Foxy Spirits (Leng Woo, 1991)

Wu Ma

Hong Kong

90 min, color, Cantonese (English subtitles)

Joey Wang reprises her role as the watery-eyed love-struck fox spirit, who falls for a mortal man, to her tragic doom. Wu Ma shows up in his usual character of the intrepid, if unimaginatevely appellated Hunt King, the singing spiritbuster with a wide array of tricks up his beard. Somewhat predictably, Brother Tan decides to squander the Wei family fortune in order to save his newly discovered love by builidng her a cellar of ice (all of it "imported from 3000 miles away" (!!!).

The crux of the story is the long (really long, as in 500 years long) dead master fox, who must be revived with a magic stamp (translated, quite inexplicably as 'chop') and the heart of the last Wei son (i.e. our very own Brother Tan). In the end, he revives nevertheless, without said heart and stamp, thus plunging the viewer into the endless pit of frustration over the script. For this grievous deed, and because he tried to murder the main characters, Show Lady rubber-stamps his ass to hell, unfortunately blowing herself up in the process also. There are two 'amazing' innovations in this film that should not be missed: first, the death fart of the foxy spirits, which is quite unromantic but very deadly unless one is wearing a really funny theater mask (with two holes for breathing!); and second, the shit-eating skills of every self-respected foxbuster; this skill involves munching on fox shit to determine 'how cunning' the fox who deposited it is: if it smells bad, it's cunning, if it tastes bitter, it's old and cunning, if it is crunchy, it is old, cunning, and works for McDonald's.

Alternatively known as Fox Legend, the film falls flat as a pale clone of ACGS, and even of Wu Ma's very own feature (in which he recast himself and Joey in the very same roles), Picture of a Nymph. Fortunately, I like everything with Joey in it, even if it is a brainless flick, and even if it is on a less than stellar VCD (Winson), even if it was about wolves/foxes/whatever.

January 15, 2002