There are times when people get involved and need a bit off privacy to carry on their affair. Sometimes the dark corner of a not so popular restaurant will suffice. Others need to check into sleazy motel on the edge of town that takes cash and requires no names in the registry. There are a few cultural couples that have their rendezvous at the art museum. But have you ever heard of anyone having their secretive meet up inside the art? That’s what one couple had to do to keep things on the downlow. After the success of Tsui Hark’s A Chinese Ghost Story, audiences in Hong Kong were eager for more supernatural tales on the big screen. Picture Of A Nymph reunited two of the big stars of the blockbuster for another tale of mystical passion.
Late one night a Taoist scholar Tsui Hung-Chuen (A Chinese Torture Chamber Story‘s Lawrence Ng) lets monk Shih Erh (Project A‘s Yuen Biao) into his house. A few moments later an old man knocks and once more Tsui opens his door to show hospitality. This turns out to be a bad idea since the old man is a demon in disguise. His beard is a weapon. Their outrageous battle ends with Tsui losing his house. He ends up following the monk to his house and his adoptive father Wu Men-Chu (A Chinese Ghost Story‘s Ma Wu). Turns out there’s been some spiritual issues in the neighborhood. Wu has been dealing with the wicked King Ghost (Long Arm of The Law Part 3‘s Elizabeth Lee) who is haunting the forest. Tsui meets up the beautiful Mo Chiu (A Chinese Ghost Story‘s Joey Wang) and is smitten. Shih knows she’s a spirit and tries to protect his new friend. But Mo is not an evil demon. Turns out she’s being held prisoner by King Ghost. Tsui knows that there’s always a chance of King Ghost finding them if they meet in the woods. He concocts a plan to use a piece of art as a place he and his demon lover can meet safely. But will it really work?
Pictures Of A Nymph is a fun and dynamic tale of what can go wrong when you get romantically involved with the spirit. It’s fantastic to see another Yuen Biao film since I don’t believe he had his own shelf at Dave’s Videodrome in Carrboro. What’s interesting is that while he has the top billing; he’s not the guy trying to get freaky with the ghost. He gets to focus on action and spirituality with his monk character. Lawrence Ng does seem like the guy who would stumble into such a relationship. Wu Ma does double duty as both the elderly mentor and the movie’s director. He does a great job of making sure the special effects enhances the action scenes. He and producer Sammo Hung makes sure that this is entertaining in the ghostly action subgenre that rose up in the late ’80s. Picture of a Nymph is a haunting work of art.
The Video is 1.85:1. The 2K transfer is from the original negative. The Audio is Cantonese LPCM 2.0 Mono. You’ll hear the weird noises clearly. The movie is subtitled in English.
Audio Commentary by Frank Djeng has him give plenty of details about the Golden Harvest film. He gets into how a lot of people had been a part of A Chinese Ghost Story that you might think this is a sequel.
Audio Commentary by David West gets into the cast and crew.
Image Gallery (1:32) includes color press photos.
Original Trailer (3:35) starts with the Golden Harvest bongs and shows supernatural imagery.
Postcard with movie poster art.
Illustrated booklet with essays by Paul Bramhall and Fraser Elliott about the film.
88 Films present Picture Of A Nymph. Directed by Wu Ma. Screenplay by Wu Ma & Chan Kam Cheung. Starring Yuen Biao, Wu Ma, Lawrence Ng, Joey Wang, Elizabeth Lee, Wah Yuen, May Mei-Mei Lo, So Yip & Wai Lam. Running Time: 98 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: March 10, 2026.
