Spirit Magic Kung Fu: The Coolest Genre You've Never Heard Of

Prelude

Nothing disturbs the dark woods' silence for hours at a time. Occasionally a wolf may howl, somewhere in the distance. Rarer is the chant of the corpse-herder. He wears yellow linen robes. He has tied a bell around one finger, and shakes it, rhythmically, when his incantation pauses. Murmur, murmur, murmur, ring, murmur, murmur, ring. Behind him, in an orderly line, comes a group of hopping vampires.



Don't be frightened. There's nothing to worry about. Each of the corpses has his face covered by a sheet of yellow paper -- a talisman. The corpse-herder wrote magic symbols along the papers, using vermilion ink. The talismans keep the jiangshi compliant. They remain strictly under his control. He knows thirty-six commands: he can order them to jump, turn left, turn right, go backwards, and they will obey. When he hasn't given them a command, the talismans ensure that they stand still, taking no action, only swaying slightly.



Unless, of course, something dislodges the talismans. And then the corpses, blind, will hop toward the nearest living person and kill him for his vital energy.

Again, there's no reason to worry. The corpse-herder is good at his job, he's been trained for it since he was a lad. He's a Daoshi -- a Daoist priest -- and he follows the famous magical lineage known as Maoshan. His bumbling assistants are another matter, though. The two young men behind the corpses are always playing pranks, causing trouble.

And then there's the woman. Clad in ghostly white, she lifts off the carriage then floats into the shadows, watching. There's something about one of the apprentices, something attractive, something that reminds her what it was like to be alive.



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For me, nothing beats a spirit magic kung fu movie. The best of them set up elaborate comedy scenes reminiscent of "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein," and they proceed at a dizzying pace, mixing laughter with action and a kind of horror. But this isn't any form of horror we're used to; more spooky than scary, the horror is both clownish and unearthly, otherworldly, unheimlich.

Over the next few blog posts, I'll write more about my favorite film genre of all time. I'll discuss several different subgenres, some recurring tropes and themes, and I'll recommend the films I consider most enjoyable. I'm going to talk about how I fell in love with the genre, and I'm going to discuss important figures in its history. I'm going to build a kind of encyclopedia of Spirit Magic Kung Fu monsters, and a grimoire of the magical spells and rituals that have appeared in these fantastic movies.

It's gonna be a good time.