#category iii

[grindhousecellar]

[brokehorrorfan]

The Untold Story will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on October 13 via Unearthed Films. The 1993 Hong Kong film is based on the true story of the Eight Immortals Restaurant murders.

Herman Yau (The Legend Is Born: Ip Man, Ebola Syndrome) directs the notorious exploitation movie from a script by Law Kam-fai and Sammy Lau. Danny Lee and Anthony Wong star. 

The Untold Story is presented in its original Cantonese language with English subtitles. The first pressing includes a slipcover. Extras are listed below.

Special features:

Audio commentary by actor Anthony Wong

Audio commentary by director Herman Yau

Audio commentary with film historians Art Ettinger and Bruce Holecheck

Isolated film score

Category III: The Untold Story of Hong Kong Exploitation Cinema - 2018 feature-length documentary directed by Calum Waddell

Q&A with director Herman Yau

Interview with Rick Baker

Trailers

Liner notes by Art Ettinger (first pressing only)

In 1978 in Hong Kong, a grisly murder takes place. Eight years later, on a Macao beach, kids discover the severed hands of a fresh victim. A squadron of coarse, happy-go-lucky cops investigate, and suspicion falls on Wong Chi Hang, the new owner of Eight Immortals Restaurant, which serves delicious pork bun. The hands belong to the missing mother of the restaurant's former owner; he and his family have disappeared; staff at the restaurant continue to go missing; and, Wong can't produce a signed bill of sale: but there's no evidence. The police arrest Wong and try to torture him into a confession. Can they make him talk? And what was in those pork buns?

[moviesandmania]

The Untold Story (1993) reviews, overview and Blu-ray news

The Untold Story (1993) reviews and Blu-ray news

The Untold Story, the Category III Hong Kong horror classic, is being released in the USA on Blu-ray by Unearthed Films on October 13th 2020. The disc includes the following special features:

The Documentary, Category 3, The Untold Story of Hong Kong Exploitation Cantonese Carnage, an Interview with Rick Baker Commentary with Herman Yau Commentary with Anthony Wong Commentary with Art Ettinger…

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[anhed-nia]

BLOGTOBER 10/8/2019: BOXER’S OMEN

I’m a little mad at myself for watching this so close to the beginning of the month, because it can only possibly be downhill from here. BOXER’S OMEN is one of the most beautiful and inventive movies I have ever seen. Celebrated Shaw Brothers stalwart Kuei Chih-Hung went way above and beyond the call of duty with this revenge epic about a boxer who, dutybound to avenge his maimed brother, descends into a world of supernatural trials and tribulations that makes Dragonball Z look like a work of grim realism. I’m embarrassed that it took me this long to see this monumental cinematic achievement, though the shame should be on a world that has failed to honor it with continued circulation.

In the course of his continuously escalating responsibilities as his brother’s avenger, Chan Hung (prolific director and actor Philip Ko) must leave his secular life behind to acquire powers that can only be won through consummate buddhist devotion. Off the bat, BOXER’S OMEN offers up the violent thrills of expert martial arts combat, chiefly between Ko and bodybuilder Bolo Yeung (ENTER THE DRAGON, BLOODSPORT, et al), and then blends them with the heightened excitement of special effects the likes of which few will have ever seen. The photography alone is enough to dazzle the eye, but the film’s combination of animation, puppetry, and outrageous gore gags puts it all the way over the top. BOXER’S OMEN covers the full spectrum of sacred and profane experience, at times lavishly gorgeous, then challenging beyond reason, especially in the case of a shamanic resurrection that reaches the depraved depths of the deservedly notorious SWEET MOVIE. Struggling to come up with critiques of this incomparable film, I was tempted to say that it drags at times; but, I’m pretty sure that what actually happened was that my brain just shorted out from the relentless stimulation, and was simply gasping for oxygen.

