Chinese Movie Reviews »
In the Line of Duty 4: The Witness (1989) Movie Review
Yuen Woo-ping’s “In the Line of Duty 4: Witness” starts off in Seattle, where Hong Kong detective Yeung (Cynthia Khan) arrives to work with the local PD to take down some drug smugglers. Meanwhile,...
Read More »New Police Story (2004) Movie Review
Apparently Jackie Chan is tired of being the “Clown Prince of Kung Fu”, as he’s commonly known, because his character in the highly anticipated “New Police Story” is prone to fits of crying at...
Read More »Run and Kill (1993) Movie Review
“Run and Kill” is another Category III film from the prolific master of the genre, Billy Tang (“Red to Kill”, “Dr. Lamb”). Given the trashy DVD cover and the rating, prospective viewers would be...
Read More »There is a Secret in my Soup (2001) Movie Review
The U.S. box office has borne witness to a number of head to head battles between films about giant meteors, Robin Hood, and even crime solving dogs. However, Hollywood has never seen a contest...
Read More »Naked Poison (2000) Movie Review
If you ignore the lurid pictures of naked women covered with snakes and spiders on the box, “Naked Poison” may initially seem to be a Hong Kong variant on the Hollywood bad taste sex...
Read More »Red to Kill (1997) Movie Review
“Red to Kill” is possibly the most infamous Hong Kong Category III film of all, and is a journey to the darkest, sleaziest recesses of exploitation cinema. Even compared to its deranged peers, it...
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McDull, Prince de la Bun (2004) Movie Review
One is almost inclined to forgive “McDull, Prince de la Bun” if it had been anything other than pretty good. After all, the original was such a good film, and its epic telling of...
Read More »Chinese Torture Chamber (1995) Movie Review
“Chinese Torture Chamber” is a Category III film that stands out, not only as one of the genre’s most popular, but also as a genuine mainstream box office hit in its native Hong Kong....
Read More »Suburb Murder (1992) Movie Review
Category III films are often dismissed by mainstream movie lovers as being mindless, tacky and distasteful, existing solely for dubious titillation. Although there is a fair bit of truth to this statement, the genre...
Read More »The Eternal Evil of Asia (1995) Movie Review
It’s kind of hard not to love a film with a title as lurid as this, or which starts off with an unconnected prologue detailing a series of black magic practices that are apparently...
Read More »Love Battlefield (2004) Movie Review
“Love Battlefield” is one of those movies, along with Johnnie To’s crime thrillers, that you wish Hong Kong would do more of instead of indulging in 500 moronic slapstick comedies a year starring the...
Read More »House of Flying Daggers (2004) Movie Review
Zhang Yimou, coming off “Hero”, his most internationally acclaimed and successful film to date, now brings us another martial arts epic set in ancient China. “House of Flying Daggers” stars Andy Lau (“Infernal Affairs”)...
Read More »Human Pork Chop (2001) Movie Review
“Human Pork Chop” is a certain type of film, for a certain type of viewer. Seriously, given the title and the Category III rating so proudly displayed on the box, I’m quite sure that...
Read More »A Lamb in Despair (1989) Movie Review
At first glance, “A Lamb in Despair” appears to be every bit the typical Category III release. It certainly has a number of the genre’s expected elements: a suggestive title, a lurid cover, and...
Read More »The Twins Effect 2 (2004) Movie Review
“The Twins Effect 2″ comes to us a year after the box office success of the “The Twins Effect”, a movie about vampires; the sequel, set in ancient China, is a sequel in name...
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The Peeping Tom (1997) Movie Review
“The Peeping Tom” arrived quite late in the 1990s Hong Kong boom of Category III psycho killer films. With most niches of depravity such as cannibalism, necrophilia, and so on having already been covered...
Read More »Moving Targets (2004) Movie Review
At one point in time, after the disgraceful “High Risk”, writer/ producer/ director/ seamstress Wong Jing was at the very top of my Hit List. But after the successful “Colour of the Truth”, a...
Read More »One Nite in Mongkok (2004) Movie Review
After the celebrated triumph of “Lost in Time”, Hong Kong filmmaker Derek Yee returns with a story that is grittier and a whole lot messier than his previous award-winning film. The location this time...
Read More »Horrible High Heels (1996) Movie Review
The Category III rating of Hong Kong cinema is as much a genre as it is a certificate. Coming to prominence in the 1990s, the rating was created to classify those films containing extreme...
Read More »Jiang Hu (2004) Movie Review
Running at a breezy 80 minutes (that is, if you don’t count the extensive John Woo-ish slow motion that makes up about half the film), Ching-po Wong’s “Jiang Hu” is nothing you haven’t seen...
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