The Shadow Boxing (1979) (88 Films)

[MifuneFan]

88 Films will be releasing the Shaw Brothers film The Shadow Boxing (aka The Spiritual Boxer Part II) (1979) tentatively in September!

From the legendary Lau Kar-leung (The Spiritual Boxer; Eight Diagram Pole Fighter) comes one of his finest - and wildest - rides, following a pair of very special undertakers who transport dead bodies by magical means. But their latest trip is proving tricky; it's bad enough that a strong-willed young woman has invited herself along for the ride but, even more awkwardly, one of the corpses might not actually be dead... Pretty much inventing the kung fu horror-comedy, and a huge influence on later films like Encounter of the Spooky Kind and Mr. Vampire, The Shadow Boxing stars Gordon 'Kill Bill' Liu and features the sort of action only the great Lau could serve up. 88 Films are delighted to unleash this Hong Kong classic on blu-ray.

[reason108]

As much as I love 88, and I do, I would have to disagree with their blurb about it being one of LKL`s finest. It's a wanna-b quasi sequel comedy with a "dark" section. The blu-ray cover may be better than the film itself. But, it's not LKL`s worst. I guess it's not that bad but nowhere near being a high point in his SB career; I put it somewhere near the middle. Certainly a downer if one goes in expecting 36th Chamber, 8 Diagram or Legendary Weapons. It is a sequel to The Spiritual Boxer but doesn't have the same charisma (or whatever you want to call it) that the original does.

And, the title always makes me think of The Bee Gees, well, Andy, to be more specific!

[FoulMouff]

Originally Posted by reason108

As much as I love 88, and I do, I would have to disagree with their blurb about it being one of LKL`s finest. It's a wanna-b quasi sequel comedy with a "dark" section. The blu-ray cover may be better than the film itself. But, it's not LKL`s worst. I guess it's not that bad but nowhere near being a high point in his SB career; I put it somewhere near the middle. Certainly a downer if one goes in expecting 36th Chamber, 8 Diagram or Legendary Weapons. It is a sequel to The Spiritual Boxer but doesn't have the same charisma (or whatever you want to call it) that the original does.

And, the title always makes me think of The Bee Gees, well, Andy, to be more specific!

You're not wrong, but sadly I will still be buying it because I need to be a dirty completionist.

[Ky-Fi]

Huh, I've got this on DVD, and maybe watched it once or twice quite a few years ago. I remember liking it as a nice change of pace from straight kung fu, with the hopping vampires aspect. I'd have to watch it again, but my recollection is that it's heavy on the atmosphere and comedy, and a bit light on action.

I'll pick this up.

[darkness2918]

Have the first one, never seen this one so it’s a definite buy.

[reason108]

Originally Posted by FoulMouff

You're not wrong, but sadly I will still be buying it because I need to be a dirty completionist.

I hear you! I may pick it up myself cause I believe that the only other blu-ray release I have of it is in a German box set. I could be wrong about that as I tend to have multiple (and I mean multiple) copies of many of these Shaw films. At some point I really want to go through them and get rid of the redundancy.

[Markgway]

Originally Posted by reason108

And, the title always makes me think of The Bee Gees, well, Andy, to be more specific!

That's a Celestial retitle.

The original title is "The Spiritual Boxer, Part II".