Reviewed by: ororama Date: 11/10/2009 Primarily a softcore sex comedy, "Beauty of the Haunted House" gets a little weird as it becomes a ghost story and finally reveals an unlikely explanation from World War II for the supernatural events. The tendency to mix genres in Hong Kong movies can work, but doesn't work here, perhaps because the sex comedy is the only aspect of the movie that the filmmakers are really committed to. The one good joke involves a secretary played by Amuro Yuko hiding under the desk of her boss when his wife comes in. This old joke has a little bite because of her spiteful motive. Beautiful Miyake Issei plays an assistant who is possessed by the ghost several times during her visit to the haunted house, to the pleasure, and later the consternation, of her boyfriend, who is also her superior. This was apparently Miyake's only movie role to date. There was the potential for a different and interesting movie if the anti-Japanese jingoism had been dropped, and more attention had been paid to developing the ghost story, integrating it better into the sex comedy, and executing it more effectively. This was unfortunately a missed opportunity, and Miyake Issei is really the only reason to watch this movie.

Reviewed by: RLM Date: 12/20/2002 Summary: Another Sex & Ghost Film Better than average production values for a porn flick. Worse than average story line (which is saying something for a movie in this genre). What would be found utterly politically incorret in the states (a storyline depecting Japanese as disgusting and sadistic) goes for standard fare in HK films; I seen it so many times I've lost count. Sometimes the humor works in the film for a moment - other times it's very weak and annoying. In summary, it's about a Japanese company that wants to purchase a house where war crimes were comitted from a Chinese 'uncle' who is dying and the ghosts possessing the home are 'dead' set against it. The use of a body-double for the climatic (no pun intended) sex scene was rather amusing. Guess it's hard to find a porn star with good kung-fu! Rating: 4/10

Reviewed by: STSH Date: 01/15/2000 Summary: Entertaining lightweight nonsense. Tongue firmly in cheek, better than average nude/sex scenes, ghosts vs taoists, patriotic Chinese vs Japanese war criminals, and no horror or scares to speak of. Reviewer Score: 6