Doctor Vampire
A conference in the English countryside, far from the bustle of Hong Kong and his apartment next door to that of his girlfriend May Chen and the endless harassment of the profit-driven assistant director of the Chun Wa Medical Centre, leavened only by the antics of his two best friends, Doctors Andy Chin and K K Chang, for Doctor Chiang Ta-Tsung it is a welcome break, even when his car breaks down.
Making his way through country paths by foot, he finds a castle where he is welcomed inside by the strange hostesses who make him altogether too welcome, inappropriately so; it is in fact a coven of vampires seeking offerings for their Master, and when after his hasty departure his blood is deemed the best Alice is sent to retrieve him, following him home to find him before he transforms into a vampire himself.
Written and directed by Jamie Luk Kin-ming, Doctor Vampire (Jiāngshī yīshēng, 殭屍醫生) sees Bowie Lam’s ineffectual and awkward physician Chiang Ta-Tsung trapped between two women, the equally reserved and virginal May Chen (Sheila Chan) and the considerably more forward Alice (Ellen Chan) while developing a craving for blood, tempting exposure an occupational hazard when one works as a surgeon.
The women depicted as subservient, deferential to the men to whom they cater, May and her best friend Joy Kwok (Crystal Kwok) are needy and gossiping nurses, though any accusations of behaviour unbecoming their stations are nothing next to the unprofessional antics of Chiang’s insufferable comedy sidekicks (Shek-Yin Lau and David Wu) and their bullying boss (James Wong) even before the chaos begins and all run around flapping their arms like screaming children.
Originally released in 1990, the same era as the vampire genre began to metamorphose to a post-modern awareness with Vamp, The Lost Boys, Near Dark and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, even in its own era Doctor Vampire would have seemed as dated and juvenile Carry on Doctor, billed as a comedy but absent any sophistication or awareness and the only promised outrageous aspects are the pantomime acting and the big hair of the Master (Peter Kjær) in the final fight.
Presented as a 2K restoration on Blu-ray as part of the Eureka Classics range, the new edition of Doctor Vampire carries two new commentaries, from Frank Djeng and John Charles and from Mike Leeder and Arne Venema, a new video essay, Vampire Slaying 101, considering the film in the context of vampire film history and a forgiving interview with Stacey Abbot, author of Celluloid Vampires, who considers the cultural crossovers and contradictions of European and Chinese vampire folklore.
Doctor Vampire will be available on Blu-ray from Eureka from Monday 24th February
