No, Burning Sensation isn't a cautionary tale about painful hemorrhoidal itch. Rather, it is one of Wu Ma's several directorial takes he did that used the formula put forth by the popular A Chinese Ghost Story. Wu decided to add more comedy into the mix, which doesn't always work, but overall, this is a decent Hong Kong ghost movie.

The ghost in question this time is Ling (Carol Cheng), an actress who was killed via a pyrotechnics mishap in the 1950's. Flash-forwarding to modern times, a fire-fighter named Kin (Kenny Bee) rescues Ling's spirit tablet from a burning building, which coaxes her ghostly form back into the real world.

Ling and Kin seem set to start a romance, but another roaming ghost, Piu (Lai Yin-Saan), also has her sights set on Kin. Teaming up with his brother, Pau (Wu Ma), who is a host of a talk radio show about ghosts, Kin tries to bring Ling into the real world forever, while sending Piu permanently back into the spirit realm.

The plot doesn't really make a lick of sense to most westerners, but, of course, this sort of thing is normal for a Hong Kong production, especially for one of this genre. However, one of Burning Sensation's big problems is that there never seems to be a firm set of rules for the ghosts. At times, Ling can have physical weight and be visible to humans, and at other times she cannot. Ling also seems to have supernatural powers at points, but also falls prey to small slaps to her face.

It's also apparent that, even by Hong Kong standards, Burning Sensation had next to no budget. The special effects are anything but, with some of the more supposed terrifying aspects of Piu (namely a vicious tongue) coming off as laughable rather than scary. Speaking of laughable, like many films of the time, the comedic scenes here are all over the place. Far too often, they emphasize dopiness and brainlessness, and fall flat in the process.

But despite its' problems, Burning Sensation does manage to salvage some entertainment from the proceedings. Mostly, this comes from Dodo Cheng, whose spunky energy manages to do a whole hell of a lot to propel forth the film from the realms of failure. Even her performance can't totally save Burning Sensation though, and at the end of the day, this is just really another Hong Kong ghost movie.

RATING: 5