appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Richard James Havis

Tame by today’s standards, the three adults-only Erotic Ghost Story films were big hits when they were released in Hong Kong in the early 1990s.
The buxom star of the first film, Amy Yip Chi-mei, instantly became a Hong Kong celebrity, while the third film turned ill-fated actress Pauline Chan Bo-lin into an Asian sex symbol. All three became cult classics in the West.
Below, film historian Frank Djeng, who did the commentaries for the releases of Erotic Ghost Story 2 and Erotic Ghost Story 3 by distributor 88 Films, explains why the films were so successful.
Erotic Ghost Story mixed erotica with other genres. Why?
Adult films – known as category III films in Hong Kong because of their classification by censors – were experiencing their heyday when Erotic Ghost Story came out in 1990, and producers tried to attract as many people as possible to see them.
They felt that if they just made sex films it would limit the audience, so they mixed the sex in with other genres.

A Chinese Ghost Story had been a big hit, so the Erotic Ghost Story producers decided to mix that genre with erotica and see how it worked.
So did it work?
Yes! The first one did so well they started making part two just two months later.
This was a time when everyone was flocking to the cinema to see category III films – they were mainstream. Audiences liked the fact that there were now films that catered to adults, as the film ratings system did not encompass that before the category III rating was introduced – you couldn’t even swear in films before that.


These films were not hidden away, they were shown by mainstream cinema chains like Golden Harvest. They weren’t treated like the imported Japanese porn films, which were only shown in special cinemas.
Amy Yip made the first Erotic Ghost Story a success, mainly because of her buxom physique. But she doesn’t really show much considering it’s a Category III film.
Yes, Amy Yip was why people went to see part one, even though, no matter how much the producers pressed her, she didn’t show much on screen.
She would never show much during her career, and would not even go properly topless. She always wanted to keep a kind of mystique and leave the rest up to the audience’s imagination.

But Japanese actress Kudo Hitomi is hardly bashful.
Hong Kong actresses were quite conservative, and that’s why they hired some Japanese adult-video actresses for this film series – they needed to satisfy the audience, who wanted to see some skin when they went to this kind of film. They would have felt cheated if the films didn’t deliver.
Kudo Hitomi, who appears with Yip, was an adult-video star in Japan, and she was willing to show more because of that.
The Japanese actresses were always willing to go a bit further than the Hong Kong stars. Ichijo Sayuri, who plays the demoness in part two, was actually a Japanese stripper the producers saw in a strip club in Tokyo.

Later, though, Hong Kong actresses became more relaxed about nude scenes, as the money could be good and they felt it would be a route to stardom.
Charine Chan Ka-ling, who replaced Yip in part two, seems similarly reserved for the genre.
Yes, the main selling point of Erotic Ghost Story 2 was Charine Chan appearing in a category III film.
Charine had become known for being one of the “Happy Girls” in the teen Happy Ghost series. Her career wasn’t moving forward and category III producers were paying well, so she decided to give the genre a try. That became the film’s selling point.

But in the end, she wouldn’t cross the barrier and show herself completely – she just agreed to show her back. Her sister [Amy Chan Sau-man] was also an actress and a singer, and she was worried about embarrassing her family.
What about the tragic story of Pauline Chan? After she failed to win the Miss Asia Pageant, which she had hoped would bring in money for her family, she signed a contract for eight Category III films. But it didn’t go well for her…
The first of these was Erotic Ghost Story 3 and there was a lot of pressure on her to appear nude. According to people who worked on the film, she really didn’t want to be doing adult films, and she was emotional and upset and cried all the time, although the producers did try to mitigate her experience.
She had a successful comic appearance in Stephen Chow Sing-chi’s From Beijing with Love - she’s the “killer with the flaming bra” - but she suffered from depression. She became a drug user, and committed suicide in 2002 in Shanghai, where she was born. Her experience of Category III films could have contributed to her depression.

There aren’t any ghosts in these films, so why the title?
They are actually spirits, not ghosts, and the films are more like supernatural stories.
The films have a literary basis in Pu Songling’s short stories in Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio. They changed it to Erotic Ghost Story in English, as they felt that title would help foreign sales of the film.

