[Watched/Reviewed on Letterboxd 5/12/2021 ]

There's a lot about "A Chinese Ghost Story" that feels improvised (less so than its sequel, which felt all over the place) as it follows a down-on-his-luck and wayward scholar (who doesn't do much scholarly work), and becomes swept up in a supernatural tryst with a ghost forced to kill human beings to appease a tree demon. It's a good kind've improvisation, though.

The apparent influence of Sam Raimi's "Devil Dead (1981)" is hard to ignore, which makes A Chinese Ghost Story's influence on "Xena: Warrior Princess" (that underwater kiss between Xena and Lao Ma in "The Debt", the entirety of the season six finale, "A Friend in Need") a great example of how art is always in constant communication, influencing others.