by Skywalker Hunter
This post is a complementary passage to my video showcasing Chinese Ghost Stories VCD on my YouTube channel. The video is available here: https://youtu.be/R0COlef3O1c?si=KHZaf8B4Od3MegvX
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| My initial video thumbnail |
OVERVIEW [for video Description]
After
doing a little more research, I found the series “Chinese Ghost Stories”
available for sale in YesAsia (https://www.yesasia.com/us/chinese-ghost-stories-series/200076-0-0-0-en/list.html).
I was searching with the “wrong” title, e.g. I typed “Ti Fu Niang-Niang” (which is correct based on my Indonesian VCD copy),
but it should be “Di Fu Niang-Niang”
(similar pronunciation, different spelling—I think it’s like the case of Mao
Tse Tung and Mao Zedong in Indonesian. In many
more extreme cases, both the spelling and pronunciation will be different, leaving
only “slight” similarities phonetically: e.g. Peh Tin Yo is actiually Bai
Suzhen the White
Snake; “Peh” is pronounced almost similar to “Bai” while “Tin Yo” and “Suzhen”
are totally different and I don’t know why they use different name. The Green
Snake is “Xiaoqin” in the Chinese version, but “Syaochen” in Indonesian
version).
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| A Chinese Ghost Story (1987) Movie Poster |
DISCUSSION
In
2023, I bought a series of Chinese movies in a bundle—consists of 5 movies in
total. All in VCD format, and in uniformed package/artwork design. The series
title is “Chinese Ghost Stories”. As the cover shows painting “Artwork” instead
of a picture from the actual movie, I initially thought it was the “famous” A Chinese Ghost
Story series starring the one and only Leslie Cheung.
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| Leslie Cheung |
I
found the package listed in ONLY ONE Indonesian online store, and there are
quite many people adding the item to their “Wish list”. In this store, you can
add an item to your Wish list (it’s like a “Favorite” list) for items you are
planning to buy, but not adding them to your cart just yet. The more people
adding an item to Wish list, especially if there is only one item in THE ENTIRE
STORE, the more desirable the item becomes and you need to buy it immediately
before someone else snatched it first and the item is gone forever.
The
popularity of this package strengthen my belief that this Chinese Ghost Stories VCDs are “the” Chinese Ghost Stories
I was looking for. I think the price was fair for a package with 5 VCDs in
total (around USD 7 in 2023) and I got a free shipping option. So, I bought the
package immediately.
After
receiving the VCDs, I found something is off. Out of 5 VCDs, 4 are in single
disc VCD. Certainly, A Chinese Ghost
Story is a full-length movie with more than 70 minutes of running time. A
single disc VCD cannot hold the entire movie and has to be split into 2 discs
at the very least. I was scared that my package might not be the one I was
looking for. And it’s true, I bought the wrong Chinese Ghost Stories. I was massively disappointed, BUT I was way
more curious than disappointed.
I
was very curios because I cannot seem to find any information about the series.
I tried to google it, and I could find the actual Chinese Ghost Story and many different literatures and adaptations
of Chinese horror legends. But I simply could not find anything about my
purchase. Inspecting the VCD cover does not help. There is no information about
the films whatsoever, other than the title and plot summary. Who could make a
movie so bad? Who greenlit this project? And when did they release it? It was a
huge mystery.
The
image quality of all 5 movies are “Trash”
even for VCD standard. But I can tell that the terrible image and audio quality
of this package is NOT due to the limitation of the VCD format. Regardless of
VCD maximum resolution, I can tell that the SOURCE material is awful to begin
with. On top of that, I think the overall filmmaking process for this series is
just horrible. The cinematography is bad, the lighting is bad, the acting is
bad, the effects are bad, nearly all aspects of this series (if not all) is
plain BAD.
