Ling huan zhi zun (1991)

This is an entertaining ghost comedy from Hong Kong, a story about Tao Priest Master Tien Kuei and his family that provide shelter to a wandering female ghost until she is ready to reincarnate. However, the ghost is sent into hiding when Tien Kuei's ghost-busting colleague, Master Tien Lung, visits the family with his daughter after a long journey, bringing a captured red-jacket demon elf with them.

The movie starts off with some nice comic relief as we see Tien Kuei's son constantly getting in trouble with his mother because of him shying away with his studies and, instead, spends his time on inventions. This then leads to some sophisticated ghost action when a wizard priest releases a handful of female spirits from confinement one night, with one being struck down by lightening, sending her into Tien Kuei's house. There is a brief romantic moment between the ghost and the son, which sorts of remind you of the ghost-meets-human subplot in the classic Mr. Vampire movie.

The plot of the movie takes off faster when Vampire Buster veteran actor Lam Ching-Ying, starring as Tien Lung, appears on screen, engaging in a spectacular battle with an animal-feeding red-jacket demon elf, highlighted by some cool martial arts action. Then, much of the second half of the movie is about Tien Kuei getting suspicious of Tien Lung and is concerned that his stature in the household may be jeopardized by his more-powerful colleague's over-extending stay. There is not much ghost horror action until the climax, and you get a lot of all-talk and no action scenes. However, the good acting and fun humor makes this still an enjoyable movie to watch.

As with much of Lam Ching-Ying's ghost movies, he proves in this story that he is still a force to be reckon with.

Grade B+