Rating: 3/5
An apprentice tends to a waning candle. Keep it lit, or they’ll come to life.
When someone dies in anger, a breath is caught in his throat. They will return as a hopping vampire if it isn’t exhaled.
A skull breaks out from one coffin and bites an apprentice. He accidentally knocks the candle over, and the hopping vampires come alive.
The masters run in, one beating them up, the other marking them with rooster blood and ink that neutralizes them.
They meet with a client who wishes to dig up and rebury his father because a fortune-teller told him it would bring him great riches.
As they open the coffin, birds scatter away. The father is a hopping vampire. They use special ink to bind the coffin, but they miss a spot, and the hopping vampire gets loose, killing the client.
The client’s nephew accuses the master of killing his uncle and locking him away. Meanwhile, the client awakens.
The antics continue as the apprentices use Chinese magic for pranks and tricks, slacking on their jobs and getting everyone into trouble.
There’s some sexual assault humor that I wish wasn’t there. Thankfully, it is not widespread.
There are a couple of great fight sequences, but the movie is more interested in sloppy physical comedy from the terminally unfunny Ricky Hui.
It may not be as fun as Encounter of the Spooky Kind, but it has some enjoyable moments. I’d like this more if I saw it before Encounter. Or if Sammo Hung was in it.