An Eternal Combat (Tian di xuan men, 1984)

Yip Shing Hong

Hong Kong

95 min, color, Cantonese (English subtitles)

A traditional fantasy film with some disturbing, and entirely unnecessary, slasher-stalker elements, An Eternal Combat is mildly entertaining, like most of the ghost films it imitates. Although the comedic relief is mostly stupid and not very funny (it also not clear exactly what it was providing relief from), some of those scenes do keep the plot moving along at a pace that is unlikely to bother the average HK fan.

The biggest problem with this film is that it cannot decide what it wants to be. As a period-fantasy, it is very much like A Chinese Ghost Story and the numerous Joey Wang appearances as a ghost. The story begins 1000 years ago when Ci CI (Joey) is forced to marry a murderous Japanese Ghost, who has been offing her fellow villagers and, I think, her entire family. To save the remaining villagers, she agrees to the betrothal but tries to stab the ghost upon their first tryst. The ghost being, noncorporeal and all, thwarts the attempt and turns her into Evil Woman. In this universe this transformation entails wire-flying, sword-waving, bashing of innocents, and new maquillage.

A wandering Taoist priest (Lam Ching Ying) and his inept pupil (Gabriel Wong) are the quintessential ghostbusters. This time around they need the support of a local military officer (Shing Fui On), who is somewhat reluctant to help. This is understandable considering the fact that the priest wants him to die so he can be more useful. Die the officer does, after rubbing some special Magic potion on his penis (don't ask). The trio battles the Evil Woman and the Japanese Ghost but just when they are about to defeat him, a time portal opens up and sucks them into the distant future (i.e. modern Hong Kong).

This is where the film mutates into comedy of sorts. Naturally, the priest is locked up in a lunatic asylum, and his two consorts end up in a church. CI CI has reincarnated as Gi GI and is now a psychiatrist at the loony bin. The next third of the story desperately tries to come up with funny scenes out of supposedly golden material, but for some reason it does not work very well. The two sidekicks (comic relief) were much too annoying to be entertaining and Lam is too serious to participate fully in the loony party craze. At any rate, he escapes only to end up in GI Gi's apartment masquerading as a puppy (again, don't ask).

At this point the film shift gears and descends to the pit of stalking, as GI GI's ex-boyfriend (Anthony Wong) becomes quite psychotic, tries to rape her, manhandles her, kidnaps her, and tries to marry her. The latter is conveniently staged in the same church where Japanese Ghost is kept under lock and key by God's crucifix (yeah, that's right, he's in the cross). The ex slashes his throat when Joey says "No" and releases the Ghost who does not take "No" for an answer. A last climactic battle ensues, mostly memorable for the flying gas barrels, and evil is defeated.

The film thus tries to do too much, and, lumping together elements too disparate to make a coherent whole, fails in all. I would not have objected to the traditional Joey Wang role as a fleeting ghost, and the evil streak was just a bonus. I probably would not have minded some comedy from the ever-funny anachronistic time travel. In another setting, the subplot with the psycho would have also worked (and it was there where Joey was particularly good although I have to say that when she is abused like this, it makes me cringe, much like the powerful ending of A Hearty Response). However, the three together mix like oil and water.

The acting, with the definite exception of Lam and the possible exception of Joey (does Anthony Wong ever do non-psychotic roles?), was hammy, to say the least. The worst offenders were the sidekicks, although the lunatics did not do much better. Of course, one seldom sees a HK film for Academy Award performances, and it is normally fine for one or two leads to carry the rest of the cast, but this time too much time was devoted to the rest of the cast, and so the leads could do little to help.

The Mei Ah DVD is slightly above average. The picture is fine considering its age, with some dust and scratches but compressed fairly well and not much annoying pixellation. The colors seemed a bit off but nothing too distracting. The Cantonese soundtrack was average, with some drops in special effects. The English subs were horrendous: just enough to make out the story, but generally full of errors. The DVD is perhaps worth the $5 you'd pay if you bought it from an online HK retailer.

September 28, 2001.