The
Indonesian distributor does not help making the experience a little bit better
either. In fact, the distributor (which is 100% official by the way) chose the
worst possible encoding process, the worst possible subtitle font, and THE
WORST TRANSLATOR. Not only you cannot see most of the details, but you are also
clueless as the subtitle does not help at all. The subtitle gives an early 2000’s
Google Translate vibes for a package released in 1999 (it’s like when we were
translating from Indonesian word by word “Ini
bukan hanya suka, melainkan cinta!” to English “This not just like, other than love” instead of “It’s not like, it’s love!”). Usually,
they would hire a professional translator to translate the movie given the fact
that they are a LEGIT and OFFICIAL distributor, but NO.
This
package is pure Trash, and I’m only keeping it as a reminder of how low can an
Indonesian corporate go. Also, it’s an exhibit to my VCD collection, and I must
admit that it has become quite an important piece simply due to its historical
context in the world of physical media—especially Video CD.
After
I recorded the video showcasing this package, I tried to once again “search”
more information. Again, I typed the title of one of the VCDs, “Ti Fu
Niang-Niang” and I got no valid result. I hit a wall there. The search
continues, and I found one VCD for sale in YesAsia entitled “Di
Fu Niang-Niang”. Oh my, not even the Indonesian front title is correct!
I think it’s like the difference between Mao
Tse Tung and Mao Zedong, or Tao Ming Se and Daoming Si in Indonesian (similar pronunciation, different
spelling).
Anyway,
the search for “Di Fu Niang-Niang” took me to this YesAsia
page:
The
plot summary is in Chinese, so I had to copy the text to translate it. The English
translation is as follows:
“Liaozhai series, a classic of large-scale
costume myth dramas reappears.
Original work: Pu Songling
The world of Liaozhai is filled
with all sorts of strange things, and you can talk about them with humor and
emotion.
The fairy Jinse was demoted from
heaven to the underworld and became the empress of the underworld for violating
the precepts. Wang Yi, a scholar seeking death in the wilderness, was rescued
by the patrol girl Chun Yan, and was taken to the underworld where he was
assigned to carry the corpse. The demons in hell rebelled and killed each other
with swords and axes. Wang Yi fought to the death to protect them. The empress
of the underworld was deeply moved, so she resigned from her official position
and risked her life to leave the underworld, marry Wang Yi and come to the world.
The world is full of spring, and the Empress of the Underworld is filled with
emotion: "Being an immortal, a god, or a ghost is really tiring. It's much
easier to be a human being." Will the Empress of the Underworld finally
stay in the human world? How did her marriage to Wang Yi end?”
There are slight differences in names (like I mentioned before, in terms of
spelling), but the overall summary is similar to the back cover of my VCD. Hell
yeah, I found the first information about the series! The VCD listed in YesAsia
shows that the item belongs to “Chinese Ghost Stories Series” which luckily has
its own listed items in the market.
When
I clicked it, I got redirected to this
page:
Items
upon items form Chinese Ghost Stories VCD. At first, I was unsure because the
information in YesAsia shows 2007 as its release date while mine was from 1999.
I guess it’s only a matter of Disc release, and not the actual release year of
the series. So I searched further and found Di
Fu Niang-Niang in IMDb!
According
to IMDb, it was released in 1987, and it’s a TV movie. That explains the “low-quality”
of the entire series. It all makes sense then. Still, the information in IMDb
is incomplete. (At the time of writing this passage) There’s no storyline or
audience review for the series. But I am 95% sure this is the movie I bought.
Why 95%? I don’t know, I still find it hard to believe and leave the door open
for other possibilities.
FINAL THOUGHTS
At the end, movies like these remind us all about the importance of physical media. There are many more “obscure” movies like these Chinese Ghost Stories series that will soon be forgotten and no one will be able to dig more information about them. It’s unfortunate that the ones I acquired are plain BAD movies, but I can’t stop thinking of potentially GOOD movies buried somewhere and eventually forgotten. I am keeping this set not for its sentimental value—I frankly HATE this series, but I’m keeping it to make a point. It’s an important part of home entertainment history.
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