In the spirit of last year’s in-depth look at the surprisingly monster-related origin of Chinese New Year, I had wanted to discuss the Jiangshi, more commonly known as the “Chinese Hopping Vampire.” But as the lousy winter weather has robbed me of the time to research and write such an article, I’ll have to go with my back-up plan and show a movie clip. Thanks to Gerezous, here’s a little something from Robo Vampire:
Naturally, you’re going to want to know more. In 1985, the Hong Kong comedy Mr. Vampire popularized the use of jiangshi in films and spawned yearly sequels until 1992 while in 1987, RoboCop was a worldwide box office success. In 1988, Filmark International decided to cash in on both with one of its trademark patchwork films. By combining footage from a Thai action movie with newly-shot scenes of a cyborg battling hopping vampires, all connected loosely by a drug smuggling ring, Filmark created weirdest mockbuster of all time. Get this: Although the “Robo Warrior” footage was only loosely inspired by RoboCop, several of the vampire scenes were directly based on scenes from the original Mr. Vampire!
Sun Nien Fai Lok!
Xin Nian Kuai Le!
Gung Hay Fat Choy!
Kung Hei Fat Choi!
Happy Chinese New Year!
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