Ghost Festival (1985) Leng xie tu fu | Merits of Sin | Region-Free (DVD)

Title: Ghost Festival (1985)

Genre: Horror, Crime

Plot Synopsis:
A man tormented by his wife’s unsolved murder seeks help from beyond the grave. When ghosts begin to reveal themselves, his plan for justice descends into a supernatural frenzy of vengeance, with the mysterious King of Ghosts pulling the strings behind the scenes.

Cast and Crew

• Director: Law Kei

• Writers: Law Kei

• Cast:

  • Norman Chui as Chiu

  • Phillip Ko as Inspector Leung

  • Michael Chan as Chan

  • Lily Chan as Li Lin

  • Cheng Kei-Ying as The King of Ghosts

IMDb Link: Ghost Festival (1985) 

Reviews from Letterboxd:

1. daihoho – ★★★
   “Messy doesn’t even begin to describe this film. A troubled man is frantically looking for his wife’s murderer. It’s not that simple as a police officer is after the killer too… The second half of the film becomes a ghost film with apparitions and haunting. There’s also some hand-to-hand combat happening with Phillip Ko heavily involved in those scenes.”

2. San – ★★½
   “My viewing was of a poorly cropped and translated VHS transfer that had so much pixelation and color bleed that I sometimes imagined I was watching a forgotten Nam June Paik piece. A mixture of crime and horror that never really works; too many narrative elements and too little spent on basic production values.”

3. ibntumart – ★★★
   “No Underwear in the Underworld. A group of ghosts get vengeance on the taxi driver who is also a serial killer. It sounds like a good idea for a horror movie… but it is about as unfocused as a blind man at an eye exam.”

Meta Description:
A rare 1985 Hong Kong horror-crime hybrid, Ghost Festival blends ghostly vengeance and gritty mystery as a grieving husband teams up with the supernatural to expose his wife’s killer. Featuring martial arts, hauntings, and a terrifying King of Ghosts, this obscure gem is perfect for collectors of supernatural cult cinema.