A film buff at an early age, Yip went to the cinema whenever he could and often wrote reviews on the backs of ticket stubs. He entered the movie business in the 1980s, starting out as a "gofer" and working his way up to assistant director. His directorial debut was 01.00 AM, a three-segment horror compendium. He directed two of three parts, one with Veronica Yip as a nurse who sees dead pop stars, and Anita Yuen interviewing a demon. His next effort, Daze Reaper, was a Category III exploitation film, based on a true-crime story about a prison guard who turns to crime. Next was Mongkok Story, an exploitive story in the vein of Young and Dangerous, and another horror trilogy, Midnight Zone, about urban myths. He also turned to comedy with Teaching Sucks, about two Hong Kong teachers played by Anthony Wong and Jan Lam. In 1998 Wilson co-wrote and directed his biggest cult hit at the time, Bio Zombie, which was influenced by Dawn of the Dead and takes place in a shopping mall, where a small group of misfits bands together in order to survive.
Turning point
Yip next directed the 1999 crime-drama Bullets Over Summer, starring Francis Ng and Louis Koo as two detectives hunting a gang of deadly criminals who have to use a demented elderly woman's apartment for surveillance. The biggest-budget film of his career up to then, he considers Bullets Over Summer his "turning point". He shared a best-screenplay award at the 2000 Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards for the film. In 2000 he was picked by Golden Harvest to direct Skyline Cruisers, a big-budget action film. Yip did not get along with the cast and clashed with the studio's management over creative differences. Other films include the science-fiction-action story 2002, and the romantic comedies, Dry Wood, Fierce Fire and Leaving Me, Loving You. In 2004, Yip also directed his first wuxia style film, The White Dragon, starring Cecilia Cheung and Francis Ng. Yip also acts, mostly doing small roles. They include a pimp in The Runaway Pistol and a Taoistexorcist in the Pang Brothers' The Eye.
In 2005, Yip directed his most critically acclaimed film, . A gritty return to the 1980s style of Hong Kong action cinema, SPL starred Simon Yam and Donnie Yen as Hong Kong police officers trying to pin a crime on an unstoppable gangster, portrayed by Sammo Hung. In 2006, Yip re-teamed with Yen for an adaptation of a Hong Kong manga, Dragon Tiger Gate. In 2007 Yip released Flash Point, another martial-arts crime drama in the same vein as SPL. The film starred Donnie Yen, Louis Koo, and Collin Chou. Yen and Yip's latest collaboration as actor and director, Ip Man, is a semi-biographical account of Ip Man, the first martial arts master to teach the Chinese martial art of Wing Chun openly. It also featured fight choreography by Sammo Hung. The film was released in December 2008 and immediately shot to number one on its opening week in Hong Kong, earning over HK$2.8 million in three weeks. Ip Man 2, which is produced by Raymond Wong, picks up on Yip Man's life after his migration to Hong Kong where he took on his most famous disciple, Bruce Lee. The film was released 29 April 2010. In 2014, it was announced that Yip and Yen would reunite for a third Ip Man film, to start filming in early 2015 for release later in the year. The film will be presented in theatres in 3D format for the first time in the franchise. In 2016, Donnie Yen announced that he and Yip would collaborate once again on a fourth Ip Man film.