Watching BOXER’S OMEN put me in the mind of an important argument we genre freaks often have to have. It’s a little hard to pin down, but it has something to do with the contentious definition of “outsider art” as opposed to “real” art, high brow versus low brow, camp versus class. This movie is so accomplished and original that I would like to believe that, were it released today when more viewers are more interested in “world cinema” (a term as dubious as “outsider art”) and feats of unusual imagination, it would be a strong Oscar contender. I mean not that I give a shit about the Oscars, but you shouldn’t have to be a devotee of the weird and esoteric to appreciate and celebrate what’s going on here. This is as fascinating and transcendent as anything from the oft-overrated Jodorowsky (and far less up its own ass). Criterion should have this, at should be in the MoMA. It annoys me to think of pretentious fashion plates like Nicolas Winding-Refn capitalizing on his obvious studies of the mystery, darkness, and psychedelic radiance possessed by relatively obscure movies like this, while only nerds like Nicolas Winding-Refn tend to even know anything about them. I can only hope that BOXER’S OMEN is not tied up in some rights issue, that the more curable problem of ignorance is the reason for its current rarity, and that we’ll find it much more available in the future.

[sillymovietrailer]

Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky

This film is a bit of a landmark in Hong Kong cinema.  This received their Category III rating, the highest film certification Hong Kong could give out, a bit like the UK R18 or the US NC-17, but it was a notable early case of getting this rating not for sexual content, but for violence.  Having seen the film, I can understand why!  Of course this did limit a lot the film’s marketability in Hong Kong, and I love with this trailer how they tried to get around the issue.  Riki-Oh is based off a manga, so any time there’s something particular violent in the trailer, they show the appropriate page from the original instead!  That’s kind of ingenious, especially given that the artwork is black & white, so it wouldn’t be as realistic.  How do these moments look in the actual film?  Well, here’s Moviebob’s review, which has quite a few clips from the film in there, and you can see.

Now this has become something of a cult favourite for… well, obvious reasons, it’s completely insane with the gore levels!  However, for me at least, I’m not so keen, not least for the fact that the violence level here is to a degree and tone that it does kind of make me a bit sick.  I appreciate that this may be me finally entering my “old man yells at cloud” phase, but the just sheer onslaught of unpleasantness just doesn’t work for me.  Works like Peter Jackson’s early films had a cartoony tone which made the splatter work for me, this one however tries too hard to have that late 80s/early 90s manga serious tone.  In different hands that might have made the violence more ridiculous, but here just makes me feel more queasy.  It might be the cheapness of the effects, the particular kind of… chunky fake blood and grue they used that gets to me.  Mind, that cheapness is also what prevents this from actually making me sick, noticing how rubbery some of it is; pretty much none of the headsculpts used of any of the actors look right at all, definitely not looking like actual skin!

There are some definite plus points in here; I can’t fault the film for the ingenuity and bravery for trying many of the effects. The martial arts scenes are very well done, especially by Ricky himself Fan Siu-Wong and Yukari Oshima, a Japanese stunt performer who’s had quite the career, starting from Super Sentai and Metal Heroes shows, to being a full on star in the Philippines under stage name Cynthia Luster.  I will say that this movie is a unique experience, and fans of Fist of the North Star might get a bit from it, as the manga was basically a huge rip-off of that series, so this is the closest we’ve gotten to a good live action version so far… I said GOOD live action version!  This one’s cult status might also be partly down to that Category III business I mentioned above; like with the video nasties, a lot of film fans take a list like that as a personal challenge.  If you can take the violence levels, I’d say it’s certainly worth checking out at least once; it’s not for me, but that doesn’t mean it’s not for you!

[keeptheemptinessaway]

力王, Lam Nai-Choi (1991)

Cinematography: Mak Hoi-Man | Hong Kong, Japan

[minakrhodes]

Naked Killer (1992) 

[videoreligion]

The Eight Immortals Restaurant: The Untold Story (1993)