Magic Cop (1990)

When the Hong Kong police force is faced with an undead drug trafficker, who are they going to call? Lam Ching Ying of course! Magic Cop aka Mr. Vampire 5 could be considered a fifth (unofficial?) installment of the franchise even though there were no hoppers in this one. DARN!

Police officers Lam and 2237 are faced with a bizarre drug mule when they stake out a bar. The problem? She was dead and deadly dangerous. Uncle Feng, a cop stuck out in the sticks is called in to help on the case by Capt. Ma, an old friend and police comrade. Lam doesn’t believe the woman was dead before she was killed (again) and works overtime to drive Feng away. Feng is a supernaturally talented Taoist and supernaturally stubborn. Before long he has used his skills to track down an evil Japanese sorceress and drug trafficker who uses animated corpses to do her bidding.

Lam Ching Ying cannot be beaten as a Taoist ghost and vampire buster. Nearly any scene with Feng and his wild eyebrows was a winner, whether he was taking on a bodybuilder corpse, ticked-off ghost, kung fu bodyguard, or sorceress who was nearly impervious to any assault. Lam also proved in his fight against Billy Chow he could still hold his own with fists and kicks. Nishiwaki Michiko as the sorceress could have used more scenes but nailed her magically bonkers role. The second half of the film was action packed with almost non-stop fights both kung fu and magical.

Where this film let me down was the first half, especially when it centered on the two officers played by Wilson Lam and Michael Miu. I didn’t find their humor funny and Officer Lam’s sexist slapping women on the butt made me hope he’d get eaten. There always seem to be inept sidekicks in these films and these two bordered on grating. They weren’t as bothersome in the last 45 minutes. Feng’s niece was inexplicably thrown into the story as a female presence for the two cops to fight over. Ick. And also for Feng to rescue.

Once the action, magical mirrors, and ropes took hold of the film, it was much more entertaining. The special effects were especially low budget, completely expected and part of the fun. I should be bored of the LCY formula, but I line up to watch him fight the undead every time. I just wish there had been some jiangshi/hopping vampires for him to tackle in this film. As always, rated on a curve against others in the genre/time period.

14 October 2025
Trigger warnings: There was a gross supernatural character for anyone squeamish. I hope there wasn’t but it sure looked like animal abuse of a cat. Officer Lam’s sexist swatting of women was never acceptable, but certainly not in 1990.

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