Dir/Scr: Wong Toi
Prod Co: Nanshan
Cast: Pak Yin, Hu Rong, Lo Tai-kim, Lo Sai-kim, Lau Kwai-hong
1939 | B&W | DCP | Cantonese | 89min

Something like Frankenstein's monster, the film draws on horror cinema old and new, and from East and West. A boy (Lo Tai-kim) is obsessed with the comic book hero Zhong Kui, an eccentric ghost catcher armed with a magic sword and sack. When his mother (Pak Yin) and younger sister (Lo Sai-kim) are abducted by demons, the boy decides to seek help from Zhong (Lau Kwai-hong) to fight against vampires and revenants, zombies and goblins. Taking advantage of such special effects as freeze-frame and step-printing, The Ghost Catcher is a spectacular visual adventure. Despite its fantastical subject matter, the film was praised as an antidote to superstition by contemporary critics.