Tag: Hungry Ghost Festival

Ghost Month 2025: Chinese Horror Picks & New Teasers

Although no films were made specifically for Ghost Month 2025, there’s plenty of support from releases earlier this year and following!

Ghost Month 2025The second half of August is shaping up to be very spooky and Fringey. Ghost Month 2025 starts on Aug. 23 and runs until Sept. 21. As for Hungry Ghost Festival, that will be on Sept 6!

Although there’s no mandate about releasing films during this time–that’s reserved for Chinese New Year–some fans of horror always like to look at what’s on the cinematic slate to be reminded about what the Hungry Ghost Festival will entail. Some years have seen releases made specifically for this celebration as it’s a time not to be afraid of, but honour!

But for those who want to know what’s happening this year, we got a guide!

Fresh Releases, Teasers & Trailers
Plus Where to Watch

  • The Dark Mysteries (China, 2025) — A new horror/sci-fi teaser has dropped, hinting at eerie supernatural disturbances and a mystery to unravel. A late-summer digital or theatrical drop feels likely—stay tuned!
  • Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio:
    Curious Tales of a Temple (China, July 2025) —     Just when this film will manifest in other countries is still in question, but for those fans of Chinese Ghost Story, and Pu Songling’s classic collection “Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio,” this animated take will please! Technically, Ghost Month 2025 can’t be complete with this film. There are six stories, and our coverage can be found by searching our archives with this link.
  • Ghost Killer — Available on Digital via WELL GO USA — Geared toward Asian horror fans, this trailer teases a ghostly revenge story packed with atmosphere and tension.

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When There’s Nothing Too New in Entertainment for Hungry Ghost Festival 2024, What Else Is There to Watch?

Although there was never a huge demand for entertainment to enjoy during Hungry Ghost Festival, perhaps that’s best since the time should be spent honouring those whose have passed on by visiting their grave and giving their spirit a chance to smile.

Hungry Ghost Festival in Hong Kong
Hungry Ghost Festival Starts on Aug 18 and runs until Sept 2, 2024

The Hungry Ghost Festival is looking worse for wear in recent years, because sometimes I just want to see new content over repeating what I’ve said in the past. While some new material exists, I don’t recommend one of them.

The documentary, Island of Hungry Ghosts, is depressing because it’s about one particular refugee camp built on Christmas Island. Rumours say that many Chinese spirits roam the land in search of a place called home in this very remote community. When they weren’t given last sites, this work is a moving piece to follow. I understand the symbology concerning the crab migration that also happens, but this work won’t be for everyone.

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When Ghost Month is in Full Swing in 2023, How Can We Identify the Types of Spirits Said to be Visiting?

Sometimes, the best known spirits that linger around during Ghost Month are those from folklore and time honoured tradtions! Are you ready to face them?

Singapore Orchard Grave Veneration during Ghost MonthGhosts from South Asia come in different shapes and forms, and some are feared whereas others are revered. And it’s terrific they get loved in entertainment. In the past, I’ve explored the best of what cinema and literature have offered. However, when new releases are few and far between every year to recognise Ghost Month, I’ll have to look elsewhere to get my scares in.

As a result, the only book I’ve come across to bring various tales together, ranging from folklore to original works, is Asian Ghost Short Stories! This covers areas east of India. Although it’s not the perfect collection due to glaring errors with the folklore, and being mostly stories rather than recounting alleged encounters, it’s still a good primer to introduce paranormal enthusiasts to the lore from this region.

To honour this occasion, which started two days ago (Aug 16 to Sept 14), I’m going in a different direction this time. Through my research, I’ve learned nine types of spirits can roam the land! The book, Śūraṅgama Sūtra (PDF link) gives a great outline, and furthermore, the Hungry Ghost type (which gets its own festival Aug 30th) are sub-categorized! On the list are:

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It’s 7AM. Are You Ready to Play The Haunting Paper Ghost Stories 7PM?

Paper Ghost Stories 7PM is certainly worth playing on All Hallows’s Eve for the essential experience.

