How the Erotic Ghost Story films shocked and seduced Hong Kong

Tame by today’s standards, the three adults-only Erotic Ghost Story films were big hits when they were released in Hong Kong in the early 1990s.

The buxom star of the first film, Amy Yip Chi-mei, instantly became a Hong Kong celebrity, while the third film turned ill-fated actress Pauline Chan Bo-lin into an Asian sex symbol. All three became cult classics in the West.

Below, film historian Frank Djeng, who did the commentaries for the releases of Erotic Ghost Story 2 and Erotic Ghost Story 3 by distributor 88 Films, explains why the films were so successful.

Erotic Ghost Story mixed erotica with other genres. Why?

Adult films – known as category III films in Hong Kong because of their classification by censors – were experiencing their heyday when Erotic Ghost Story came out in 1990, and producers tried to attract as many people as possible to see them.

They felt that if they just made sex films it would limit the audience, so they mixed the sex in with other genres.

Joey Wong and Leslie Cheung in a still from A Chinese Ghost Story (1987). Photo: Film Workshop

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