Anthony Wong Chau-sang is outrageous as the sex demon in part two. Even back then, he seemed to be interested in shocking audiences.
That crazy devil make-up was probably inspired by Japanese kabuki! He made this film before he won best actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards for the category III film The Untold Story – it was at the beginning of his movie career.
Anthony Wong is Eurasian, and with the exception of good-looking actor Michael Wong, Eurasians did not get good roles in Hong Kong films. So he went all the way, even showing off all of his body, which was very rare for a male actor.
He really wanted to make his name, and it worked, as Herman Yau Lai-to spotted him and cast him as the killer in The Untold Story, which made him famous.
In this regular feature series on the best of Hong Kong cinema, we examine the legacy of classic films, re-evaluate the careers of its greatest stars, and revisit some of the lesser-known aspects of the beloved industry.
Want more articles like this? Follow SCMP Film on Facebook


From Cheng Pei-pei to Michelle Yeoh, Hong Kong cinema’s history of action heroines

Hong Kong film festival celebrates 37 years of queer cinema

Famous Chinese women in folklore, from Hua Mulan to a consort who brought down a dynasty

‘Rest in eternal peace’: veteran horror actor, filmmaker Simon Loui dies at age 62

Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

How the Erotic Ghost Story films shocked and seduced Hong Kong

(From left) Amy Yip, Man Siu and Kudo Hitomi in a still from Erotic Ghost Story.

Pal Sinn (left) and Amy Yip in a still from Erotic Ghost Story (1990). Yip made the first Erotic Ghost Story a success, mainly because of her buxom physique.

Joey Wong and Leslie Cheung in a still from A Chinese Ghost Story (1987). Photo: Film Workshop

A promotional image for Erotic Ghost Story (1990).

Charine Chan (bottom right) in a promotional image for Erotic Ghost Story 2 (1991).

A promotional image for Erotic Ghost Story 3 (1992).

(From left) Pauline Chan, Kenny Wong and Chik King-man in a still from Erotic Ghost Story 3 (1992).

4 Hong Kong romance films from the 2000s that are out of the ordinary

18. Love in a Puff

Jacky Cheung and Karena Lam in a still from July Rhapsody (2002), one of several mould-breaking Hong Kong romantic dramas shot around that time. Photo: SCMP

Jacky Cheung and Anita Mui in a still from July Rhapsody. Photo: SCMP

Miriam Yeung and Shawn Yue in a still from Love in a Puff (2010). Photo: Media Asia Distribution

Film director Pang Ho-cheung at an interview with the Post in 2010. Photo: SCMP

Takeshi Kaneshiro in a still from Perhaps Love (2005). Photo: SCMP

Sammi Cheng (left) and Andy Lau in a still from Love on a Diet (2001). Photo: Chinastar

Was remaking classic Hong Kong films like Police Story, A Better Tomorrow a good idea?

Ekin Cheng in a still from Return to a Better Tomorrow.

Lau Ching-wan (left) and Ekin Cheng in a still from Return to a Better Tomorrow, one of four remakes of classic Hong Kong films we compare to the originals.

Jackie Chan in a still from Police Story 2013.

Lau Ching-wan (left) and Ekin Cheng in a still from Return to a Better Tomorrow.

Jet Li in a still from Fist of Legend. Photo: Golden Harvest

Cecilia Cheung in a still from The Legend of Zu (2001).

Why the kung fu in Circle of Iron, from an idea by Bruce Lee, would have left him unhappy

David Carradine (left) and Jeff Cooper in a still from Circle of Iron. The 1978 movie was based on a script Bruce Lee abandoned before his death, but ended up a bizarre mix of inadequate kung fu scenes and faux Eastern mysticism. 

Lee and James Coburn in April 1973. Photo: SCMP

Lee and Stirling Silliphant at Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Airport in April 1972. Photo: SCMP

Cooper and Erica Creer in a still from Circle of Iron.

Cooper in a still from Circle of Iron.

