The Dead and the Deadly

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The Dead and the Deadly

This riotous horror-comedy from Hong Kong director Wu Ma (who also stars) almost feels like several films rolled into one, with various subplots and the first half focused on comedy and slapstick while the second half is dominated by comedy and martial arts action but it all works just great! Also starring the irrepressible Sammo Hung as a hapless employee at a funeral business enterprise, plus the usual familiar faces turning up in Sammo’s films, THE DEAD AND THE DEADLY (1982) is side-splittingly funny!
We’re off to a goofy start when Wang Li (Sammo Hung), also known as Fat-boy and Dumb-boy, decides to spy on two adulterers disguised as a ghost as he feels the adulteress, a young woman who has just recently become a widow, has no right to betray the memory of her deceased husband so quickly after his death, he gets more than he bargained for when the ghost of the dead husband appears and not only kills his wife and her new lover but Wang Li as well, just to make sure he won’t gossip about the adulterous couple. In the next scene, however, the sequence is revealed to be a dream, with Wang Li – an employee at his 2nd great-uncle Yee’s funeral business – lying on the ground sleeping and imagining he is still being chased by ghosts after waking up. This causes the wrath of Lee, who also happens to be the local Taoist priest, who reads the riot act to Wang Li and points out just how much trouble his entire family tree has caused him. Furthermore, Yee is unhappy that Wang Li isn’t very nice to Miss Yuen (Cherie Chung), his promised bride who is very much in love with Wang though he in turn isn’t interested in the prospect of a marriage, let alone an arranged one. Also in Uncle Lee’s employ are goofballs Mao (Lung Chan) and Nat Lai (Chau Sang Lau) who are even more useless than Wang Li. On top of this, Mao and Nat are constantly trying to outdo each other by throwing around grand words whose meaning they don’t understand and don’t even know how to pronounce.
When Wang Li learns of the sudden death of his old friend Ma Lun (director Wu Ma) he is startled when the old man’s young widow Li Yu (Hui Leung-Mei) claims to be eight months pregnant. This immediately raises Wang Li’s suspicion because he knows for fact that the old man was impotent and thus couldn’t possibly be the father. Ma Lun’s impotence is demonstrated via a hilarious flashback sequence during which Wang Li, only meaning well as per usual, brings old Ma Lun to a brothel and before a lady of the night is chosen, Wang makes sure that Ma Lun takes an aphrodisiac in the form of dried berries. When – some time later – the prostitute storms out of her chamber, angry that Ma Lun isn’t ‘up to the job’, Wang Li assumes the berries don’t work and starts eating them himself as he’s peckish. Low and behold, the aphrodisiac works for Wang Li whose nether region begins to grow larger by the minute much to his embarrassment. Turning against the wall so the brothel’s clients can’t see him in his aroused state, the condition is made worse when he is forced to look at erotic etchings hanging on the walls…
Back in the present, Wang Li decides to sneak into the funeral hall (more like a temple) to conduct an autopsy on Ma Lun in order to prove that foul play was at hand and he was murdered, he also doesn’t trust anything that pregnant Li Yu says to him, neither does he believe that her apparent ‘brother’ (Chung Fat) really is her brother. What Wang Li doesn’t know is that Ma Lun isn’t dead at all but only fakes his death so he can claim his family’s funeral treasure and split it between his pregnant wife and her ‘brother’ (we assume that he is the natural father of her child and also her lover). In order to conduct the autopsy and gain access to the funeral parlour, Wang Li disguises himself as one of Uncle Lee’s funeral effigies – a Buddhist tradition. Now he has to stand still and pretend to be a paper doll until the mourners leave the room, but just as he is about to proceed with the autopsy he is interrupted by a thief hoping to get rich by pulling out the dead man’s gold teeth – if necessary with a hammer or a heavy string. Of course, Ma Lun – despite this unimaginable scenario – needs to continue pretending to be dead if he wants to claim the fortune – with hilarious results. The entire scenario, however, changes when in the meantime, pregnant Li Yu is informed by a trustee, also believing that the old man is dead, that Ma Lun’s entire fortune will bequeathed to his unborn son and we’re talking a much bigger sum of money now! This calls for a change of plans and greedy Li Yu and her ‘brother’ kill Ma Lun for real. Alas, he comes back as a vengeful ghost and before he knows it, Wang Li is drafted in to assist him in carrying out his revenge – this involves the most hilarious consequences imaginable…
As ever, Sammo Hung is on top form and here he really shows off his talent for comedy and mime while his formidable martial art skills aren’t neglected. Director Ma Lun is just as entertaining as the corpse out for revenge and the chemistry between him and Sammo works tremendously well – the same can be said for the interaction between Sammo and Ching-Ying Lam in the role of funeral business owner/Taoist priest Uncle Lee. The rest of the supporting cast are equally in top form!
THE DEAD AND THE DEADLY is available on Blu-ray for the first time ever in the UK, and in a 2K restoration at that! The first print run of 2000 copies will be presented in a Limited Edition O-card slipcase and Bonus Material includes various audio options, audio commentaries, archive interviews with Sammo Hung, original trailer plus Limited Edition collector’s booklet. In Cantonese with (optional) English subtitles.

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