Rigor Mortis

With a faithful, loving homage to classic Jiangshi films (going so far as to cast alums), Juno Mak more than successfully reinvents the subgenre, only almost completely devoid of comedy. This one shares just as much in common with western horror flicks as it does cheesy 80's Hong Kong vampire movies. I had this one on my watch list for years and I regret every day I waited, it's a must see.

ive not seen the "Mr. Vampire" horror-comedy series this is a "loving tribute" but that must be extremely dark, extremely chinese cultural humor because Rigor Mortis was a bleak film. It does have strong characters for a horror film. the story is not as strong, weakened further if (like myself) you haven't brushed up on the cultural and folktale references it relies on. we do get a satisfying forboding feeling through the film and a few really standout shots of the evil once its on the loose.

Extremely creepy.

Read up on Chinese vampires first, if you're not familiar with them

So...on your first day at the new apartment, demons try to possess you while you attempt to commit suicide, only to be thwarted by an aging Taoist monk who goes all Bruce Lee on the evil seductresses...and over sticky rice that night you still claim ' I don't believe that stuff?' Right... I know it's racially insensitive of me to assume all Chinese people know kung fu, but it's hard to believe they don't when every Chinese movie I see has everyone doing kung fu...even the fat old seamstresses.

First off let me say that I really liked this movie. I like the fact that we get to see a Chinese horror movie with out all of the comedy. That being said I found the marriage of Chinese myth/folklore and J-Horror ascetics to be a bit uneven. The acting was subdued with worked but the main actor lacked any real presence. I would have love to see this with less CGI and more practical effect but oh well. Pretty solid not quite but almost must see movie.

This is a wondrous marriage of the traditional Chinese ghost story with the modern millieu of commercial film-making. Through stunning cinematography, Mak crafts an intricate metaphor of a nation whose Golden Age had passed thousands of years ago--its ghosts lingering, elbowing in among the overcrowded brutalist tenaments of modern life. Old traditions give way to new mutations and corpses of the past are raised by black magick. This is a film of longing, folklore, and urban isolation.

Reasonably interesting, but if you go in looking for Mr Vampire you're going to be disappointed.

This is not so much a loving tribute, but a spiritual/also actual sequel where we get to see the Mr. Vampire situations as terrifying as the characters in those films do. There's a few inconsistencies when you take in the movie as a whole, but as a series of microstories, it works out well. I guess some folks died, so they couldn't quite film the connective tissue, but meh, I'm a fan. God, those parasol ladies haunt me.