Rigor Mortis stars Chin Siu-ho as Chin Siu-ho, star of the movie Mr. Vampire. Chin Siu-ho becomes depressed and suicidal after his career tumbles into oblivion, and his wife leaves him, so he decides to move into a dilapidated old apartment building.
Burdened by the loss of his career and his wife, Chin decides to hang himself. This attracts the attention of two ghosts who haunt his apartment, and also attracts the attention of Lau. Lau, a retired vampire hunter and fellow resident, barges into Chin’s apartment and saves Chin from both himself and the ghosts.
Reflecting on his failed suicide attempt, Chin goes to Lau’s restaurant where Lau cooks gluttonous rice, an ingredient famous for fighting vampires. Chin thanks Lau for saving his life, and meets several of his fellow residents on the way back to his apartment.
Among his fellow residents is the seamstress Auntie Meyi and her husband Tung, who later suffers an accident and dies tragically. After discovering Tung’s body, Gau, a black magic practitioner and also fellow resident, helps Meyi preserve the body of her husband.
Chin later learns the terrifying past of the ghosts as he attempts to learn more of the intricate histories of his fellow residents, and what brought them to the apartment building.
After hearing the truth of the event that brought the ghosts into existence, Chin beseeches Lau at his apartment, to try and help him permanently rid Chin’s apartment of the ghosts. Upon seeing Lau’s apartment, Chin learns that Lau has a great deal of exorcism memorabilia from his father, however Lau refuses claiming he is a simply a cook now.
After a series of terrible events, Tung is resurrected as a jiangshi (the Chinese version of a vampire) and an epic battle ensues as Lau and Chin fight the vampire and try to rid the apartment building of the evil.
This movie is a cinematic masterpiece. The visuals are brilliant and the plot is rich, with various details contributing in great depth to the overall story. It breathes more life into the old (but far from dead) jiangshi genre. If more movies were this good, I’d never stop watching movies. I highly recommend watching this movie.
This movie scores a seriously awesome 8/10.
— Merman
Here’s the trailer:
