Jamie Luk’s fast and fun vampire farce gets a welcome Blu-Ray release and for fans of the likes of ‘Mr Vampire’, ‘Magic Cop’ et al, ‘Doctor Vampire’ is a fun fanged must see.
Bowie Lam (‘Hard Boiled’) is a Hong Kong surgeon visiting England when his car breaks down in the countryside. Finding a nearby castle (!) he enters the building and is greeted by what appears to be a brothel. After a tryst with a beauty named Alice (Ellen Chan), who leaves him with more than just a saucy memory (two puncture marks to be exact!), the doc high tails back to Hong Kong where he begins a slow transformation into something not altogether human. Juggling his hospital work, his ongoing relationship with his put-upon squeeze (Sheila Chan), his transformation into a vampire, and the fact Alice has now shown up in Hong Kong and made home in his apartment, the doctor has yet even more to deal with when the undead master of the vampire clan (Peter Kjaer) also appears, chomping at the bit for his and Alice’s blood.
While the film certainly pays homage to the Chinese hopping vampire genre (and craze of the 80s/early90s), ‘Doctor Vampire’ is more concerned with sending up the Western vampire tropes. Thus, our lead (very much the Harker/Renfield character here) learns to come to terms with his transformation into a creature of the night and after much romping about, comedy pratfalls, and romantic dalliances he must do battle with The Count.
This all leads to an explosive 20-minute finale where the doc and his colleagues take on The Count in the hospital in some outrageous stunt-filled action. It is exhilarating stuff and while Kjaer (an alum of several Joseph Lai/Godfrey Ho cheap actioners!) hams it up to stratospheric levels as the Euro-fanged bad guy, his physicality (as he takes on the main cast single-handedly) is impressive stuff and lends the action (and his vampire character) much kineticism. However, don’t expect a full-on action film as ‘Doctor Vampire’ is much more a comedy first and foremost. The action only arrives in the last third as the film is focused on putting our hero in as many contrived situations and taking the mick out of the Western vampire genre as much as possible.
Yet, thanks to Luk’s assured direction, a likeable cast (once you get to know them!), and oodles of creative comedy, ‘Doctor Vampire’ is a hoot. It’s all very silly, quite dated by today’s standards (a fully aroused dead man hopping around the hospital trying to, erm, get some!), and certainly leans towards the sex comedy side of things but damn if it ain’t funny, and mercifully not overly grating. Bowie Lam, once his character softens and becomes a little more likeable, is great as the permanently harassed lead, backed up by great performances from his two mates/fellow doctors (David Wu and Lawrence Lau) who take to helping their turning-into-a-vampire friend with comedic aplomb. Likewise, Ellen Chan is fantastic as the vampire mistress (and copes well with the only straight role in the film) and while the likes of Sheila Chan and Crystal Kwok are given the more thankless roles of the put upon girlfriend and her mate, they attack them with plucky commitment.
A fangtastically (sorry!) fun and extremely silly film is a great time for those looking for a creatively made comedy with a dash of cool supernatural action. The film looks fantastic thanks to Eureka’s new Blu-Ray, backed up with great commentaries from the likes of genre experts Mike Leeder, Arne Venema, Frank Djeng, and John Charles. ‘Doctor Vampire’ may always be in the shadow of more well-known fair such as the ‘Mr Vampire’ films and the likes of ‘Encounters of the Spooky Kind’ but deserves to sit along those genre titans as a great comedy, action-horror.
Eureka Entertainment are bringing ‘Doctor Vampire’ to UK and US Blu-ray on February 24, and you can order it now from Amazon.co.uk or EurekaVideo.co.uk.
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