actually, its one of the top 3 (some argue the unparalleled champ) masterpieces of this sub-genre ("vampire-fu"; mixing cartoonish, spooky mystery antics set in the world of taoism with comedy & a style of kung fu specifically developed for the 'vampires').
what they refer to as 'vampires' actually happen to be the bodies of their recently deceased. their souls are stuck in between worlds and cant reincarnate as long as their- former- bodies havent received a proper burial.
these soulless bodies (zombies rather than vampires would be the equivalent in western cultures) can be controlled by tao magic and are being attended to by so called corpse herders (apparently, an honourable profession in ancient china
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not only does mr. vampire have all the appreciation and cult status among genre fans, its also been a major box office success in hk and other eastern asian territories.
3 of hk`s all-time finest make this thing a brilliant classic: sammo hung, lam ching ying & yuen wah.
its a must-have hands down. great, moody, inventive, restless (campy!) fun.
since 1985, the movie has generated 4 sequels, some spin-offs & quasi-remakes and a load of copycats (one of the most recent ones being the ultra-crappy 2004 sucker "demon world aka shaolin vs evil dead")
