Shaolin vs. Vampire (1980)

AKA: Baby Vampire Vs. the Invincible Shaolin Kung Fu Devil Gang

Director: Gordon Liu (Chia-Hui Liu)

Writer: Gordon Liu (Chia-Hui Liu)

Composer: ???

Starring: Gordon Liu, Yuki Kudo

More info: IMDb
 
Plot:  Daiyu (Liu) is a movie stuntman who lives in a town filled with superstitious people clinging to their beliefs in local vampires.  He doesn't believe until his young daughter befriends a child vampire her age who is on his vampire summer break in the human world.  Then there is the evil grown up vampire who wreaks havoc on the village and kills Daiyu's wife.  Daiyu's brother sends him a woman to help out around the house and the two form a bond while his daughter forms one with the kid vampire as they play and learn more about what's going on.

My rating: 3/10

Will I watch it again? No.

Wow.  This is terrible.  The slapstick, childish humor (this is largely a kids movie) is just awful and over the top.  Children into martial arts (and I'm talking kids around 4-6) might dig it.  Gordon Liu wrote, directed and starred in this kiddie tale of vampires and shit.  The kids are whiny and annoying, the music is pretty bad and rips off other film music cues, the filming of the choreographed fight scenes is poorly edited and it looks like it was filmed like a TV soap opera (that last part could be the poor quality of the Rarescope DVD print).  This is bad.  IMDb says this was made in 1980 but it looks more like it came from the mid-to-late 80s.  The story is OK I guess (I didn't care for the ending) but it's not really a good one.  That usually doesn't matter as much as it's the kung fu action you watch these for, really. Don't waste your money on the Rarescope DVD.  The movie is bad and so is the image quality.  If you must subject yourself to this, watch the YouTube video above. It's the same transfer as on the Rarescope DVD.  The DVD, by the way, has a montage of clips from other martial arts movies they have available.  Some of them look like a lot of fun.