| Encounters of the Spooky Kind | |||||||||||
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 Hong Kong film poster | |||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 鬼打鬼 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 鬼打鬼 | ||||||||||
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| Directed by | Sammo Hung | ||||||||||
| Written by | Sammo Hung Huang Ying | ||||||||||
| Produced by | Chan Pui-wah Raymond Chow Lau Chi-chong | ||||||||||
| Starring | Sammo Hung Wong Ha Dick Wei Lam Ching-ying Wu Ma | ||||||||||
| Cinematography | Lee Yau-tong Ng Cho-wah | ||||||||||
| Edited by | Peter Cheung | ||||||||||
| Music by | Frankie Chan | ||||||||||
Production company | Bo Ho Films Co Ltd | ||||||||||
| Distributed by | Golden Harvest | ||||||||||
Release date |
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Running time | 98 minutes | ||||||||||
| Country | Hong Kong | ||||||||||
| Language | Cantonese | ||||||||||
| Box office | HK$5.675 million | ||||||||||
Encounters of the Spooky Kind (Chinese: 鬼打鬼) is a 1980 Hong Kong martial arts comedy horror film starring and directed by Sammo Hung, written by Hung and Huang Ying, and produced by Hung's film production company Bo Ho Film Company. Released as Spooky Encounters in the United States and also known as Close Encounters of the Spooky Kind, the latter title more blatantly mimicking the title of the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Encounters of the Spooky Kind popularized the production of films based on the jiangshi of Chinese legends in the Hong Kong film industry, though it was not the first. As Andrew Heskens of easternkicks.com wrote, "Sammo Hung [...] took the idea of hopping vampires/deceased from The Shadow Boxing (aka The Spiritual Boxer II) and turned it into a phenomenon with Encounter of the Spooky Kind, and things were never the same."[1] Encounters of the Spooky Kind was also one of Hong Kong's first action horror comedies.[2]
In the film, a man is targeted for killing by his wife's lover. The lover employs a witch, who unleashes jiangshi, vampires, and spirits against the husband. The attacks are countered by a rival sorcerer, who takes the husband as his disciple. The events escalate to a battle between the sorcerers.
The film was followed by a 1990 stand-alone sequel starring Hung and Lam Ching-ying, Encounters of the Spooky Kind II (also known as Close Encounters of the Spooky Kind 2), which has no relation to Encounters of the Spooky Kind. A soft reboot directed by Dick Wei was filmed in 2016.[3]
- ^ Heskins, Andrew (15 August 2014). "The Spooky Bunch | easternkicks.com". www.easternkicks.com.
- ^ Hudson, Dave (2009). Draculas, Vampires, and Other Undead Forms. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 215. ISBN 978-0-8108-6923-3.
- ^ "新鬼打鬼". Hong Kong Movie Database. Retrieved 29 March 2023.