feeldb
Movies FantasyActionHorror

A Chinese Ghost Story

1987 · 95 min · Director: Siu-Tung Ching, Tony Ching Siu-Tung ★ IMDb 7.3 · 13,020 ratings

Show plot summary (may contain spoilers)

Ning Tsai-Shen, a humble tax collector, arrives in a small town to carry out his work. Unsurprisingly, no-one is willing to give him shelter for the night, so he ends up spending the night in the haunted Lan Ro temple. There, he meets Taoist Swordsman Yen Che-Hsia, who warns him to stay out of trouble, and the beautiful Nieh Hsiao-Tsing, with whom he falls in love. Unfortunately, Hsiao-Tsing is a ghost, bound for all eternity by a hideous tree spirit with an incredibly long tongue that wraps itself round its victims and sucks out their life essence (or 'yang element')...

Ask Kadri

Trailer for A Chinese Ghost Story

Playing the trailer connects to YouTube. No connection is made until you choose to play.
Rate how it felt
Working…

Your viewing check-in

Emotional fingerprint

A Chinese Ghost Story (1987) — Movie. Top emotional signals: Love 30%, Awe 25%, Fear 20%. Source: AI estimate. Shares describe emotional signal, not percentages of people. Your experience may differ. How we measure

30%Love
25%Awe
20%Fear
  1. Love30%
  2. Awe25%
  3. Fear20%
  4. Excitement15%
  5. Sadness10%

AI estimate · no viewer votes yet

How we measure

AI estimate

Share of emotional signal, not the percentage of people or a probability of enjoyment.

Each viewer contributes one response, split equally across their selected emotions. When available, an automated estimate supplies a prior that is blended with those responses. Counts include distinct viewers, not automated estimates or archived anonymous votes. Fewer than 3 viewers is an early estimate; more responses do not guarantee certainty.

Why it feels this way

The strongest emotional signals are Love, Awe, Fear. Genres: Fantasy, Action, Horror. AI estimate.

Is it worth watching?

Consider this title if you are looking for Love, Awe and Fear. Its IMDb rating of 7.3/10 suggests a generally positive audience reception. For these leading emotions, its Feel Score is 72/100.

How did it make you feel?

Votes are saved to the fingerprint once you’re signed in.

Pick up to three · 0/3

1
2
3

Emotional journey

AI · from subtitles
  • Tension
  • Love
  • Fear

Not enough subtitle evidence

No dominant emotion

Dominant emotion: Humor

Dominant emotion: Fear

Dominant emotion: Love

Dominant emotion: Tension

Dominant emotion: Sadness

Tension
Love
Fear
Emotional journey Emotional intensity over the film’s runtime, from quieter to stronger on a fixed 0–1 scale. Hatched intervals have insufficient subtitle evidence. The table provides the values. Not enough subtitle evidence
Ending hidden

Dominant emotion

Intensity dips around 8 %, then dips around 33 %, then peaks around 98 %.Ending hidden

Emotional journey
%Approximate minuteDominant emotionOverall intensityTensionLoveFear
2.5 %≈ 2′Not enough subtitle evidenceNot enough subtitle evidenceNot enough subtitle evidenceNot enough subtitle evidenceNot enough subtitle evidence
7.5 %≈ 7′Humor45 %37 %2 %17 %
12.5 %≈ 12′Humor46 %40 %3 %29 %
17.5 %≈ 17′Fear49 %41 %11 %36 %
22.5 %≈ 21′Love50 %40 %30 %30 %
27.5 %≈ 26′Love49 %39 %36 %24 %
32.5 %≈ 31′Humor45 %33 %29 %20 %
37.5 %≈ 36′Humor48 %36 %26 %25 %
42.5 %≈ 40′Tension59 %55 %30 %39 %
47.5 %≈ 45′Tension63 %60 %36 %39 %
52.5 %≈ 50′Love59 %53 %43 %30 %
57.5 %≈ 55′Love59 %49 %35 %26 %
62.5 %≈ 59′Humor59 %48 %19 %28 %
67.5 %≈ 64′Tension61 %55 %25 %40 %
72.5 %≈ 69′Tension71 %68 %41 %54 %
77.5 %≈ 74′Tension74 %68 %45 %51 %
82.5 %≈ 78′Love69 %60 %54 %43 %
87.5 %≈ 83′Love74 %66 %59 %49 %
92.5 %≈ 88′Tension83 %75 %56 %56 %
97.5 %≈ 93′Sadness85 %72 %63 %50 %
Riches to rags

Rags to riches: The emotional tone rises from negative to positive.

Riches to rags: The emotional tone falls from positive to negative.

Man in a hole: The tone falls, then recovers.

Icarus: The tone rises, then falls.

Cinderella: The tone rises, falls, then rises again.

Oedipus: The tone falls, rises, then falls again.

AI reading of the film’s English subtitles (dialogue and sound cues) — not viewer votes. How we measure ↗

Kadri — your film companion

AI

Ask anything about A Chinese Ghost Story. From the film’s own dialogue and FeelDB data, at your spoiler level.

Kadri

Hi, I’m Kadri. Ask me anything about A Chinese Ghost Story — I’ll stay inside your spoiler line.

Premise only
Enter to send · Shift + Enter for a new line

AI can be wrong. Answers draw on subtitles and FeelDB data — no spoilers past your marker. How it works

Afterward Reveal viewer responses · may contain spoilers

Viewer responses about feelings after the title ended, separate from feelings while watching. No AI estimates.

0 responses so far

Feeling details appear after at least 3 viewers respond, to protect privacy.

Cast

Leslie Cheung

JW
Joey Wang

JW
Joey Wong

Lip Siu Sin

WM
Wu Ma

Wu Ma

Swordsman Yin Chek-ha

Lau Siu-Ming

Tree Demon

DL
David Lam Wai

Swordsman Hsia Hou

FS
Fanny Sit Chi-Lun

Siu Ching

DW
David Wu

Secretary Chiu

WJ
Wong Jing

Judge

HH
Huang Ha

Boss at Tavern

SM
Sze Mei-Yee

Sells Paintings

CK
Chiang Kam

Policeman

YY
Yeung Yau-Cheung

Sells Charms

Details

Written by
Kai-Chi Yuen, Songling Pu, Yuen Kai-Chi
Type
Movies
Released
1987
Runtime
95 min
Country
Hong Kong
Ratings
★ IMDb 7.3 · 13,020 ratings
Feels mostly
Love
Data updated

Where to watch

Subscription

Free

Rent

Buy

Also on

Availability varies by country

Data: JustWatch · Wikidata

Feels similar

More like this →

Emotion overlap shows mood similarity, not a prediction of enjoyment.