Director: Stephen Tung Wei
Screenplay: Tsang Kan-cheong, Sam Chi-Leung
Starring: Lam Ching-Ying, Wilson Lam, Michael Miu, Wong Mei-Wa, Wu Ma, Michiko Nishiwaki, Billy Chow, Frankie Chin Chi-Leung
Country: Hong Kong
Running Time: 88 min
Year: 1990
BBFC Certificate: 15
When he was young, Stephen Tung Wei had gone to the same Chinese opera school as Lam Ching-Ying and the pair found themselves acting together in a Sammo Hung production, Hocus Pocus in 1984. During that time, the pair got talking and Lam told Wei about his plans to set up his own production company. Wei thought it was a good idea and ended up joining him in this venture.
For their first production (which sadly also proved to be their last), the pair decided to capitalise on Lam’s fame as the star of Mr. Vampire and its numerous sequels and spin-offs by making yet another supernatural comedy action movie (a.k.a. jiangshi movie). Also providing Wei with his directorial debut, the film became Magic Cop (a.k.a. Qu mo jing cha, which roughly translates to ‘Exorcised Devil Policeman’).
It wasn’t a box office success, not making nearly as much money as the Mr. Vampire films, but Magic Cop is still fairly popular with fans of the genre. It has even been considered by some to be ‘spiritually’ part of the Mr. Vampire franchise (being occasionally dubbed Mr. Vampire 5) despite not actually featuring that series’ signature ‘hopping vampires’.
Regular readers will know that I’m a big fan of the Mr. Vampire movies, having covered Eureka’s release of the original and a number of its sequels, giving fairly generous scores to them all. As such, I was thrilled to hear 88 Films would be releasing Magic Cop on Blu-ray and eagerly got my hands on a copy.
The film sees Lam star as Uncle Feng, a retired police officer who lives a quiet life in Tung Ping Chau. One day, he is asked by an elderly neighbour to travel to Hong Kong with his niece Lin (Mei-Wah Wong) to identify and return the body of the lady’s daughter, a stewardess who was killed by the police, after suspecting her to be smuggling drugs.
Believing there to be a supernatural side to the case, due to the stewardess’ unusual activity at the time of her death, Feng, who is a knowledgeable Taoist, is asked to join two sceptical police officers, Sgts. Lam (Wilson Lam) and No. 2237 (Kiu-Wai Miu), to investigate the case.
They soon discover that the stewardess had been turned into a living corpse by a Japanese sorceress (Michiko Nishiwaki), who was, indeed, using her as a drug mule. With Feng’s supernatural knowledge and the police officers’ detective skills, they must race against time to stop the sorceress and her wicked ways.
Maybe I’m just a sucker for these Hong Kong jiangshi movies, but I loved Magic Cop.
As usual, my favourite aspects of the film were the ‘traditional’ Taoist methods used by Feng to tackle his supernatural foes. These are absolute nonsense, made up by the filmmakers rather than taken by any real Taoist traditions, but that only makes me love them more as I can appreciate how creative and ingenious the filmmakers were for coming up with them. They’re particularly elaborate and unusual here too.
These are often visualised through some wonderfully old-school practical FX with the occasional retro optical FX flourish. The opening and closing scenes are both particularly good with the bulging walls and impressive (not to mention dangerous) use of fire. This is all the more admirable given Magic Cop was a relatively low-budget production due to it being the debut production for Lam and Wei’s company.
The film looks good too, with some colourful production design and suitably atmospheric lighting. The villain’s Japanese house looks particularly stylish.
There aren’t a lot of actual martial arts on display here, but there are a couple of brief fights to showcase the skills of the under-appreciated Billy Chow. The numerous set-pieces include a lot of impressive physical performances too, with some acrobatic flourishes and stunts scattered throughout.
The film plays on the differences between those living on the ‘islands’ and those in the city, portraying Feng as old-fashioned and Lin as being naive, whilst Sgt. Lam is more of a ‘modern man’ who’s sceptical of Feng’s traditional Taoist ways and beliefs. The ‘fish-out-of-water’ aspect of having Feng do his Taoist magic in the city provides a base for much of the comedy in the film. As is often the case, the humour is pretty hit-and-miss, with much being dated or lost in translation, but enough of the jokes hit the mark to keep you chuckling along. There’s a particularly well-executed fart gag that tickled me somewhat. I also enjoyed how overly protective Feng was over his niece.
Mixing zany comedy with inventive practical effects and wildly imaginative magical touches, the film, along with most of the Mr. Vampire movies, give off a bit of an Evil Dead vibe (or more accurately its sequels). Like Sam Raimi’s films, Magic Cop has a vibrant energy and very little time is wasted in delivering something fun for its audience to enjoy. So, even if you’ve never seen a jiangshi movie in your life, I think you’d be well-advised to give Magic Cop a try.
Film: 
Magic Cop is out on 24th July on region A & B Blu-Ray, released by 88 Films. The transfer is a little disappointing, to be honest. I’m guessing that the original negatives have been lost as it’s quite a soft image. The blacks are a little crushed too, leading to a further lack of detail in the night scenes. I’ve used screengrabs throughout this review to give you an idea of what it looks like, though these have been compressed.
On the plus side, there are plenty of audio options to choose from, with all bases covered. I opted for the original Cantonese mono mix and thought it sounded decent, with no issues.
Limited Edition Special Features:
– Double Walled Gloss Finish O-ring featuring new artwork by Sean Longmore (First Pressing Only)(3000)
– Double-sided foldout poster (First Pressing Only)(3000)
– High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray™ presentation in 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio
– 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio Original Cantonese Mono Mix
– 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio Cantonese Home Video Mix
– 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio English Surround Dub
– 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio English Dub
– Audio commentary with Hong Kong Film Experts Frank Djeng and Marc Walkow
– Taiwanese Cut with Alternate Score (SD)
– Interview with Stephen Tung Wei (HD)
– Image Gallery
– Trailer
– Reversible cover with new artwork by Sean Longmore and original HK Poster Art
Frank Djeng is joined by Mark Walkow to discuss the film in their commentary. I’ve reviewed so many discs Djeng has contributed to that it almost seems pointless to say that this takes us, once again, on an exhaustively well-researched journey through the lives and careers of everyone involved in the film, whilst explaining some of the culturally specific gags and details.
Director Stephen Tung Wei provides an excellent interview too. He talks in detail about how he came on to the production and the challenges it faced. He’s amicable about it all and has plenty to say. I particularly enjoyed hearing his story about how they tried shooting one of the daisy effects shots in the morning every day for weeks before they got it. The grammar Nazi in me couldn’t help but notice quite a few mistakes in the subtitles though.
The slightly longer Taiwanese cut of the film is another nice bonus. I must admit, I didn’t have time to watch this through, so I can’t comment on the film and how it differs from the original, other than the soundtrack. I will say that it’s a rather rough standard-definition VHS transfer, so don’t expect it to look pristine.
I didn’t receive a copy of the booklet or any other physical extras to comment on those. I do love Sean Longmore’s artwork on the box though, it must be said.
Overall, whilst the transfer isn’t as strong as those we’re used to from 88 Films and it isn’t loaded with extras, what is included here is of a very high standard. Plus, with the film being such good fun it’s still easy to recommend you pick up this release of Magic Cop.
Disc/package: 