Carradine (left) and Cooper in a still from Circle of Iron. The latter trained for the movie with a cage fighter who claimed to have learned martial arts from an astral projection named Grandmaster Leong.

Carradine (right) in Kung Fu: The Movie (1986). Photo: Warner Bros

Cooper (left) and Christopher Lee in a still from Circle of Iron.

What killed Bruce Lee? 4 leading theories medical and martial arts experts proposed after his shock death 50 years ago in July, 1973

Bruce Lee on the set of “The Big Boss”. Lee died two years after the movie’s 1971 release, and in the years since, competing theories have been posited as to what exactly killed the martial arts star.  Photo: Yau Leung

Bruce Lee in a still from “Fist of Fury” (1972).

Lee with Taiwanese actress Betty Ting Pei. The two spent time together soon before Lee’s death.

Bruce Lee in a still from “Enter the Dragon” (1973). Photo: TNS

 Lee circa 1970. He had “chronic fluid intake” by virtue of his alcohol- and juice-based diet. Photo: Getty Images

Lifestyle

Entertainment

Culture

Film & TV

Chinese culture

Classic Hong Kong cinema

Classic Hong Kong cinema: John Woo on action, violence, influences, growing up in poverty and working in Hollywood in 1997 interview

Legendary Hong Kong action film director John Woo in 1990. Photo: SCMP

Famous Hong Kong action film director John Woo talks about his life and work in a 1997 interview. Photo: SCMP

John Travolta (top) and Nicolas Cage in a still from Face/Off.

John Woo during an interview in 1996. Photo: SCMP

Tony Leung (left) and Chow Yun-fat in a still from Hard Boiled (1991), directed by Woo.

Woo (left) shakes hands with actor Tom Cruise at a photo call in Tsim Sha Tsui in 2000.

Danny Lee (left) and Chow Yun-fat in a still from The Killer, a 1989 film directed by John Woo.

Woo in his office in 1993. Photo: SCMP

Woo on the set of Red Cliff, with actor Takeshi Kaneshiro.

How Ringo Lam crime thriller Full Alert mixed realistic action on Hong Kong streets with premonition of 1997 handover

Lau Ching-wan in a still from Full Alert.

Lau Ching-wan hunting down an escaped robber in the mean streets (Bird Street) of Mong Kok in Ringo Lam’s 1997 movie Full Alert.

Ringo Lam, pictured in 1995. Photo: SCMP

Lau Ching-wan (left) and Francis Ng in a still from Full Alert.

Amanda Lee (front) in a still from Full Alert. Photo: Eureka Entertainment

Francis Ng in a still from Full Alert.

Ringo Lam in an interview with the Post in 1997. Photo: SCMP

Hong Kong’s first art-house film, Cecille Tong Shu-shuen’s The Arch, starring Crazy Rich Asians’ Lisa Lu Yan, was ahead of its time

Lisa Lu in a still from Cecille Tong Shu-shuen’s The Arch (1970), considered to be Hong Kong’s first art-house film.

Cecille Tong and members of her staff at Joss, the Chinese restaurant she runs on Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles.

Lisa Lu, who starred in The Arch and The Empress Dowager, poses with her daughter Lucia Hwong in 1978. Photo: SCMP

Lisa Lu in a still from The Arch.

Promotional stills for Sup Sap Bup Dup (1975), directed by Tong.

A scene from the 1974 film China Behind, directed by Tong.

How Bruce Lee’s Way of the Dragon made Chuck Norris a star with their fight in Rome’s Colosseum, and what the film showed about Lee’s directing

Bruce Lee in a still from The Way of the Dragon (1972). Photo: Criterion Collection

Bruce Lee in a still from The Way of the Dragon (1972), which he starred in and directed. Photo: Criterion Collection

Bruce Lee as Ah Lung (front) and Nora Miao as Chen Ching Hua in a still from The Way of the Dragon. Photo: Golden Harvest

Chuck Norris and Bruce Lee in a still from The Way of the Dragon. Photo: LCSD

Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris in a still from The Way of the Dragon. Photo: Criterion Collection

Maggie Cheung in her own words, on Wong Kar-wai and In the Mood for Love, marrying Olivier Assayas and being an actress, not just a film star

Interview with award-winning actress Maggie Cheung Man-yuk at Grand Hyatt Hotel.

