Film

A Chinese Ghost Story

Name: A Chinese Ghost Story
Genre: Fantasy, Action
Released: 1987
Cast: Leslie Cheung, Joey Wong, Wu Ma, Lau Siu-Ming, David Lam Wai

Tsui Hark's fever dream of a ghost story: a hapless tax collector falls for a woman who's already dead, then has to out-fight her demonic captor, an army of hungry corpses, and hell itself to keep her. It's wire-fu, slapstick, gothic romance, and genuine tenderness thrown into one blender, scored like a pop opera. Gorgeous, silly, and unexpectedly heartbreaking.

TMDb rating

7.3

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Same DNA of doomed supernatural love wrapped in gorgeous, blood-drenched wuxia spectacle. Leslie Cheung again, this time paired with Brigitte Lin in a story about a love curse that turns tragic and vicious in equal measure.

But Considerably darker and crueller than Ghost Story — less whimsy, more genuine heartbreak and violence.

Green Snake1993no page yet

Tsui Hark again, this time turning a folk legend about two snake spirits into something psychedelic, horny, and visually delirious. Joey Wong's presence is a nice bridge if you fell for her here.

But Even stranger and more explicitly erotic than Ghost Story, with a plot that wanders.

Mr. Vampire1985no page yet

The other essential 80s Hong Kong supernatural comedy: hopping vampires, a bumbling Daoist priest, and stunt choreography that's both terrifying and hilarious. Same era, same anything-goes energy.

But Broader and goofier — closer to farce than romance, with much less emotional weight.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Enchanting Shadow1960no page yet

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The original Shaw Brothers adaptation of the same Pu Songling tale — a scholar, a haunted temple, a ghost he shouldn't love. Restrained, melancholic, and gorgeously shot in old-school Mandarin cinema style.

But Slow and stagey by modern standards, with none of the wire-fu spectacle or comic energy.

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The direct sequel, same cast chemistry, doubling down on the swordplay and afterlife mythology while adding a new mistaken-identity thread. Feels like a rare sequel that earns its place.

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Tsui Hark's earlier fantasy epic, the film that basically invented the wire-fu aesthetic Ghost Story runs on. Mad monks, flying swords, and effects that still feel gloriously unhinged.

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A glossy modern take on a similar Pu Songling-adjacent idea: love complicated by a demon wearing human skin. Big stars, lush production, tragic romantic core.

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Big Trouble in Little China1986

John Carpenter's love letter to Hong Kong genre cinema, mixing sorcery, martial arts, and comedy in a way that feels like a cousin to Ghost Story's tonal chaos.

But American, tongue-in-cheek, and far less romantic — the heart here is buddy comedy, not doomed love.

Sleepy Hollow1999

Tim Burton's gothic romance-horror hybrid shares the same lush, moody visual sensibility and a hero stumbling through supernatural terror toward an impossible love.

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The Forbidden Kingdom2008no page yet

A more accessible modern wuxia-fantasy adventure with Jet Li and Jackie Chan, decent if you want spectacle and mythology without the horror elements.

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A Chinese Ghost Story: The Tsui Hark Animation1997no page yet

Same producer, same story, translated into a completely different medium — animation lets the folklore feel like a children's nightmare.

An animated retelling of the same core story, produced by Tsui Hark himself — softer, stranger, aimed partly at kids but full of genuinely eerie imagery.

But Cheaper animation and a simplified plot make it feel minor next to the live-action original.

Ugetsu1953

The same engine — mortal man, ghostly beloved, a warning about desire and death — played completely straight instead of as spectacle.

Kenji Mizoguchi's haunting Japanese classic about a man who falls for a beautiful woman who turns out to be a ghost — solemn, painterly, devastating in ways Ghost Story only gestures toward.

But Deliberately paced arthouse cinema with a heavy, sorrowful tone — nothing playful about it at all.