This movie is absolutely brilliant and will become a part of my collection. Sometimes, with the number of unknown movies that I have been watching lately I have been becoming a bit board, but I must remember that every so often a movie of absolute brilliance appears and Magic Cop is one of them.

Plotwise Magic Cop is not all that great. It is a very basic plot of good guy verses bad guy, the twist in this story is that the good guy is a cop who happens to be a sorcerer and the bad guy (or should I say girl) is a sorceress. Okay, the description of sorcerer is very European and the magic that occurs within the movie deals more with Taoist spirituality. Even so it still makes a very interesting movie to watch. Even though the effects are poor by Hollywood standards, they are the sort one expects from Hong Kong movies and adds to the flavour of the movie. I was going to describe it as having a comic book flavour, but it does not because the comic book movies have created a very fantasy feel to them. Movies like the Big Hit use bright colours while Batman uses very distinct props which create a twisted and Gothic feel to it.

A zombie, or as the movie terms it, a walking cadaver, rampages through a restaurant carrying a case of drugs. The police are a little confused that this person was able to withstand multiple gunshots and being smashed apart by cars, and this attracts the attention of a retired sergeant. In the opening sequence we are shown that he has extensive knowledge on dealing with the spirit world and he saves an unfortunate mother and daughter from the anger of their ancestors. Thus he comes onto the scene though is rejected by his peers as being unorthodox and trapped in a world that does not exist. This changes when they discover that he is able to drag up information above and beyond any normal person can find out and that at the bottom of this drug ring is a powerful sorceress that is using the art in a skeptical world to advance her power.

Magic Cop is a cool movie because it merges successfully the swords and sorcery feel within the modern world. It is a movie where magic is tossed freely and evil witches try to take control of our heroes. I do not know if the magic sequences were developed by the filmmakers or considered to be true. As for magic I am very conscience of its existence because of reliable sources documenting its existence. It is more an ancient phenomenon because our skeptical western minds refuse to accept the existence of that which we cannot see or touch. Faith in the western world has all but vanished, except for that which we have in ourselves. Magic is not a good thing: it is a very dangerous thing that we must beware of, but to totally ignore it is even more dangerous.

This is really a cool movie, Ching-Ying Lam as a hard-boiled cop with some magic skills in a 90s environment, this is what I wanted the from Ching-Ying after all the comedic roles he had as the taoist in the Mr Vampire films.

Now this film still got a fair amount of comedic scenes in it, but they're not as embarrassing as previous films, this film actually takes itself a bit more serious and it works so well. The Police Force fighting walking corpses, controlled by a Sorceress and for some reason the Police Force just happens to have a cop that can deal with magic too and it's the most perfect example of a fight between Masters of Magic.

The film still got a limited amount of budget, so take it for what it is. It's not the same gory makeup you see in Hollywood films like Terminator or Romero's Dead Series. But instead you have things you've never seen in films before, like the "fortune telling car chase" - you have to see it for yourself to see what I mean, but it's why I love watching films, when I see things like this, great and fantastic ideas I would never have thought of myself.

There were still some dumb, comedic scenes I felt dragged the coolness of the film down, especially from the two cop sidekicks, but Ching-Ying was just amazing. And for some reason all of these HK horror/comedies seems to have a rule to not be longer than 90 minutes, on one hand I would love to have more content, on another hand it's very packed with what it got, and the ending is more closed this time than previous films. I hope we'll see a release of this film on bluray, because I would love to see this again and for many others to discover this gem. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

It introduces us to Uncle Fung (Ching Ying Lam), a kindly rural policeman who is "more like a Taoist priest than a cop" -- including apprehending an angry ghost with a candle and cloth, after an old lady accidentally angers it. There must be a lot of people who get killed by angry spirits, if this scene is any indicator.

Then we switch to undercover cops Lam (Wilson Lam) and 'Head' (Miu Kiu Wai), who try to apprehend a drug courier, only to get tossed away like rag dolls. Turns out she died several days ago. This is the ideal crime for Fung, so he and his pretty niece Lin move into Lam's bachelor pad. No, I don't know why Fung doesn't kick Lam out the window for hitting on his niece.

When Fung isn't keeping the womanizing Lam away from his niece, the three cops are tracking the dead woman's boyfriend. The man unwittingly leads them to the head of the drug ring -- a Japanese Taoist sorceress, who reanimates corpses as couriers. Only Fung can stop another Taoist magician -- but soon they've unleashed a horrific zombie that wants them all dead.

Ching Ying Lam reprises his "vampire busting" role but as a cop as well as a priest and combats vampires really well as seen in this highly imaginative and lively HK film that mixes comedy and horror quite well. Ching Ying Lam is great as usual, exuding authority and seriousness, and is very protective towards his cute niece especially where Wilson Lam is concerned, who is quite a lustful guy. His modernity clashes with Ching, highlighting the differences between cultures. Lam is really good as the cop who doesn't believe in such mumbo jumbo and vampires but he soon changes his mind quick. In contrast, Michael Miu, another cop, is respectful to Yam. He's quite funny in his role. The special effects are a highlight. Check out the finale where our hero takes on Michiko Nishiwaki who is great as usual as the villain. She's effortlessly menacing and alluring at the same time. The humour is good, though never overwhelming. Overall, a fun watch.