Maggie Cheung at an interview with the Post in 2001. Photo: SCMP.

Maggie Cheung (left) and Cherie Chung in a still from Prince Charming (1984).

Maggie Cheung (left) and Andy Lau in a still from As Tears Go By (1988).

Maggie Cheung in a still from the 1996 film Irma Vep.

Maggie Cheung (left) and Tony Leung in a still from In the Mood for Love (2000).

Peter Chan’s early films, featuring the two Tony Leungs and Maggie Cheung, were a breath of fresh air in Hong Kong

Anita Yuen (left) and Leslie Cheung in a still from He’s a Woman, She’s a Man (1994).

A promotional image of He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Father (1993), starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai (first from right) and Tony Leung Ka-fai (second from right). Peter Chan Ho-sun’s early films “have an international, almost placeless feel” despite their local issues and references.

Film director Peter Chan Ho-sun in 1995. Photo: SCMP

Eric Tsang (left) and Leslie Cheung in a still from He’s a Woman, She’s a Man, the 1994 film directed by Peter Chan.

Fallen Angels: Wong Kar-wai on casting Leon Lai, Michele Reis, Charlie Yeung and Karen Mok against type in 1995 film

Michele Reis and Takeshi Kaneshiro in a still from Wong Kar-wai’s Fallen Angels. Photo: Block 2 Pictures and Jet Tone Contents

Leon Lai in a still from Wong Kar-wai’s Fallen Angels, the 1995 film that was almost part of Chungking Express.

Wong Kar-wai in front of a promotional poster for Fallen Angels in 1995. Photo: SCMP

Takeshi Kaneshiro in a still from Fallen Angels.

Leon Lai (left) and Michele Reis in a still from Fallen Angels.

Michele Reis in a still from Fallen Angels.

(Clockwise from top left) Charlie Yeung, Michele Reis, Leon Lai and Takeshi Kaneshiro in a still from Fallen Angels.

Leon Lai plays a hitman in a still from Fallen Angels.

How Running Out of Time, starring Andy Lau and Lau Ching-wan, helped shape the ‘Johnnie To Cinematic Universe’

Andy Lau in a still from Johnnie To’s Running Out of Time (1999).

Andy Lau, pictured with Helena Law at the 19th Hong Kong Film Awards in 2000, where he was named best actor for his role in Running Out of Time. Photo: SCMP

A still from The Mission (1999).

Lau Ching-wan (left) and Andy Lau in a still from Running Out of Time (1999).

Johnnie To in his Kwun Tong office in 1999. Photo: SCMP

Ekin Cheng in a still from Running Out of Time 2.

Likened to Hollywood hit Love Story, this film beat Jackie Chan, Jet Li at the Hong Kong box office in 1993

Anita Yuen (left) and Lau Ching-wan in a still from C’est La Vie, Mon Cheri.

Anita Yuen (left) and Lau Ching-wan in a still from C’est la Vie, Mon Cheri. It beat films starring Jackie Chan and Jet Li to become a box-office hit in 1993. Photo: courtesy of LCSD 

Film director Derek Yee Tung-sing giving a thank-you speech after being awarded the best director prize at the 13th Hong Kong Film Awards for his film, “C’est La Vie, Mon Cheri”. Photo: SCMP

Lau Ching-wan (left) and Anita Yuen in a still from C’est La Vie, Mon Cheri.

