Happy Ghost


Happy Ghost is a 1984 Hong Kong comedy film directed by Clifton Ko. Produced and written by Raymond Wong, the film stars Wong, Boonie Law, Loletta Lee and Sandy Lamb. The film was the 12th most grossed film in Hong Kong of 1984.

Plot

The film is about three high school students, Bonnie, Juliet and Venus, in their last year in school together, go on their last picnic before their examinations. Taking shelter from a sudden storm in an abandoned temple, Bonnie finds a piece of rope and takes it home. With this rope she brings home a spirit of Scholar Pik, whose archaic ways of thinking obviously clashed with the values held by a twentieth century teenager. Yet, they began to make friends with each other. The three girls started to depend on Scholar Pik's magic for everything. After their exam, they realize it, the girls begin to derive a more positive and hardworking attitude towards life through his encouragement.

Cast

  • Raymond Wong Pak-ming as Stewart Pik - The Happy Ghost
  • Bonnie Law as Bonnie Lam - Naughty and playful, also an athlete
  • Loletta Lee as Juliet - Married to Joseph, has a son
  • Sandy Lamb as Venus Koo - Bookworm
  • Teresa Carpio as Sister Lee - Nun
  • Hsiao-kang Wu as Joseph - Married to Juliet, has a son
  • Luisa Maria Leitão as Judy - Daughter of a rich family, Juliet's rival in love
  • Brenda Lo as Twiggy - School dormitory worker, Fatty's wife
  • Kai-Keung Sze as Fatty - School dormitory worker, Twiggy's husband, reads Playboy all the time
  • Gou Wang as Mr. Koo - Koo's father
  • Suen Lai as Mrs. Koo - Koo's mother
  • Yu Chan-Kau as Brazano Trovaski Chan - Has a crush on Juliet
  • Raymond Fung as Principle - Have a bad breath
  • Elisa Chan as Pik's wife - Sold Put chai ko for a living
  • Ching Tien as Pik's Father
  • Clifton Ko as Bus passenger

    Release

Box office

Happy Ghost was a hit for Cinema City and grossed a total of HK$17,414,334. The movie ran in theaters from 14 July 1984 to 3 August 1984.

Alternate title

In the Philippines, the film was released by South Cinema Films as Magic to Win 3: The Origin on 12 January 1989, after Happy Ghost II and III.

Reception

In his book Horror and Science Fiction Film IV, Donald C. Willis stated that Happy Ghost was "fairly elaborate and inventive, but tends to run off in all directions".