When it comes to kung fu movies, many people think of Jackie Chan, and when it comes to comedy movies, they think of Stephen Chow. When it comes to zombie movies, no need to ask, the first name that comes to mind must be Lam Ching-ying.

He is called "the most secure actor in history."

Wearing a yellow Taoist robe, a Bagua scarf on his head, a mahogany sword in his right hand, and a Bagua mirror in his left hand, he can catch ghosts and fight zombies in various ways.

A few days ago was the 23rd anniversary of the death of "Uncle Ying". Netizens are remembering this "zombie priest" who brought many people childhood memories.

To this day, no matter how many new zombie movies are made, no matter how much time passes, the audience still misses him very much.

Lin Zhengying, whose real name is Lin Genbao, is called "Uncle Nine, Uncle Ying" by audiences who like him.

His family was poor since he was a child. In order to make a living, he attended primary school for two years and then turned to study Peking Opera.

If you are careful, you may also find that there are many elements and movements of the Peking Opera stage in Uncle Jiu's film works. Thanks to his career in Peking Opera over the past few years, Uncle Jiu has created his unique performance style.

Later he started to get involved in movies, but due to his slender figure, he could only do stunt doubles for actresses.

In 1971, 19-year-old Lin Zhengying finally encountered his own opportunity - serving as a martial arts instructor for Bruce Lee's "Brother Tangshan". The two also formed a deep friendship.

In the second year, Bruce Lee wrote and directed "The Way of the Dragon" and "Fist of Fury", both of which invited Lin Zhengying to collaborate. At that time, their relationship was that of both teachers and friends. Bruce Lee would rather not start filming without Lin Ching-ying on the set.

However, the good times did not last long. Lin Zhengying's good luck came to an abrupt end with the sudden death of Bruce Lee. Without Bruce Lee, he returned to being a lackluster martial arts instructor.

It wasn't until he joined Sammo Hung's Hung Family Class that his martial arts career got into better shape again: he won the Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Action Director for two consecutive years, and in 1982 " The scene of his fight with Chen Xunqi in "The Prodigal Boy", his Wing Chun is considered to be one of the most beautiful Wing Chun performances in the history of film.

Lam Ching-ying's real popularity came when she starred in the 1985 movie "Mr. Zombie" as a Taoist priest. The director of this film is Liu Guanwei, and to this day "Mr. Zombie" is still considered one of the best zombie movies.

In "Mr. Zombie", Lin Zhengying wears a yellow robe for the first time. Holding a magical mahogany sword in his hand, he plays the role of a "Taoist priest". The design of the film in which a person closes his breath to avoid zombies is even more impressive. It has been imitated by many similar films and television films, making Lin Zhengying famous in one fell swoop and winning the Hong Kong Film Awards. Nominated for Best Supporting Actor. (Here is a small episode, why is it the best supporting actor? It is said that Xu Guanying at the time thought he was the protagonist.)

Also starting from "Mr. Zombie", Hong Kong movies started a wave of zombie movies.

It is kung fu, funny and scary, and has become a standard feature of zombie movies. "Zombie Family", "Ghosts in Suits", "Music Zombie" and "Zombie Supreme" have become hits one after another.

However, soon, Wang Jing's "God of Gamblers" style and Tsui Hark's "martial arts style" started to develop.

In addition, Hong Kong’s traditional Maoshan zombie films have gradually lost their audience because they have been imitated repeatedly by many imitators without innovation. (In 1986 alone, more than 10 works similar to Lam Ching-ying’s Zombie Taoist were released)

In order to prevent Hong Kong zombie movies from being blindly shoddy, Lam Ching-ying launched the self-directed and self-starred "One Eyebrow Taoist". The film is hilarious and exciting, with the novel effects of the "chicken-and-duck talk" between Taoist Mao Shan and the Christians, and the fight between Mao Shan Shu and Western zombies all very popular with the audience.

It can be said that this well-intentioned movie brought zombie movies a brief comeback in the early 1990s.

Later, he released films such as "Zombie Family" and "Mr. Phantom", most of which are classics and were nominated for the Hong Kong Film Awards twice.

Next, Lin Zhengying took advantage of the situation to launch his "Exorcist Police", which spans from the early Republic of China to modern times. The familiar Maoshan technique paired with a police partner can be called "the most peculiar method of solving crimes" .

But the market is unpredictable, and the needs of the audience are changing all the time.

Moreover, the zombie movies at that time were indeed hard to come back from, and unfortunately only Lin Zhengying was left to support the overall situation.

Although it later produced many creative works with exciting scenes such as "The African Monk" with Stephen Chow and Ng Man-tat as the narration, but in the end there was no way to save it, and the "zombie theme" was increasingly ignored by the market.

It seems that zombie-themed movies have reached the end of their rope.

Fortunately, in 1995, Hong Kong ATV was also constantly innovating to find a way out, and thus hired Lin Zhengying to star in the TV series "Zombie Taoist Priest" with a high salary of one million.

This TV series not only won high ratings for ATV, but was also regarded as a resurrection of the "zombie movie".

In 1996, he continued filming "Zombie Taoist II".

At that time, Yuan Qiongdan and Lin Zhengying fell in love due to drama and came together. Yuan Qiongdan is Sister Pomegranate in Stephen Chow's "Tang Bohu Spots Autumn Fragrance" and Yin Shiniang in "The Legend of the Gods".

However, when they were talking about marriage, Lin Zhengying cruelly rejected her. In fact, at that time, Lin Zhengying already knew that her time was running out.

"Sister Pomegranate" who was broken up for no apparent reason lamented that she was abandoned and cried for a long time.

Later Yuan Qiongdan learned that Lin Zhengying swallowed the pain alone because she did not want to drag her down due to her illness.

On November 8, 1997, Lin Zhengying, who originally planned to film "Zombie Taoist III" for ATV, passed away. He was only 45 years old that year.

Friends in the industry such as Sammo Hung and Wu Ma came to see him off. His girlfriend Yuan Qiongdan was heartbroken at the scene and it took many years to get over the incident.

Since then, with the death of Lin Zhengying, the "legendary history" of zombie movies has also come to an end sadly.

Today, it is the 23rd anniversary of his death.

Mr. Shiyu believes from the bottom of his heart that Lin Zhengying is still the best or even the only synonym for "zombie movies" and is also our best "zombie priest".

Not all of his zombie movies are masterpieces, but whether it’s the way of persuasion or every line, they are worthy of careful consideration, and the carefully designed details are even more creative:

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The master brother was left in the sky by the female ghost and stabbed him in the sky; the junior brother jumped up and down on the glutinous rice; the blue-green smoke automatically rose when zombies appeared in the wild; the bells rang by the exorcists late at night and muttered words on their lips ; The super zombie boss was exploded by maltose and colorful powder...

The combination of horror and Hong Kong-style nonsense is extremely clever. At that time, we who were timid often put our heads under the covers and still Be engrossed in the thrill and tension of the movie.

Even now, when I think of those shots and scenes, I still purse my lips unconsciously.

Unfortunately, one eyebrow has grown into a dead ring, and there is no more Lin Zhengying in the world. Zombie movies flourished because of him and declined because of his departure. His life is legendary.

Over the years, many people have imitated and many people paid tribute, but the audience has never seen a zombie movie as classic as Lin Zhengying's work.

I can only read his classics over and over again.