The Haunted Cop Shop

Hong Kong humor isn’t always appropriate for mixed company. Even the initiated have to admit its full of homophobia, crude sexual innuendo and outdated pratfalls. But then again, so was every installment of Police Academy. And at least The Haunted Cop Shop (1987) adds ghosts, vampires and a quickie-mart manager who’s also a master of kung fu!

Set at a rural police station used as a Japanese after-hours club during the occupation, the current staff unwittingly releases General Issei – now a bloodthirsty vampire - from the spirit world. As he makes the rounds turning victims into his undead slaves, two cops and their superior look to undo the damage without becoming supernatural casualties themselves.

A sort of Abbott & Costello Meet the Hungry Ghosts, this Wong Kar-wai co-written spoof happily embraces the broad comedy clichés established by Sammo Hung’s Encounters of the Spooky Kind - and even gives it a name-check. What’s most surprising is that, for all the narrative contortions required to keep the scares and hijinks in the same room, The Haunted Cop Shop is genuinely funny. The jokes land where they are supposed to - even the off-color ones - and just when the silliness threatens to take over, director Jeffrey Lau drops in another creepy set piece to restore the balance. With impressive make-up, moody atmosphere and a few hard-hitting stunts, the film makes a case for its inclusion on a list of the top ten HK horror comedies. Let’s just hope the statute of limitations has expired on that blatant Fright Night finale.

88 Films gives the movie a polished 2K restoration from the original negative, with remastered Cantonese mono and newly translated English subtitles. The best supplements are a commentary by Hong Kong-cinema expert Frank Djeng and James Mudge’s Hauntings and Hollerings appreciation, while alternate/extended footage, stills and a pair of trailers round out the disc. New Sean Longmore artwork and a reversible sleeve sweeten the pot on this limited edition.