Spiritual Trinity (1991) User Reviews (2)

An Wnjoyable, Although Slow, Chinese Ghost Story

[The-Sarkologist · 6/10 · 7 December 2013]

I thought that this movie was a little slow but the end is worth waiting for. As with most Hong Kong movies, there is little theme but a lot of action. Some Hong Kong movies, such as the Killer, are thematic, but Spiritual Trinity really isn't. It is not long but it seems that they padded it up with too much boring stuff to really make an interesting movie. Though it is about a ghost, they take the background as a struggle between a husband and his wife's old lover takes the main stage.

A boy, Wang-Ko, is very intelligent and practical and has made an electric generator. Unfortunately the generator interferes with a ghost ascending to heaven and brings her to earth, disrupting her tri-partate spirit and trapping her. Wang-Ko tries to help her but is hindered by their ancestor's wishes not to have ghosts in the house. Then a ghostbuster, one of Wang-Ko's mother's old boyfriends, comes along and stays for a while. The ghostbuster has just defeated a very vicious Red-robed demon and is visiting having not seen them in 18 years. The problem is that they must keep the ghost hidden from him because he will want to banish it even though she is a good ghost.

What I like about these movies is the supernatural wonder that abounds. The finale ends with a huge battle between them and the red-robed demon with people flying everywhere and them exploding, something seen in Erotic-Ghost Story. The Chinese seem to love their ghost stories and a lot of them abound, moreso than in Western cinema. The problem is that watching this these movie we treat the beliefs of the people in the movie as being false. The Chinese believe that their ancestors watch over the house and punish those going against their wishes, which is why the father was having so much bad luck fall upon him. Even so, we must watch these movies with the fantastic in mind, yet not bring it into reality. We are so used to accepting what we consider fantastic, yet scoff at real world religions, which is why in our western minds it is not really possible to bring them into the film for the suspension of disbelief is not there.

Entertaining elf vs. ghost movie.

[OllieSuave-007 · 8/10 · 26 October 2014]

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+