Movie Remake Of My Date With A Vampire Only Features Joey Meng For 3 Secs, Slammed For Ruining Childhood Memories

When the movie remake of beloved ‘90s Hong Kong drama My Date With A Vampire was announced in 2022, fans rejoiced.

After all, the original 1998 series, which revolves around the romance between vampire Kuang Tian You and ghostbuster Ma Xiao Ling, played by Eric Wan and Joey Meng respectively, wasn’t just a hit. It was iconic, spawning two more seasons and cementing Joey (and her 42-inch-long gams) as a pop-culture legend.

So when word got out that Joey, now 55, would be making a comeback cameo, expectations shot through the roof.

Directed, produced, and written by the original creator and also Joey’s husband, Chan Sap Sam, the new film, 驱魔龙族马小玲 (also titled My Date with a Vampire), stars Karena Ng as Ma Xiaoling, Bosco Wong, Jacky Cai, and Ray Lui.

It was meant to hit the big screen in 2023, but only dropped on Chinese streaming platforms on December 11 this year.

And let’s just say fans wish it hadn’t.

Despite the hype, the movie has been hit with a wave of negative reviews.

The biggest grievance? Joey’s much-talked-about cameo (she plays Ma Xiaoling’s grandaunt) turned out to be a blink-and-you-miss-it three seconds — and she doesn’t even show her face, just her eyes.

One furious fan wrote: “It’s a complete scam. The screen time Joey had in the trailer is exactly the same as in the movie — and she only shows her eyes!”

Another viewer described the emotional rollercoaster: “I kept watching, hoping she’d appear. As the story went on, something felt off, so I started fast-forwarding… and in the end she only had three seconds of footage!”

Fans were understandably upset. There were comments like “Isn’t this cheating all of us old fans?” and “They ruined my childhood.”

Karena’s version of Ma Xiaoling came under heavy fire too.

Aside from endless comparisons with Joey’s legendary legs, the biggest talking point was her extra-long safety shorts, which somehow kept getting their own close-ups.

One unimpressed viewer wrote: “All of Ma Xiaoling’s strengths are entirely conveyed through verbal descriptions, and are not reflected at all in the movie. Instead, her stubbornness, greedy, and vain side are highlight. She couldn’t even use the ‘Nine-Character Mantra’ or summon ‘Heavenly Thunder’ at the start. Where did the Ma Xiaoling I knew — the strong, capable, gifted, cold-on-the-outside but warm-on-the-inside heroine — go?”

Many also criticised the film for being a “lazy reboot” and “total flop”, retitling it My Misunderstanding With A Vampire.

One angry comment read: “They should’ve just renamed the whole film and treated it as something completely separate. I was so angry after watching it. Director and writer, give me back my childhood memories!”

Another remarked: “I feel like I wasted 1 hour, 29 minutes, and 39 seconds of my life.”