toad Archives - Jeremy C. Processing

Director – Adrian Chiarella – 2025 – Australia – Cert. 15 – 88m

*****

Following treatment by a faith healer, two gay teen lovers are stalked by a being that for each of them resembles the other – out in UK cinemas on Wednesday, September 2nd

This is at once a drama and a supernatural horror movie made from a gay perspective. At no point (unless I missed it) does the film refer to anyone or anything called Leviticus. Perhaps that’s the name of the monster (who is not named in the film). Perhaps it’s a reference to the Book of Leviticus in the Bible – possibly not such a stretch since key plot elements involve a local, fundamentalist Christian church community – and such gathered groups tend to believe the Bible to be true word for word (rather than, say, using it as a text to be read and engaged with, taking into account its historical context and trying to make sense of it in today’s world).

Naim (Joe Bird from Talk to M e, Danny & Michael Philippou, 2022) and Ryan (Stacy Clausen) hang out together in the area around their small outback town. Naim is unnerved by the sight of a snake digesting a toad.… Read the rest

Mr. Vampire IV
aka
Mr. Vampire
Saga IV
(Geung See
Suk Suk,
靈幻先生)

Director – Ricky Lau – 1988 – Hong Kong – Cert. 12 – 96m

***1/2

A feud between Taoist and Buddhist neighbours, and a tentative romance between their boy and girl apprentices, are interrupted by the arrival of a coffin, from which a hopping corpse escapes – out on Blu-ray in the UK on Monday, May 22nd as part of Eureka! Video’s Hopping Mad: The Mr. Vampire Sequels

The fourth and final ‘official’ Mr. Vampire film (i.e. to be made by Sammo Hung / Leonard Ho’s Bo Ho Films company).

This once again shakes up the formula to deliver something different from its predecessors. Where the third film replaced the franchise’s jiangshi (hopping corpses) with flying ghosts, this fourth entry brings jiangshi back again and yet, curiously, they only come into play in about half of the film. The other half concerns two next door neighbours who don’t get on with one another. As with the previous films, the knockabout comedy sensibility holds the whole thing together.

The second major change is the conspicuous absence of star Lam Ching-ying who previously played the jiangshi-fighting, Taoist priest. According to the Blu-ray booklet’s helpful essay on these films by James Oliver, this appears to be down to the fact that Lam simply wasn’t available, a theory backed up by the fact that he subsequently worked again with most of those involved in the franchise.… Read the rest