The Haunted Cop Shop - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

The Haunted Cop Shop



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:

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Movie
While Hong Kong was mainly known for their action movies, they were not above making a slapstick comedy or horror movie either. But what could be better than one or the other this Halloween? How about a blending of all 3 genres, in what can only be described as Peter Sellers meets Benny Hill, run through the lens of Chinese vampires and some Kung-Fu thrown in for good measure. Following in the wake of the comedic vampire hit Mr. Vampire (produced by none other than Sammo Hung himself), The Haunted Cop Shop is a wild circus ride of epic proportions, using a cheap shoe string budget, physical comedy, and good old fashioned tongue n’ cheek humor to make an acceptably goofy little time waster that I haven’t had a chance to see up until this point (and I’m a MASSIVE 80s and 90s Hong Kong cinemaphile).

During the Hungry Ghost Festival, an ex-cop turned monk comes back to his old precinct in order to warn police chief Shun (Wu Fung) that something ominous is coming their way. He warns the chief not to let in a woman dressed in pink and then vanishes as quickly as he came. Thinking the old monk is off his rocker, Chief Shun heads back into the precinct where he books a local thief named Sneaky Ming (Billy Lau, of Mr. Vampire fame). But little does he know that this one movement may the entire department to a lifetime of agony.

While the chief and his two lead detectives, Kim Mak-Kei (Jacky Cheung) and Man Chiu (Ricky Hui), are yucking it up, Sneaky Ming is visited by the ghosts of several dead Japanese soldiers who are heralded by a woman in pink. You see, the police station was built over the site of an old Japanese military compound during the invasion period. And after they were defeated,d the entire staff committed ritual suicide in order not to be captured. Now it’s the time of the awakening, and the three ghosts command the poor prisoner to unleash the spirit of their dead general so that he can come back to the corporeal world.

Getting turned into a vampire in the process, Sneaky Ming is jolted back to the real world, where he is subsequently hunted down and accidentally killed by Kim Mak-Kei and Man Chiu. Realizing that they’re in over their head and that this isn’t your average crime caper, Mak-Kei and Man Chiu, with the help of superintendent Fanny Ho (Kitty Chan), decide to hunt down General Issei’s resurrected vampire form and put him back in his coffin for good. That is, if the two horn dogs can keep their hands off Fanny Ho, or keep from getting themselves killed in the process.

The Haunted Cop Shop is bizarre beyond belief, and leans heavily into the slapstick “Benny Hill” style comedy that was so prevalent in 80s Hong Kong films. Amping up what made Mr. Vampire so much fun a few years ago, it attempts to revitalize that slam-dunk hit with bawdy humor, goofy costumes, and a little bit of Kung-Fu to spice things up. Sometimes the film works, but many times it doesn’t, resulting in a wildly uneven bit of escapist fare that doesn’t always hit home. I really liked some of the creepy vampire horror that we got, but every time it was getting good, the other the top slapstick humor would just tip the scales the other direction and suck all of the tension out of the room. I would have gone for it if things had been a bit more balanced, but the overabundance of humor WITH the really nifty horror elements just wasn’t that great. Not to mention that there wasn’t ENOUGH martial arts in the film either. The end fight was pretty fun, but limited with quick cuts and too much humor.




Rating: Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:
Taken from a new 2K remaster of the original camera negative, The Haunted Cop Shop looks rather good to my eyes. As you would expect, this was a super low-budget Hong Kong film that isn’t going to be super showy in terms of special effects, but the image quality is quite pleasant, with good dimensionality to it. Fine details are generally good, though you can sometimes see the obvious white face makeup, or makeup to simulate wounds, very easily with the added resolution. Grain is nice, though sometimes it's a bit thick in certain darker shots (such as the fight vs. the General near the end). Reds and blacks and blues have some nice punch to them, and shadow detail is solid. Sometimes things can look a bit soft, but never problematically. Overall,l a good-looking remaster for a low-budget comedy.


Audio:
The audio, on the other hand, is a bit more of a mixed bag situation. The remastered mono mix is good enough for the most part, with solid music and sound effects. But the Cantonese dialog has some harsh distortion to it when things get loud. It’s a noticeable effect that follows the dialog the entire length of the film, and while it isn’t TOO obtrusive, it definitely sounds like the source material had some issues, or else the recording was tainted. LFE is pretty much non-existent, and surrounds are (duh) missing as well. It is what it is, and it's certainly a listenable track, but not one that is going to blow your skirt up.


Extras:
• Audio Commentary with Asian Cinema Expert Frank Djeng
• Hauntings and Hollerings – James Mudge on The Haunted Cop Shop
• Alternate and Extended Shots
• Image Gallery
• Original Hong Kong Trailer
• Reconstructed Tai Seng Trailer
• Reversible Sleeve

Final Score: ​

It may sound like I hated The Haunted Cop Shop, but I really don’t. It’s a fun bit of escapist fare that certainly has its charms, but just doesn’t rise to the top like other films in the same genre. It tries to replicate Mr. Vampire and misses a good bit, while still trying to go a different direction with the concept material. Jacky Cheung is fun and plays off of Ricky Hui well enough, and Kitty Chan is adorable as usual. 88 Films Blu-ray looks good, sounds OK, and has some pretty decent extras thrown in as well. I’m glad I got my 1 watch out of it, but I’m not sure if I would blind buy the film. As such, this is going to be a niche genre film that is “for the fans”.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Jacky Cheung, Ricky Hui, Fung Woo, Jeffrey Lau, Alan Tang
Directed by: Jeffrey Lau
Written by: Jeffrey Lau, Wong Kar-wai
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 AVC
Audio: Cantonese: LPCM 2.0 Mono
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: 88 Films
Rated: NR
Runtime: 96 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: October 6th, 2026

Recommendation: Decently Fun Watch