Ling holds on to a curtain to shield the urn, containing Lip's cremated remains, from the sunlight, she tells him that the only way to save her is to place the urn in a more auspicious burial site. In the midst of thousands of other spirits they are unable to find Lip, eventually she and Ling see each other as dawn is breaking, but Lip cannot be exposed to sunlight or her soul will disintegrate.
Ling is determined not to give up and insists that Yin help him, Yin opens a temporary portal to the Underworld, they enter and attempt to free Lip's soul from suffering. Ling attempts to free her, he seeks help from powerful Taoist priest and master swordsman Yin Chek Hsia (Wu Ma), Yin battles with the Tree Demoness, but fails to free Lip, her soul is taken to the underworld for betraying her master. Lip tells her story, she is eternally bound to the servitude of a sinister Tree Devil (Siu-Ming Lau), she is forever enslaved, as her buried remains are at the foot of the tree. However Ling becomes fearful and superstitious, as a Taoist mystic told him there are ghosts, and when he returns to the temple, his suspicions of Lip being a spirit are confirmed. He is forced to seek shelter in a deserted temple in the middle of the forest, and that night Ling meets and falls in love with beautiful and alluring young maiden Lip Siu Sin (Joey Wang). Basically Ling Choi San (Leslie Cheung) is a timid debt collector, his job requires him to travel to rural areas, he arrives in a town, but his inability to collect a debt as planned.
The title made it obvious where the movie was from, this Catonese language film is one I found listed in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, I was glad to read positive reviews by critics, so I was looking forward to it. The budget is high enough that you never question what's up on screen and there's a poetic, almost lyrical aspect behind the frenetic action which makes it a strong and influential movie in the genre. Then there's the tentacled slimy monster that the tongue turns into, a macabre skull-lined inn (that's some furnishing design), a portal into Hell (simple but good special effect), the frightening Black Lord who attacks with slime, tentacles and weirdo flying heads all over and the final battle in Hell which is excellently staged and a convincing depiction of a netherworld with it. Men are menaced by gigantic killer tongues (great effect, forget that crappy Spanish comedy KILLER TONGUE - this is how it should be done), men battle demons with colourful bolts and heads roll aplenty. This is a film where murky stop-motion corpses slither and stir in ruined temples to great spooky effect where bodies return to life and have to be burned apart by magical bolts. The comedy is enjoyable without being laboured and there are lots of slapstick antics to help take your mind off the thin plot, which serves as a basis for lots of visual delights. There are the three main stars - Leslie Cheung, who shines as the young and innocent taxman drawn into events beyond his comprehension Wu Ma as the sarcastic, world-weary swordsman Yen giving an excellent performance and stealing his scenes, and Joey Wong, who fits the bill perfectly as the ethereal love interest Lit Sin Seen.
Sure, the first half is a little slow, but this is only so that the characters can be built up (yes, there are real characters here to like, not just action figures). It's an entertaining and genuinely likable movie which has something for everyone and offers all the exotic magic and fantasy you could want from an eastern movie like this.
This influential classic of the Hong Kong fantastic cinema is one of the most pleasing I've watched from that country, a funny, fast-paced, atmospheric and exciting romp through a haunted world which expertly mixes together a tragic love affair (between man and ghost, a theme that has swamped Chinese cinema ever since this hit first came out), some fine martial arts swordplay, horror and expertly-played comic relief to the hilt.