Every now and then there are classic movies that do something new, something different, with a really small budget. They entertain us with their originality or their gore, or their sheer badness. Last Ghost Standing is not one of those films, but it has some of that classic plucky filmmaking spirit and, well, 'borrows' scenes from those aforementioned classics.

Yeung-Yeung (Simon Yui) is a lowly projectionist at a movie theatre that can be found on 666 King's Road, however the place is due to close thanks to a total lack of patronage. It's the last day of 1999 and Yeung-Yeung takes his girlfriend Yiu-Yiu (Sherming Yiu) with him to the theatre to see out his last night of employment there. We go on ahead of them to the cinema as we see the ticket collector Cheung (Wayne Lai) seething with rage as the official notice of closing is given to him by a government inspector. The inspector proceeds to investigate the building, happening upon a room where a hole in the wall emits a red light. This is the last thing he sees however, as something beyond the wall squirts corrosive slime at his face and he falls to the floor and promptly expires. Unaware of this development the staff continue as normal, Yeung-Yeung buys his lady friend a ticket so she can watch the movie in the totally empty cinema. However the woman on the concessions stand makes Yiu-Yiu move to a different seat because she's blocking the video camera being used to make pirate copies of the movie, no wonder the place is going out of business! Yiu-Yiu takes another seat but soon discovers that she's not alone. A ghost suddenly appears next to her (essayed by Francis Ng!) and he's very unhappy, disillusioned by the Hong Kong film industry that he feels has become junk without emotion or depth, and he sees Yiu-Yiu's relationship with Yeung-Yeung is the same way. He tells her that her man will one day tire of their pairing and discard her, however Yiu-Yiu protests an ghost has an idea to test his love for her and pops her head clean off her shoulders! Suddenly the few remaining in the cinema are in grave danger from ghosts, disembodied heads and monsters made out of papier-mâché, can they survive on their own or will they need the help of Jacky the Ghost Buster?

This is a fun little collaborative effort with a tiny budget but a lot of passion, many of the cast members double as behind-the-scenes staff which no doubt added to the intimate feel of the picture. Hong Kong fanatics will spot a number of familiar faces, Simon Yui has starred in a number of the Troublesome Night films as have Amanda Lee and Ng Chi Hung, Angela Tong and Wayne Lai might be familiar to those who saw Wilson Yip's Bio-Zombie. Francis Ng should be recognised by just about anybody with an interest in HK film as will Chin Kar Lok who steals the film as Jacky.. The performances overall are campy to the extreme but when one is making a film with so little money (and originality?) a po-faced delivery wouldn't fit, taking yourself seriously would only encumber the film. Last Ghost Standing is not without its hindrances however, though how much of a drawback they is will depend on the viewer's tolerance for 'wacky' Canto-humour. For instance, there are moments of zaniness here that to this scribe's eyes were not especially funny and they went on far too long, causing a lull that makes the film appear to drag more than its 85 minute runtime suggests. Such scenes include Yeung-Yeung and a policewoman walking like a bad impression of the Thriller video to deceive a pint-sized demon, and just about any scene with the trio of Angela Tong, Pinky Cheung and Benny Chan. They get stoned, they dance to the music in their heads, they flush themselves down toilets, they do little more than push this to feature-length and to get a couple of cute girls on screen because they're not entertaining. The rest of the performances are a mixed bag ranging from mildly irritating to decent. Sherming Yiu's overacting as Yiu-Yiu works for and against her, on the one hand she is cloying and nausiating in the early parts of the film but redeems herself a little when called upon to play her possessed disembodied head a la Evil Dead 2. Simon Yui, who was wonderfully camp in the first of the Troublesome Night film is somewhat more subdued here, but the rest of the cast camps things up sufficiently to keep things entertaining. Chin Kar Lok steals the film however, in a cameo that has to be seen by any HK movie fans.

Last Ghost Standing is part observation of the dearth of quality releases in Hong Kong as the millennium approaches, part kooky low budget horror and part homage to films past. As each character first appears on the screen, the film freezes for a second and gives the name of the actor next to their face. Fans of Hong Kong films will hopefully see the connection here with Hong Kong films of the past that would introduce the performers in a similar fashion, something that is seen regularly in classic Shaw Brothers productions. Wayne Lai gets to reenact the classic 'possessed hand' scene from Evil Dead 2 and does so with conviction, though not with the same slapstick panache as Bruce Campbell. The premise of the film with hapless victims trapped in a movie theatre with monsters is reminiscent of Lamberto Bava's gruesome Demons. Also, a couple of characters use toilets much like Ewan McGregor did in Trainspotting, and Simon Yui and Wayne Lai get caught in a seemingly never ending sea of curtains in a scene ripped from the previously mentioned Troublesome Night. While some could view this film as simply ripping off the above movies, the spirit of the film suggests otherwise, that they're paying homage to these films with good humour. This is confirmed by the appearance of Chin Kar Lok as 'Jackie' the ghost buster. A TV commercial for his service shows the typical picture of Jackie Chan in his black t-shirt (a picture that has become the bane of many HK fans) but when he arrives on screen he is sporting a ridiculous baggy silver outfit and a large fake nose, psyching himself up for battle by wailing "WHO AM I?". This could very well be one of the most obscure references in the movie, to an early Jackie Chan vehicle which is known as Spiritual Kung Fu or Karate Ghostbuster. Whether this reference was intended or not, Chin Kar Lok's big scene is excellent and makes it worth seeking out on its own for HK cinema fanatics.

Your mileage may vary with Last Ghost Standing. This scribe was frustrated by some of the inane Canto-humour but greatly enjoyed the cheapo gore, fun cameos and film references. Overall, this film is difficult to dislike due to the intimate low budget nature of the way it was made, b-movies are frequently made with a lot more passion than their blockbuster counterparts. This is very much the case here, even with Francis Ng's comments on the state of modern cinema. Whether you agree with him or not, there is still much here to enjoy if one can look beyond the low budget exterior.