Director: Lau Kar-leung (a.k.a. Liu Chia-Liang)
Screenplay: Ni Kuang
Starring: Wong Yu, Gordon Liu Chia-hui, Cecilia Wong Hang-Sau, Lau Kar-Wing, Lee Hoi-Sang, Norman Chui Siu-Keung, Wilson Tong
Country: Hong Kong
Running Time: 101 min
Year: 1979
BBFC Certificate: TBC
Like with To Kill a Mastermind, I knew nothing about The Shadow Boxing (a.k.a. The Spiritual Boxer, Part II or Mao shan jiang shi quan) before 88 Films announced they’d be releasing it on Blu-ray. However, looking at the talent behind it, particularly with the great Lau Kar-leung as director and stunt coordinator, it didn’t take much convincing for me to get my hands on a copy.
I’m also a big fan of jiangshi films (or ‘hopping vampire’ films, which feature reanimated corpses controlled by Taoist priests), so was happy to see that The Shadow Boxing fit into that genre too. What is particularly interesting is that Sammo Hung’s Encounter of the Spooky Kind (1980) is generally believed to be the progenitor of the jiangshi boom in Hong Kong cinema and the first to fuse it with kung fu and comedy. However, Lau Kar-leung clearly got there first a year prior, so I’m surprised the film isn’t better known.
The Shadow Boxing stars Wong Yu as Fan Xiaoyuan, a ‘corpse herder’ working under Master Chen (Lau Kar-Wing). Corpse herders are Taoist priests who use their abilities to reanimate and control the dead to transport bodies from out of town back to where their families live.
After Chen neglects his duties due to his alcoholism and gambling addiction, the pair get a backlog of bodies but Fan kicks his boss into gear and they head off with 9 corpses/’vampires’ in tow.
Along the way, one of the vampires (played by the great Gordon Liu) continues to cause mischief, often not following instructions and wandering off where it shouldn’t.
Chen also gets into trouble when he riles up the gang members running a gambling house. This results in the old master getting his leg smashed up. Due to this, Fan is forced to lead the corpses himself, drafting in his strong-willed girlfriend Fei (Celia Wong) to help.
Meanwhile, police officer Xiang (Wilson Tong) and gang boss Zhou Qian-tai (Lee Hoi-Sang) are both on the hunt for Zhang Jie, a fugitive framed by the chief of police as he has knowledge that could tie him to shady dealings with Zhou.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Zhang Jie is the troublesome ‘corpse’ played by Gordon Liu but much of the details of what he’s doing there are kept secret for a while, so there’s a lot of fun to be had in watching Zhang keep up his charade in the meantime.
As mentioned, I’m a big fan of these jiangshi action-comedies, so it’s an easy sell, but I had a lot of fun with The Shadow Boxing. It’s not as wild and inventive as Encounter of the Spooky Kind or Mr. Vampire but feels more cohesive and well-rounded. Those other two films just had the edge for me overall though, as I did miss some of the more bonkers aspects.
The Shadow Boxing balances its elements nicely though. The horror side of things is distinctly light here but present enough to give the action-comedy a fresh spin. The comedy is very effective though. There are fewer lowbrow gags here than in some other examples of jiangshi comedy, give or take a few skits involving nudity, but the jokes provide a light, enjoyable tone throughout, without getting groan-worthy.
Whilst I enjoyed the action scenes in the film, I can see why some might find them disappointing (including Dr Craig D Reid in his book ‘The Ultimate Guide to Martial Arts Movies of the 1970s’). The fights aren’t bad, by any means. It’s just that a 70s Shaw Brother joint with Lau Kar-leung at the helm and Gordon Liu in the cast will get many fans drooling in anticipation but much of the action is held back until the final act and the fights aren’t quite as inventive as those in Lau Kar-leung and co’s better-known films.
Personally, I thought this was a solid, fun jiangshi film though, overall. Maybe I’m just a sucker for the genre, but the mix of light horror, goofy comedy and kick-ass action does it for me every time. This may not reach the heights of Mr. Vampire or some of Lau Kar-leung’s straight-up kung-fu movies like The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter or The 36th Chamber of Shaolin but it’s still an enjoyable Shaw Brothers romp.
Film: 
The Shadow Boxing is out on 9th September on region A&B Blu-Ray, released by 88 Films (pre-order it here). It looks great, with pleasing colours and a clean and fairly detailed image. I’ve used screengrabs throughout this review to give you an idea of how it looks, though these have been compressed. I had no issues with the audio either. There’s no English dub but that doesn’t bother me and I imagine one wasn’t available.
LIMITED FEATURES
– LIMITED EDITION Slipcase with brand-new artwork by Mark Bell
– LIMITED EDITION 4 x collectable artcards
– HD Transfer From the Original Negative in 2.35:1 Aspect Ratio
– High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray Presentation
– 2.0 Mandarin Mono with English Subtitles
– Trailer
– Stills Gallery
– Reversible sleeve featuring original Hong Kong poster artwork
Like I said in my To Kill a Mastermind review, it’s a shame there are no extra features, other than a trailer and stills gallery, but 88 Films must still be applauded for digging deeper into the Shaw Brothers vaults to release films like this. These sorts of releases tend to get me more excited than re-releases of films I’ve already seen in decent versions in the past. So keep ‘em coming!
Disc/package: