blu-ray in the UK.
Limited Edition Features:
- Limited edition O-card slipcase featuring new artwork by Darren Wheeling [2000 copies]
- 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 [2000 copies]
Features:
- 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
You can pre-order this title at The Goodie Emporium, a U.S.-based online store that currently has many Import Shaw Brothers/Golden Harvest/martial arts DVD/Blu-ray movies in-stock – with New titles being added regularly!
Watch the Trailer below:
Woah, “Magic of Spell” is a HUGE get! Does anyone know if a restoration of the movie it’s a sequel to, “Child of Peach”, is forthcoming?
Best people to ask are on the bluray.com forums. They have people from the label there that are quite helpful (as long as you don’t give constructive criticism such as complaining about fanboy subs on retail releases LOL)