Winners at the 13th Hong Kong Film Awards pose for a group picture. From left in the first row are best supporting actor Paul Chun Pui, best actor Anthony Wong Chau-sang, best actress Anita Yuen Wing-yee, best supporting actress Fung Bo-bo and best director Derek Yee Tung-shing. With the exception of Wong, all the others worked on C’est La Vie, Mon Cheri. Photo: SCMP

Brigitte Lin’s first gender-neutral role, Sally Yeh’s butch Beijing Opera performer make Tsui Hark’s 1986 period comedy Peking Opera Blues highly enjoyable

Peking Opera Blues starring Brigitte Lin remains an enjoyable tale of espionage, Chinese opera and gender bending. Mark Cheng (left) and Brigitte Lin in a still from Peking Opera Blues. Photo: Peking Opera Blues

Playwright Raymond To Kwok-wai, pictured in 1994, was the screenwriter behind both Shanghai Blues and Peking Opera Blues. Photo: SCMP

Sally Yeh (left) in a still from Shanghai Blues, which was released two years before Peking Opera Blues. Photo: Hong Kong Film Archive

(From left) Brigitte Lin, Cherie Chung and Sally Yeh in a still from Peking Opera Blues. Photo: Peking Opera Blues

Tsui Hark, posing beside the poster for another of his movies, A Better Tomorrow III, in 1989. Photo: SCMP

Brigitte Lin (right) in a still from Peking Opera Blues. Photo: Peking Opera Blues

A change from Jackie Chan and Jet Li – Beast Cops’ Gordon Chan on how directing the Hong Kong gangs vs police film was not like his previous work

A still from Beast Cops. Photo: Handout

(From left) Sam Lee, Anthony Wong and Michael Wong in a still from Beast Cops, a Mong Kok-set gangs vs police action drama directed by Gordon Chan.

Best actress Sandra Ng Kwan-yu (left) and best actor Anthony Wong Chau-sang with their awards at the 18th annual Hong Kong Film Awards in 1999. Ng starred in Portland Street Blues and Wong in Beast Cops. Photo: SCMP

Jet Li in a still from Fist of Legend, the 1994 film directed by Gordon Chan.

Michael Wong (front) in a still from Beast Cops.

Directors Gordon Chan (left) and Dante Lam, pictured in 2006. Photo: SCMP

(From left) Anthony Wong, Kathy Chow and Michael Wong in a still from Beast Cops.

Anthony Wong in a still from Beast Cops.

Romance meets ghost story in Hong Kong movie masterpiece Rouge, starring Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung and directed by Stanley Kwan

Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung in a still from Rouge.

Leslie Cheung and Anita in a still from Rouge (1988), directed by Stanley Kwan, in which she plays a 1930s courtesan who returns 50 years later as a ghost seeking her lover, played by Cheung.

Anita Mui (centre) alongside Alex Man (left) and Elaine Chu in a still from Rouge.

Stanley Kwan in an interview with the Post in 1988. Photo: SCMP.

Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung in Rouge.

Made in Hong Kong, Fruit Chan’s take on grim reality of 1997 for many in the city, and how the groundbreaking independent film was conceived

Sam Lee in a still from Made in Hong Kong. Photo: Focus Films Limited

Sam Lee in a still from Made in Hong Kong, Fruit Chan’s 1997 film about the grim reality of life for many people in Hong Kong. Photo: Golden Scene

(From left) Wenders Li, Sam Lee and Neiky Yim in a still from Made in Hong Kong.

Fruit Chan (centre), winner of Best Director and Best Picture at the 3rd Golden Bauhinia Awards Ceremony, alongside actors Neiky Yim (left) and Sam Lee, in 1998. Photo: SCMP

Sam Lee and Neiky Yim in a still from Made in Hong Kong. Photo: Golden Scene

Sam Lee and Neiky Yim in Made in Hong Kong. Photo: Nicetop Independent

Why Boat People, starring Andy Lau and George Lam, Ann Hui’s hit film about post-war Vietnam, displeased the Chinese and French authorities

Andy Lau as To Minh in a still from Boat People (1982). Ann Hui intended the film to tell a human story that explained why refugees were fleeing Vietnam. Hong Kong film-goers saw it as an allegory of the city’s future under Chinese rule. Photo: Bluebird Film Company

George Lam (left) and Season Ma in a still from Boat People. Photo: Bluebird Film Company

Ann Hui won the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 77th Venice Film Festival in 2020. Photo: Reuters

A still from Boat People showing Vietnamese military personnel in the streets.

