The First Vampire in China (1986)

Chicken dance!

The First Vampire in China was on my list to watch for one reason---hopping vampires! Turns out it had an even better reason to watch---a vampire chicken! This was a ridiculous jiangshi, vampire, and ghost film grounded by Sek Kin as the ever-calm sifu ready with a talisman to subdue supernatural critters.

I usually try and give a little synopsis of the story here, but this one was confusing at times. Not helped by much of it being filmed at night making it very hard to see. Basically, there was a school near a large burial ground that taught how to summon and contain things that go bump in the night. The students accidentally release malevolent ghosts. That wasn’t their greatest worry. A new inept mayor arrives and long story short, an ancient gold jade wearing vampire, along with an assortment of hopping vampires are set free when he attempts to rob a tomb. Sifu Kent and his students Kwong and Mao bring their magical tools to try and set everything right.

I don’t usually find Hong Kong horror or kung fu comedies very funny but I will admit to laughing at the vampire chicken and its effects on the hapless antagonists. The chicken song that played throughout the movie was funny enough. A jump-roping jiangshi was also unique. The students weren’t very memorable, Sek Kin saved this movie. The bumbling fool usually played by Billy Lau in the Mr. Vampire movies was played by Charlie Cho here. I found Charlie’s character far less annoying as an annoying character. And the mayor was pretty annoying. Kung fu fighters Hwang Jang Lee and Johnny Wang made brief appearances as ghosts.

The only copy I could find was faded and the subtitles were even more faded and tended to run off the bottom of the screen. I will admit that if I ever hear that this film has been restored I’d probably watch it again, though the likelihood is that it will just further degrade. The First Vampire in China is only for fans of this particular era and genre, and idiots like me who giggle whenever the chicken song is played. Graded on a curve as always.

20 October 2025
Trigger: Allusion to a dog being killed for its blood. The chicken used looked like a puppet so I don’t think one was harmed for the film.

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