THE SHADOW BOXING (1979)
Label: 88 Films
Region Code: A,B
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 101 Minutes
Audio: Mandarin PCM 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Chia-Liang Liu, Lau Kar Leung
Cast: Yue Wong, Cecilia Wong, Gordon Liu, Chia-Hui Liu, Chia-Yung Liu, Lung Chan, Shao-Hung Chan, Hsi Chang, Chok-Chow Cheung, John Cheung, Wah Cheung, Han Chiang, Szu-Ying Chien, Tien-Chu Chin, Norman Chu, Ming Fung, Kung-Wu Huang, Hoi-Sang Lee, Lau Kar Wing
Kung-fu horror-comedy The Shadow Boxing (aka The Spiritual Boxer 2) comes to us from the legendary Hong Kong director Lau Kar-leung (The Spiritual Boxer), it tells the demented tale of corpse herders Sifu Chen Wu (Chia-Yung Liu, Master of the Flying Guillotine), and his apprentice, Zhengyuan (Yue Wong, The Kung Fu Instructor), who use black magic to reanimate corpses into "hopping vampires" aka Jiangshi, and transport them back to their rural area villages for proper burial before they can become supernatural monsters. While doing so a particular bald corpse (Gordon Liu, Kill Bill) starts acting peculiarly, and the master's gambling habit leaves him injured and unable to complete the journey returning the corpses to their villages, leaving his apprentice to complete the trip with he help of a new apprentice, the strong-willed Fei (Cecilia Wong, The Way of the Black Dragon).
The trip proves tricky when it turns out that one of the corpses is not actually dead and is a fugitive on the run from the law. There's a sub-plot involving a corrupt army officer and crime boss who are in cahoots and who have a connection to the difficult bald corpse. Often referred to as one of the first kung fu horror-comedies The Shadow Boxing is pretty light on horror but ripe with offbeat comedy and some fun fight choreography, particularly during the fight sequence inside the gambling den and the finale-fight. This was actually the first time I have seen one of the Chinese hopping-vampire flicks, wherein the corpse herders use hand-inked paper spells and incantations on the corpses to control them, the corpse being reanimated and hopping like rabbits as the herders transport them to their proper burials in their home villages. I found this quite fascinating, they are not traditional vampires of a bloodsucking nature, they are not really scary other than that they are reanimated corpses being controlled by the corpse-herders. This has me intrigued to check out the oater hopping vampire flicks for sure, especially any that might have more horrific elements, the folklore of it is quite interesting.
Audio/Video: The Shadow Boxing (1979) arrives on Blu-ray from 88 Films in 1080p HD Widescreen framed in the original 2.35: widescreen. The source is in great shape and looks wonderful, colors and skin tones look accurate, black levels are strong. Disc authoring looks solid as well with no compression issues like black crush noted during my viewing. Audio comes by way of Mandarin PCM 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles, dialogue sounds natural, and the canned chop socky sound effects and the score from Yung-Yu Chen (The 36th Chamber of Shaolin) sound pleasing.
Extras are slim, we only get the 1-min Trailer and a 2-min Still Gallery. The single-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with Reversible Wrap featuring a new illustration and the original Hong Kong artwork. The first-pressing also includes a Slipcover featuring the new artwork with a cool metallic highlights. Inside there are four Art Cards.
Special Features:
- Trailer (1:06)
- Still Galler (1:44)
- Reversible Artwork
- Slipcover
- Four Art Cards
Buy it!
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