Tsui Hark's Vampire Hunters

It's no Evil Dead 2--what is?--but when you pit kung fu against the undead, it's bound to be midnight-movie-riffic, and the less sense it makes, the more fun it becomes. Set in rural 19th century China, where hopping zombies want tasty flesh so they can transform into flying vampires who don't even need to touch you to suck your blood (I was too busy being delighted that zombies had found a new mode of locomotion beyond shuffling to wonder how in the Sam Raimi this could be), the film's titular vampire hunters are Lightning (Chan Kwok Kwan), Wind (Ken Chang), Rain (Lam Suet), and Thunder (Michael Chow). This fantastic four--who can, apparently, control the elements they're named after (although I suspect that anyone with a metal rod could call down a bolt of lightning in the middle of a thunderstorm)--square offs against the zombie/vampire things for 90 minutes, with lots of blood and gore and flying severed limbs. There's a girl, of course, oodles of fog, some cool sword-fighting, and a whole house full of creepy dead people encased in wax. In fact, this is the kind of flick that is most enjoyable when discovered late at night on some cable channel (with a really high number) and you and your drunk geek friends just MST3K the heck out of it. A strong optional purchase. (M. Johanson)