A few hundred years after Chinese Ghost Story 1, the evil tree demon is still at it. Instead of Leslie Cheung’s bumbling tax collecter, we get Tony Leung Chiu-Wai as a bumbling novice monk who befriends a kind-hearted ghost (Joey Wong again) who wants out of her deal with the tree demon. She’s watched closely by her evil sister (Nina Li Chi), so she can’t be too overt about her new friendship with the monk. Of course the bad guys discover it and then all hell breaks loose. Lau Shun plays the monk's master and Jacky Cheung is around as an avaricious swordsman.

The second sequel to the original Chinese Ghost Story lacks the spark of the original but still manages to be somewhat entertaining. Ching Siu-Tung once again gives us equal doses of comedy and action. The originality is gone but formula is formula: it works. Tsui Hark's pawprints are all over this thing, as it retains his dizzy, wacky sensibilities. Fans of the series probably won't be disappointed. (Kozo 1995)

image courtesy of Mega Star Video Distribution, Ltd.