One of the strangest things about the Mr. Vampire sequels is the way that none of the plots run consecutively. Characters and actors swap around from film to film, and not one movie in the series ever builds on events in earlier movies. New Mr. Vampire 3 feels as close to a true sequel to the original movie as we have seen yet, due to the welcome return of all the original movies major players, plus original director Ricky Lau.

This movie is heavy on the comedy, yet has some of the most gruesome horror elements yet seen. The main theme (apart from vamps) is abortion, and Lam Ching Ying must prevent the birth of a Hell Baby, which is the spirit which has been aborted before reincarnation three times. The evil fetus is kept strong by feeding it’s mother from a pulsing brain in a jar, and sucking blood from the breast of a possessed woman. Heavy stuff, and only in Hong Kong cinema could this be part of a comedy.

Apparently, Ricky Lau has said that they had to make the movies funnier as the series progressed, because there are only so many ways to shoot people fighting vampires. There are a lot of bizarre gags thrown around in this one, and while being wackier than ever, they mainly hit the target. In one scene, the One-eyebrow priest and his men battle a vampire after some dodgy sushi gives them a bad case of the ‘green apple splatters’. In another, Sandra Ng tries to seduce Lam Ching Ying by putting on a wet T-shirt display, and her breast pixellates as if censored. She offers him a pair of ‘decoder spectacles’, and when he sees what she has, he pukes for three days and three nights.

Some of the comedy drags on a little too much, mainly anything involving Sandra Ng, who tends to slow things down a bit too much. They should have simply replaced her with a more hot, throbbing vampire action. Phwoar!

The madness culminates in a battle a stately home. While trying to exorcise the Hell Baby, the house is attacked by a mob of hopping vampires. The last half an hour is, as you would expect, the most action packed part of the film, and very enjoyable.

None of the sequels in the series could ever match the splendour of the original Mr. Vampire, but New Mr. Vampire 3 is a decent movie in its own right, and as the last of the major sequels, is a fine way to wrap things up.