Are you one of those people who imagine all Hong Kong films made in the ’70s and early ’80s followed the same formula? You imagine that they were always about a martial arts student getting revenge for his teacher being beaten up. There were quite a few with that plot. Ghost Nursing is not formulaic. This Hong Kong film shot in Thailand in 1982 brings a supernatural wonder to a tale of an extreme way to break a bad luck streak. Can black magic really help your dating life? Ghost Nursing doesn’t hold anything back with extreme advice and uncomfortable rituals.
Jackie (Dragon Lord‘s Shirley Yim) finds herself in the middle of a Triad killing and must flee before the cops figure out who she is. This is not the first time she has been in a jinxed relationship. This jinx has also been screwing up her gambling luck. She arrives in Thailand to visit a friend with the hopes that the new location will turn around her bad luck. Her pal takes her out to a nightclub to land a “hostess” job. She proves popular at the new club. But things get nasty when two gangsters taking a liking to her and neither wants to wait their turn for time with her. When there’s another shoot out, Jackie knows she needs a higher power to break whatever curse is ruining her life and the lives of those who come into contact with her. She and her girlfriend go to visit a priest so that she can adopt a baby ghost that will change her fortune. Part of the responsibilities of taking on a baby ghost is that you must nurse the ghost through a statue. Nursing consists of drops of Jackie’s blood dripped on it. The priest lets her know that she can’t neglect her nursing duties of the baby ghost might throw a tantrum. The Baby Ghost seems like a very temperamental guardian angel. But Jackie tells the Baby Ghost is looking out for her such as when she goes on a boat party and one unwanted suitor finds himself with a mouthful of something disgusting. Later the ghost gets revenge for her on a gangster that didn’t treat her right. She does find Mister Right in Raymond (The 36th Chamber of the Shaolin‘s Norman Chu). He treats her right and gives her a reason to stay out late. This is not a good thing for Jackie. The ghost loses it when he doesn’t get his drops of blood on time. It’s a bizarre twist on Cinderella.
The last half hour of the Ghost Nursing is pure supernatural action and wildness. Spells are cast. Hexes are broken. Punches are thrown. During one fight, a set of comically large and decorative wooden fork and spoon are used to kill a person. It’s an awesome scene that will make you a bit anxious the next to you visit your grandparents and their witness their deadly decor on the kitchen walls. The rest of the finale fight is also in overdrive has we get a mix of martial arts, violent religious rituals, haunted forest attacks and outright weirdness. Don’t think of pausing the film during the final 30 minutes because the mystical mayhem is unrelenting. Ghost Nursing gets freaky with what it takes to break that bad luck streak.
The Video is 1.85:1 anamorphic. The 2K transfer is struck from the original 35mm camera negative. The Audio is DTS-HD 2.0 Mono in Cantonese. There’s also a Mandarin dub track. The movie is subtitled in English.
From The Big Boss to Ghost Nursing (8:19) interviews actor Billy Chan. Has him talk about working with Bruce Lee on his first film. He also gets into how he ended up a producer on Ghost Nursing. They shot for a week in Thailand. The story idea came from dealing with hookers who were nursing ghosts for good luck. He gets into scalp yanking effects.
Ghosts and Black Magic in Hong Kong China (18:33) is a new video essay from Samm Deighan. We get the history of the Category 3 rating in Hong Kong which is between an R and NC-17 in America. This came around in the early ’80s and became a way to describe a genre of films that were supernatural horrors. We see the slightly scary melodrama transform real horror films in the ’70s. Plenty of these movies were put out by Shaw Brothers. There are wild clips to accompany Samm’s lecture. You’ll be wanting to see several of the movies named here.
Vinegar Syndrome presents Ghost Nursing. Director Wilson Tong. Screenwriter Team Kam Shing. Starring Norman Chu, Shirley Yim (Suit Li), Melvin Wong, Yuet-Sang Chin, Sze-Wing Chan & Billy Chan. Running Time: 90 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: September 19th, 2023.
