Chinese hopping vampire

[idoneus1957]

I had read about this in some horror film book, but never seen it
before. I can't even remember the title of this atrocious vampire film
from the 1960s which I saw on DVD.
The monster looks more like a zombie than a vampire. And what is its method of locomotion? It hops! Like a bunny rabbit. It looks ridiculous.
I had to double-check that this wasn't a comedy.

[LuvablePsycho]

Originally Posted by idoneus1957

I had read about this in some horror film book, but never seen it
before. I can't even remember the title of this atrocious vampire film
from the 1960s which I saw on DVD.
The monster looks more like a zombie than a vampire. And what is its method of locomotion? It hops! Like a bunny rabbit. It looks ridiculous.
I had to double-check that this wasn't a comedy.

I'm pretty sure it's based on a mythical monster from ancient Chinese folklore because I have seen these kind of "hopping vampires" referenced in things like the Darkstalkers video games and such.

[Angra]

It’s “Mr. Vampire”.

But there’s also jumping vampires in “A Chinese Ghost Story” and probably many others from the 80s, 70s and 60s. Looks ridiculous.

[LuvablePsycho]

I'm sure that we Westerners have some monsters that they think are pretty silly. Like those magical Irish midgets known as leprechauns.

[Smeg Head1]

A jiangshi, also known as a Chinese "hopping" zombie. Referred to as Jiangshi (殭屍) – meaning “hard or “stiff”, Jiangshi was a word originally used to mean “corpse” – this cursed soul was stiffened by rigor mortis and unable to move beyond a hop, like some undead pogo stick, with its arms stretched out in front of it for balance. Source

Encounters of the Spooky Kind (1980) was the first film based on the jiangshi of Chinese legends.

But Mr. Vampire (1985) was the breakthrough success of the genre. The film established many of the genre's recognizable tropes.[17] Source

[LuvablePsycho]

Originally Posted by Smeg Head1

A jiangshi, also known as a Chinese "hopping" zombie. Referred to as Jiangshi (殭屍) – meaning “hard or “stiff”, Jiangshi was a word originally used to mean “corpse” – this cursed soul was stiffened by rigor mortis and unable to move beyond a hop, like some undead pogo stick, with its arms stretched out in front of it for balance. Source

Encounters of the Spooky Kind (1980) was the first film based on the jiangshi of Chinese legends.

But Mr. Vampire (1985) was the breakthrough success of the genre. The film established many of the genre's recognizable tropes.[17] Source

Ah, that actually makes sense why they would move in such a way.

[The Shroud]

I saw them in a movie (I believe from the 80's) called, Robo-Vampire.

[MysticHorizon]

Yeah, they do look pretty ridiculous at first. I had the same reaction the first time I saw one, until I found out it’s actually based on jiangshi folklore. Once you know they’re supposed to be stiff corpses that can’t move properly, the hopping suddenly makes a lot more sense.

Funny thing is, I actually ran into this design earlier in games before I ever watched those movies. Like in Darkstalkers with Hsien-Ko. I didn’t get the reference at all back then.

I’ve even seen it show up in slots a couple of times. Pretty rare theme, but I definitely remember one where the symbols were those hopping jiangshi with the paper talisman on the forehead, moving in that stiff way during animations. At the time it just felt like some random weird aesthetic, but later it clicked where it comes from.

PS: I literally just tried to find that slot again by looking through magyar casino befizetés nélküli bónusz offers, since that’s actually how I stumbled on it before, but couldn’t track it down this time. Maybe I’m misremembering the name, or maybe it’s just not listed on local sites. If anyone knows what I’m talking about, I’d appreciate it.