Jackie (Shirley Yim) is a gambling addict who got herself into some serious trouble when her boyfriend’s jewel heist went awry. Now she’s on the run and heads to Thailand where her pal hooks her up with a job as a sex worker, which she is absolutely not into. When that too goes completely wrong, Jackie goes to see a sorcerer (Billy Chan) who informs her that her string of bad luck is because she is the reincarnation of a dead criminal. His solution is to adopt a ghost child to turn her fortunes around.
All that Jackie must do is follow some very specific instructions or all darn heck will break loose. You know where this is going, right? Suddenly, our main character is getting the lover she wants, and the rest of her troubles just seem to disappear. The thing is that Jackie is having too much fun to notice that anyone who crosses her while she’s protected by this ghost kid faces some dire and/or grave consequences. And because she’s a jerk, she totally screws up her daily ritual. See? I told you that you would know where this was going!
The world of Hong Kong cinema was changed forever when Ghost Nursing (1982) was released. Okay, don’t look that up because it’s not true. I was struggling with how to start this review, and that was the best I could come up with. While actor turned director Wilson Tong wasn’t dropping the most original film I’ve seen from this genre, he certainly didn’t skimp on infusing his film with a lots of energy, silliness, and over-the-top schlock. The film is populated with some HK genre regulars like Norman Chu of Seeding of a Ghost (1983) and Melvin Wong of Bewitched (1981), just to name a couple.
While I wouldn’t put Ghost Nursing on a top tier or essentials list, it is just so damn awesome to get more Hong Kong horror on Blu-ray. All of the appropriate amounts of sleaze, violence, tacky sets and costumes, and gross-out gags are here. If you’re at all like me, you’ll be yelling at your TV trying to get Jackie to stop dicking around and do right by her adopted ghost baby. Surprisingly (and thankfully), the whole "nursing" part of the Ghost Nursing title doesn't become a hyper-sexualized thing. That would've been pretty freaky. Also, the ending of this film is so baffling and unsatisfying that it kind of accidentally becomes satisfying in its own way. Animal lovers beware, this film has a dead monkey in it. It’s not killed onscreen but if you’re bummed out by that kind of stuff, you now have fair warning.
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