Hocus Pocus (1984) Review

“Hocus Pocus” Theatrical Poster

Director: Chin Yuet Sang
Producer: Sammo Hung
Cast: Lam Ching Ying, Stephen Tung Wei, Law Ho Kai, Chin Yuet Sang, Peter Chan Lung, Tai San, Alice Lau Ar Lai, Fung Lee, Cheung Ging Boh
Running Time: 94 min.

By Paul Bramhall

In 1984 it’d been 4 years since Sammo Hung directed and starred in Encounters of the Spooky Kind, the 1980 horror comedy kung fu flick hybrid that would prove hugely influential throughout the rest of the decade (culminating in a sequel in 1990). Mixing the 3 genres resulted in some interesting titles, from the Billy Chong vehicles Kung Fu Zombie and Kung Fu from Beyond the Grave (released in 1981 and 1982 respectively), to Sammo himself revisiting the genre with Wu Ma’s The Dead and the Deadly in 1982. Both Encounters of the Spooky Kind and The Dead and the Deadly feature Lam Ching-Ying in supporting roles, and in 1985 Ching-Ying would take on the role that defined the rest of his career – the vampire busting Taoist priest, thanks to his iconic turn in Mr. Vampire.

However a year before he put on the famous yellow threads, he featured in another horror comedy, in the form of 1984’s Sammo Hung produced Hocus Pocus. It’s a title that’s rarely spoken of, but in retrospect is arguably the bridge between the Encounters of the Spooky Kind influenced first half of the 80’s, and the shadow that Mr. Vampire would come to cast over the latter half of it. In Hocus Pocus he’s not yet in Taoist priest mode, instead playing the superstitious leader of a Peking Opera troupe who’ve come to a remote town to perform. While the characters profession may be different, traits such as his stoic demeanour and no-nonsense attitude are easily recognizable as those that would be carried over into Mr. Vampire just a year later.

What’s interesting about Hocus Pocus though, is that even though Ching-Ying is playing the leader of the Opera troupe, he’s not actually the main character. That honour goes to legendary action director Stephen Tung-Wai. Between the years of 1982 – 1985 Tung-Wai took a break from action directing (eventually returning in 1986 for A Better Tomorrow and Pom Pom Strikes Back!), and seemed to focus more on his career in front of camera. Apart from Hocus Pocus, he’d also headline the 1985 Shaw Brothers production Journey of the Doomed, before settling back into supporting roles and going onto have a successful run as a director. Notably, he’d direct his co-star Lam Ching-Ying in the 1990 modern day take on the genre mash-up, Magic Cop.

For Hocus Pocus directing duties go to Chin Yuet-Sang. An accomplished action director himself, Yuet-Sang stepped into the directors’ chair for the first time along with Hsu Hsia to co-helm the Lo Meng solo outing Lion Vs Lion in 1981. The pair also choreographed the fight action (and wrote the script, but who comes to these movies for that?), and while everyone’s favorite Toad has never looked better, the bizarre tagged on supernatural ending provides an indication as to where Yuet-Sang’s interests really lie. He’d go onto direct a further 3 movies after Hocus Pocus – 1987’s Crazy Spirit, 1990’s The Spooky Family, and 1992’s Ghost Lover – and as you can probably tell from the titles, all of them had a supernatural theme.

The plot for Hocus Pocus see’s the Opera troupe being hassled by a mischievous ghost, one that turns out to have its bones scattered under the theatre they’re performing at, and really just wants their assistance for a proper burial so it can pass onto the next world. However when the troupe mistakenly retrieve the bones of another long-deceased soul, they must deal with its angered spirit making an appearance to cause havoc and mortal danger. While this may sound like the classic ingredients for an 80’s Hong Kong supernatural flick, well, you’d be half right. First off, it quickly becomes clear that Hocus Pocus is purely a horror comedy, with little interest in the kung fu part. That’s fine by me, the trade-off is that it lives and dies based on how effective the horror and comedy is.

In short, it’s a mixed bag. A very mixed bag. While the part about digging up the wrong bones may sound like the crux of the plot, none of this happens until the final 20 minutes. So yes, while in terms of a narrative it is a decisive turn of events, its fair to wonder what the preceding 75 minutes are dedicated to. In short, there’s a lot of torturous comedy to get through. A lot. The troupe, who apart from Ching-Ying and Tung-Wai consist of Law Ho-Kai (Rosa), Lau Nga-Lai (My Lucky Stars), Wong Kwan-Hong (Satin Steel), Paco Yick Tin-Hung (The Master Strikes Back), Yuen Miu (Blood Child) and Ng Min-Kan (the director of Deadful Melody), turn out to be a bunch of practical jokers.

The problem is, each of their practical jokes tend to be needlessly drawn out. A scene in which they rig Ho-Kai’s room to make it appear possessed goes on for an age, and is representative of many of the other comedy sequences, far outstaying their welcome and often not that particularly funny to begin with. To confound matters further, director Yuet-Sang turns up as the mischievous bulbous headed blue spirit, and is just as up for a joke as the rest of the troupe. Looking like a blue Chinese version of Pennywise, Yuet-Sang’s antics and whiny child-like voice tend to induce feelings of violence, as he prances around the stage during one of the troupe’s performances (invisible to everyone), interrupting key moments of the choreography. Comedy gold it isn’t, and if anything his resemblance to a clown is creepy for all the wrong reasons, making the cute vampire family from Mr. Vampire 2 seem appealing in comparison.

Call it personal preference, but some things I just don’t need to see. Sure, watch any amount of old-school kung fu goodness, and it won’t take long before you come across a scene of a character getting peed on by a kid (usually by accident). Here a kid’s pee is used to exorcise a spirit that’s possessed a human’s body, and said scene literally involves a naked kid being lifted above the possessed characters head, who then proceeds to pee over it. I’m pretty sure Hocus Pocus would top R. Kelly’s list of best Asian movies. A scene in which everyone laughs at a character with a disability (a cameo from Wu Ma) also left a bad taste, feeling like it fell just on the wrong side of the line to derive any enjoyment from. If you can get past these, make sure you’re also cool with what’s construed by western standards as animal cruelty, as there’s a scene involving the cooking of a turtle.

Apart from a couple of brief skirmishes between Tung-Wai and Ho-Kai, it’s in the last 20 minutes that things finally liven up. Nga-Lai is attacked by the angered spirit and it’s played straight, backed up by a score lifted straight from Dario Argento’s Suspiria (look out for a track from The Shining that’s used early on as well). As far as tonal shifts go, it’s up there, and while we still don’t get any kung fu, the havoc the spirit causes gives the stuntmen a top-notch workout, with bodies sent crashing into walls, tables, and any other breakable prop you can think of. It’s always difficult to remain subjective for these type of finales, the ones that have been precursed by over an hour of torturous monotony, as almost any kind of confrontation would be enjoyable by this point, but here the finale genuinely delivers some good fun.

Much like the beginning of the movie, the end wraps up with the troupe taking on the roles of characters from Buddhist mythology, in sequences which serve as both highpoints and bookends to what ultimately feels like a missed opportunity. The action handled by Sammo Hung’s Stuntmen Association is worthy, and heavy on the stunts, but a few dynamic falls and impacts scattered across a runtime which feels significantly longer than it actually is aren’t enough to redeem the many negatives. As it is Hocus Pocus is an unremarkable footnote in the oeuvre of both Lam Ching Ying and Sammo Hung, proving that to make a successful horror comedy kung fu flick hybrid, you need all three elements. Take one away, and in this instance all you’re left with is a lot of gurning, prat falls, and people being peed on.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 3.5/10