Kick'em In The Ghoulies

Jiangshi is a term popularised in the Hong Kong film industry which is a genre of films focused on the stories of Ghosts, Vampires, Demons, and Spiritually themed films.

There have always been media of ghosts, and specters or demons over the years throughout the world.

But for the Hong Kong film industry in the 80s it was Sammo Hung's groundbreaking film 'Encounters of the Spooky Kind '' that started a whirlwind of these types of films being made.

The Genre even made the ever-popular Late Lam Ching Ying into an overnight sensation with the Mr, Vampire films...

This page is dedicated to those films, and listed below is a list of films we have covered on-site which are in that genre.

And being I am writing this in October, what better way to celebrate the ghostly Halloween than some good Ole' Spooky Kung Fu movies.

In reality, we should also celebrate these films in August to coincide with the Chinese Ghost Festival.

The word Jiangshi relates to the dead. It literally means Stiff Corpse. It all dates back hundreds of years when people lost their relatives and could not afford to pay transportation fees to get the body to its burial place.

Families hired Taoist priests who would put the body into an undead state using spells, it would cause the body to hop in tandem with the priests ringing bells. Thus making the corpse hop all the way to its burial site. Of course, this is all based on folklore.

As far as the Ghost Festival is concerned it falls in August and is not just Chinese folklore. It is celebrated throughout many Asian countries. Usually, it is led to believe on the or around the fifteenth of August the gates of Heaven and Hell realms open up to give people who have lost their loved ones to communicate with the dead.

Many of the Hong Kong classic films focus on many of these Ghostly superstitions, the most famous being the Tsui Hark produced Chinese Ghost Story trilogy which starred Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung.

So if you're in need of a Ghostly fix of Vampires, Spirits and Ghouls then look no further than our dedicated page here on Kick'em in the Ghoulies.