Andy Lau as To Minh (left) and George Lam as Akutagawa in a still from Boat People.

Andy Lau as To Minh in a still from Boat People.

What they said about In the Mood For Love: director Wong Kar-wai and stars Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung on filming the romantic drama

Maggie Cheung in a still from In The Mood For Love. Photo: Jet Tone Films

Maggie Cheung Man-yuk and Tony Leung Chiu-wai in a still from In the Mood for Love, directed by Wong Kar-wai. Photo: Jet Tone Films

Tony Leung (left), Maggie Cheung and director Wong Kar-wai during the promotion for In the Mood For Love in Cannes, in 2000. Photo: AFP/Jack Guez

Maggie Cheung in a still from In the Mood For Love. Photo: Jet Tone Films

Tony Leung in a still from In The Mood For Love. Photo: Jet Tone Films

Tony Leung (left) and Zhang Ziyi in a still from 2046. Photo: Block 2 Pictures and Jet Tone Contents

Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung in a still from In the Mood For Love. Photo: Jet Tone Films

Jackie Chan focused on ‘real kung fu’ in Drunken Master II in reaction to shoddy ‘wire fu’ martial arts films of the early 90s

Jackie Chan in a still from Drunken Master II (1994). The movie focused heavily on real kung fu by real martial artists, as an antidote to the slew of shoddy ‘wire fu’ movies in the early 1990s.

Jackie Chan at an interview with the Post in 1994. Photo: SCMP

Jackie Chan in a still from Drunken Master (1978). Photo: Golden Harvest

Jackie Chan (left) on the set of Drunken Master II.

Jackie Chan (right) and Felix Wong in a still from Drunken Master II (1994).

Stephen Chow’s Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle were not the films that made the Hong Kong comedian famous – so which ones did?

Stephen Chow as Trinket in a still from the film Royal Tramp.

Stephen Chow (left) and Ng Man-tat in a still from Royal Tramp. Critics called Chow 
 “the finest Hong Kong comedian of his generation” and “Hong Kong’s hottest actor” of the 1990s.

Stephen Chow at an interview with the Post in 1989. Photo: SCMP

Stephen Chow at a film shoot in 1989. Photo: SCMP

Ng Man-tat (left) and Stephen Chow in a still from All for the Winner.

Stephen Chow (left) and Anita Yuen in a still from From Beijing with Love.

Gong Li (left) and Stephen Chow pose for photographers to promote The Flirting Scholar in 1993. Photo: SCMP

Stephen Chow in a still from Shaolin Soccer.

‘I am not Jackie Chan or Chow Yun-fat’: Hong Kong actor Lau Ching-wan on why Hollywood doesn’t need him, bad guy roles, and The Godfather

Lau Ching-wan during an interview with the Post in 1996. Photo: SCMP

Lau Ching-wan during an interview with the Post in 1996. He reveals why he measures his English comprehension against The Godfather and why Hollywood does not need him. Photo: SCMP.

Leon Lai (left) and Lau Ching-wan in a still from A Hero Never Dies (1998).

Lau Ching-wan in a still from Full Alert (1997).

Lau Ching-wan (left) and Anita Yuen in a still from C’est La Vie, Mon Cheri (1993).

Lau Ching-wan in a still from Too Many Ways to be Number One.

Lau Ching-wan (third from left) in a still from Big Bullet (1996), directed by Benny Chan.

Lau Ching-wan in a still from Lifeline (1997).

Lau Ching-wan and his wife, Amy Kwok, pose for photographers on the red carpet of the 32nd Hong Kong Film Awards at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui in 2013. Photo: SCMP

How the Erotic Ghost Story films shocked and seduced Hong Kong

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The trio of 1990s adult movies with Hong Kong sex symbols like Amy Yip and Japanese adult-video actresses like Kudo Hitomi were a huge hit

The trio of 1990s adult movies with Hong Kong sex symbols like Amy Yip and Japanese adult-video actresses like Kudo Hitomi were a huge hit