Paper Ghost Stories 7PMAvailable for Xbox and Steam (PC)
* 50% discount this Halloween

The clock is ticking in Paper Ghost Stories 7PM, a short playable visual novel by Cellar Vault Games. At the time of this posting, it’s 7AM, and will you have time to try this game before it runs out? This teaser to a larger product scheduled to release next year reveals a very promising product, and I’ll be keeping my sights on news for when Third Eye Open has a street date.

As its name implies, paper theatre it played sometimes on stage with a huge extravgent set, and a varient also includes shadow puppet, where paper cutouts with clear colour transparent bits are projected upon a large screen. When pared with a supernatural tale, the scarier moments have an unprecedented aesthetic which genuinely throws itself at you!

What makes these games unique are its approach to rendering its characters. They’re two dimensional images where you see the front and back, and they’re animated in a three dimensional space. The artistic style is very appropriate to the world it’s emulating, and if that isn’t terrific enough, the soft scares are perfect for today. This early release for Halloween weekend nicely plays with that concept. Here, you play three characters (Wen, Lun and Ming) who’ll have to figure out what the new tenants are up to! Most of the interaction is through making conversation, and choosing how you want to respond. Plus, there’s also a bit of running around.

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Hungry Ghost Festival 2022. Something Old and Something New in Movies That Chew Up the Concept.

What makes some of these films ideal during Hungry Ghost Festival is that it’s about giving the ghost some peace of mind (or not)…

Hungry Ghost FestivalSome years seem less spirited when films released near Hungry Ghost Festival offer nothing new. In entertainment, producers aren’t obligated to make a film during this time, as we get to see them year-round. Now that we are a week into this event, it’s time to consider what is available to watch–a mix of old and new. In the past two years, Ghost Lab (Thailand), and Irul: Ghost Hotel (Malaysia) and Umma (Korean-American) are three works worth checking out. The links providedd here go to their respective trailers on YouTube.

I won’t say too much about them, as what I’d reveal would be laden with spoilers. They are worth the time to catch, and they certainly had me considering going to sleep with the lights on. Thankfully they have a State-side VOD/Streaming release. Ghost Lab and Umma are on Netflix, and Irul is on Amazon Prime USA.

To round out this spooky list of four titles to check out, what I offer is a fond look back at an old, underappreciated Stephen Chow film, Out of the Dark, which deals with problematic ghosts. I feel this film truely represents everything the Hungry Ghost Festival is all about–placating and respecting those entities said to wander our world. When these spirits are out for vengence, just what can mortals do to turn things around? In this film’s case, turn to Leon (Chow), and hope this “professional” can bust some ghosts! Unfortunately, he’s a few cards short of a full deck, and he’s not quite the expert everyone makes him out to be.

Here, Mr. Li (Chi-Fai Chow) is scared that his late mother (Suk-Mui Tam) will return to haunt him. She blames him for her death, and that’s everything someone hoping their elder’s spirit is at peace doesn’t want! Add on top Kwan (Karen Mok) and some inept security guards who hire Leon to deal with this haunting, and everything that goes wrong will!

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Honouring the Dead with Top 5 Picks During South Asia’s Ghost Month

Hungry Ghosts (TV Mini Series 2020– ) - IMDbGhost Month is now upon us, and people in South Asia are honouring their ancestors lest they become hungry. The lore about making them happy in this afterlife is just one of at least three traditions that we practise throughout the year. And for those who are looking for a good spooky tale, trying to find something recent isn’t always there. That is, the output has not been the same as those movies set in or close to Chinese New Year.

The classics include Chinese Ghost Story, the Eye, Ju-on and so forth, but they’re too time-honoured to be cool anymore. When going through my collection and scouring the Internet, I offer my top five picks with the tough criteria in what to love from each country. Also, this list is not restricted to just film:

Topping my list is:

Hungry Ghosts (2020)

Australia
TV Drama 4x50min
Available on SBSOnDemand

When a powerful amulet is broken on the eve of the Hungry Ghost Festival in Melbourne, a vengeful spirit is unleashed, bringing the dead with him. As they wreak havoc across the Vietnamese Australian community, reclaiming lost loves and repaying old grudges, a young woman who’s never taken responsibility for who she could be, must finally step up and accept her destiny.    

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