Like most Hong Kong directors who tried to make it in Hollywood, Yu's local output easily outshines his foreign work. Even so, Yu's a skilled genre director and most of his films are worth a try, especially when looking for fantasy and/or horror cinema.
Movies
If you're looking for a stellar martial arts flick though, Fearless is a safe bet.
Solid short that thrives on psychological horror. An upright family man and a rapist/murderer die at the same time. When they're brought back to life, they've changed bodies. The direction of Yu is a little inconspicuous, but the story is nice and there are some decent twists. Nothing too special, but a fun little diversion.
Silly horror comedy that's mostly just comedy. None of the scares are scary and the acting is so over the top that it's hard to believe anybody would be creeped out by this film. It's somewhat amusing and short, which makes it an easy watch, but it's not very memorable and not even close to Yu's best work.
Early Ronny Yu, early Yun-Fat Chow. The Occupant is a very basic 80s Hong Kong comedy. Sure enough, Yu tries to add some trademark supernatural elements, but at no point in this film do you get the feeling things are actually supposed to be scary. It's much safer to approach this film with the idea you'll be watching a core comedy, if you want to keep your expectations in check. Angie is a young writer who returns to Hong Kong after spending her childhood in Canada. She comes back to write a book about Chinese superstition and hits the jackpot when a guy lands her a haunted flat. At first, Angie tries to rationalise the strange events happening in and around her flat, but soon enough it's clear the ghosts are trying to tell her something. Raymond Wong and Yun-Fat Chow aren't the greatest comedy geniuses, the plot is very predictable and Yu's signature style isn't there yet. It's really just a simple comedy with a supernatural edge. The pacing is decent, the runtime short and the overall vibe is pleasant enough, other than that The Occupant has no real selling points. Basic filler. Read all
Like many Hong Kong directors in the late 80s/early 90s, Ronny Yu traded in the Hong Kong backdrop for a European one. For China White, he landed on Amsterdam (also Paris and Rotterdam) to unfold his little crime/action epic. The result is pretty poor though, with only a few above average action scenes to save it from complete disaster. Expect a plethora of horrible accents, some misplaced drama and romance and a very generic plot that deals with several gangs wrapped up in a bloody turf wars. Yu brought in some famous actors (Andy Lau among others), but they only show up in smaller secondary parts, so their impact is limited. The rest of the cast is pretty terrible, including cult icon Billy Drago. I'm not quite sure what Yu was trying to do with this film, but his talents lie elsewhere (fantasy and horror are his thing) and this weak attempt to follow in the footsteps of John Woo and Ringo Lam feels like a big misstep.Read all
A pretty lackluster start to Ronny Yu's solo career. This is a rather dull police thriller, with a serial killer on the hunt for prostitutes. The action scenes are dim, the murders are boring and the investigation feels mandatory. It's not uncommon for Hong Kong directors to start their careers on low-end productions to learn the tricks of the trade, this is one of those film.