i am currently renewing my obsession with my favorite horror / comedy / fantasy / martial arts movie genre, jiang shi! roughly, jiang shi is the chinese term for the culture's approximation of a vampire. fuck any ideas of dracula, true blood, or any of that other shit, this is a totally different, more taser factory ghoul.
apparently the story of jiang shi goes back far into chinese folklore, but i prefer to pick up the tale starting in the early 1980's when martial arts master, film star, jackie chan buddy, and renowned action coordinator sammo hung started the movie genre by making "encounters of the spooky kind".
these films are terrific! they combine chinese folklore, comedy, horror, martial arts, and other bizarre elements, which create something entirely and specifically chinese. (my favorite part is finding myself lost on culturally specific terms and jokes).
the antagonist themselves are something to marvel over. jiang shi resemble western zombies more than vampires. they are ridden with rigor mortis, thus explaining the fact that they hop around in order to move. (in feng shui, it is supposed that the inclusion of a 6" threshold at the bottom of doorways is good to prevent jiang shi from entering.)
they usually appear dressed in qing dynasty garb, and are combated by taoist priests, who put jiang shi to sleep by placing spells, written on pieces of yellow paper, on their foreheads. also, male virgins, sticky rice, chicken eggs, and dog blood are good things to have around.
here's a clip from "encounters of the spooky kind"
other taser factory titles include:
"the dead and the deadly"
"mr. vampire" (and all the sequels)
and anything with yam ching-ying...
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