The Phantom Lute (Taiwan 1975)

Rating: **
Review Date: 8/5/13
Cast: Judy Lee (Chia Ling)

A typical Chinese ghost story with a couple of nice twists. Hsiao Feng (Judy Lee) is a young singer who gets killed by the nasty General Chao when she refuses his amorous advances. A kind scholar falls in love with her ghost and agrees to help her get revenge, even if it means putting himself in considerable danger. The pacing is extremely sluggish and the narrative is weighed down by some needlessly goofy characters, but the film creates a nice atmosphere and employs some nifty optical effects. An atypical role for kung fu diva Judy Lee, as she plays a helpless victim and only gets into one very minor and uninteresting fight at the end. Unless you're a Judy Lee completist, there are better ghost stories out there to choose from.