Erotic Ghost Story (聊齋艷譚) is a 1990 live-action theatrical Hong Kong film directed by Lam Nai-choi, produced by Chan Dung Chow, and written by Tsang Kwan. The film stars Amy Yip, Ha Chia Ling, Man Su, Hitomi Kudo and Sin Lap-Man, with music composed by Philip Chan. It was theatrically released in May 1990 for Hong Kong and distributed by Fortune Star and Golden Harvest.
Note: As I’ve purchased the film a while back, this is more akin to a ‘delayed unboxing’ post but most of the photos were sorted at the time of its arrival. This post also contains images from the box art and booklet that are not suitable for work.
Background:
“A trio of saucy spirits with nothing better to do deceive unwary and horny men; until all three of them get the hots for a hunky scholar, settling down to show him the pleasures of the flesh. Except the path of true lust does not run smooth…
From the director of the legendarily bonkers The Story of Ricky comes an altogether more lubricious slice of adults-only action, one that more than lives up to its title, branded with Hong Kong’s infamous Category III rating for its commitment to carnality and starring amply endowed icon of Sino sex cinema Amy Yip (Sex and Zen).”
Plot Synopsis via 88 Films, June 2021.
After releasing a collection of Shaw Brothers films and a dozen Jackie Chan releases, 88 Films ventured into a different type of Hong Kong cinema – Category III. Now for those who aren’t familiar, the Hong Kong motion picture rating system has a few ratings; Category I is all-ages friendly, Category II is the middle tier to which it may feature content not suitable for children or younger audiences, and then we have Category III which is strictly for adults i.e. 18 years or older. Pretty much this is just like the BBFC but with less ratings in general, and for the most part many films released in Hong Kong tend to stick to the lower ratings, but 1988 is when the board started rating specific films with Category III.
Category III is primarily for films that feature a lot of sexual content or extreme violence, or specific themes that China and Hong Kong want to keep exclusive to that format like films having characters that represent triad gangs as an example. In this post, we have one example that was given the Category III rating in 1990 – Lam Nai-choi’s Erotic Ghost Story which is summed up within the name itself – it’s erotic, there’s ghosts and combine the two we have a story.
Going into this film, I heard that the main aspect of Erotic Ghost Story is with its sex appeal. Make no mistake, this film is fucking horny in parts and I’m actually impressed by the camera work because it’s surprising that specific shots was actually allowed (especially for the BBFC as this was rated uncut and uncensored). Now I won’t lie, the sex in its middle act I did think was deviating from the overall story, but it was the third act where everything started to make sense.
Now despite the amount of sex, the story is actually pretty engaging and each of the sisters were interesting in character. I also really enjoyed the spirit aspect of the story especially with the wuxia scenes since I’ve not watched much of that beforehand so seeing it present here is a pretty cool inclusion and fits with the film’s time period. The film’s success did lead to two more sequels though they were not directed by Lam Nai-choi or starring the same leads.
Because of its erotic nature Erotic Ghost Story was not released during the Asian Cinema boom in the 90s and 00s in the UK, so its release by 88 Films was the first time it has been distributed and fortunately with no issues and a special collector’s box set to go with it.
About 88 Films:
88 Films, is an independent UK distributor for Asian Cinema, Italian Cinema, Horror, Cult Classics and Action. Their line-up of films in the Asian Cinema scene includes the works of Jackie Chan (Armour of God, Miracles), Sammo Hung (Dragons Forever, Heart of Dragon), Nam Nai Choi (Erotic Ghost Story, Robotrix), Lau Kar-leung (The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter, Martial Club), Chen Chi-Hwa (Half a Loaf of Kung Fu, Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin), Wong Jing (Casino Tycoon, God of Gamblers) and also many individual films from John Woo, Tsui Hark, Vincent Kok, Yuen Woo-ping and more. The distributor recently expanded to the US with ten Shaw Bros films such as The Chinese Boxer and Human Lanterns but also other works including US exclusive releases of In the Line of Duty I-IV series and Police Story 3: Supercop.
Their 2023+ line-up for Asian Cinema will include the Fight Back to School trilogy, The Last Blood (Hard Boiled II), Magic Cop, Twin Dragons, The Untold Story, and a re-release of Battle Creek Brawl.
Deluxe Collector’s Edition Contents:
88 Films normally provides an o-card slipcase but they went the extra mile with The Young Master and eventually carried over the packaging idea to Erotic Ghost Story which eventually became known as the deluxe collector’s edition line of releases, which isn’t exclusive to 88 Asia but is also applied to their Italian Collection as well.
The rigid box features artwork illustrated by R.P. “KUNG FU BOB” O’Brien with an Amaray case that houses the Blu-ray disc plus the option to switch the sleeve between the new artwork and the classic Hong Kong poster artwork (with that massive iconic Category III logo). Also included is an 40-page perfect bound book and a double-sided poster. The book includes the essay “From an ancient past to an unknown future – A brief introduction to Category III cinema and Erotic Ghost Story” written by Dylan Cheung.
The SRP is £34.99 and was printed for 2000 units. This release did sell out not long after launch and thus is no longer available. A standard edition Blu-ray with a first print slipcase was released not long after with the same artwork and disc, but without the other physical items.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with new artwork by R.P. “KUNG FU BOB” O’Brien and Amaray packaging
- 40-page perfect bound book “From an ancient past to an unknown future – A brief introduction to Category III cinema and Erotic Ghost Story” by Dylan Cheung
- Double-sided Fold-out Poster
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: 88 Films
Released: 21st June 2021
88 Films’ Blu-ray release for Erotic Ghost Story presents the film in its original uncut and uncensored glory in high definition. The audio options available feature the main Cantonese language with newly translated English subtitles, as well as the classic English dub. The Blu-ray disc is Region B locked and the subtitles are unlockable during playback.
In addition, 88 Films have also included a few on-disc features such as audio commentaries and a 45 minute episode from the Celebrity Talk Show that spans 45 minutes in length.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | Cantonese, English |
| Audio | Cantonese Linear PCM 2.0 Mono English Linear PCM 2.0 Mono |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 1.85:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | 1 BD-50 |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
- Audio Commentary with Asian cinema experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema
- Audio Commentary with Film Critic and Author Samm Deighan
- Celebrity Talk Show [今夜不設防]
An archived episode featuring James Wong, Ni Kuang and Chua Lam visiting the set of Erotic Ghost Story and talk to the stars [45 minutes] - Hong Kong Trailer
- Tai Seng Trailer
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Erotic Ghost Story is available to own on Blu-ray from 88 Films for the United Kingdom & Ireland. The deluxe collector’s edition release has since discontinued, but the standard edition can be purchased through 88 Films’ official website, Amazon UK and Terracotta store.
(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)
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