Don't Stop My Crazy Love For You (1993)

Some more fun stuff from our HK friends! This one is done up right with some very entertaining violence and sleaze, as well as a good premise and topped with the usual CATIII strangeness for good measure.

A popular young female reporter is being stalked by a businessman who has an insatiable obsession with her. His apartment (wall-papered with pictures of her...) is adjacent to hers, where he watches her through a huge telescope and interacts with a mannequin that he has dressed like her. At one point he, himself, dresses up as her and interacts with the mannequin (which, I guess represented HIM...). When he becomes aware of her boyfriend, he amps up the 'crazy' and begins infiltrating her life - via, breaking into her home, sending threatening phone calls and eventually resorting to murder and rape...

"Don't Stop My Crazy Love For You" isn't the best I've seen of the CATIII variety (don't expect "Red to Kill" or "The Untold Story"...), though it IS very enjoyable if you're a fan of these types of films, which I very much am. Great pacing, well acted - with some decent suspense and a strong, erotic - as well as pretty violent - 'climax'. This one definitely comes recommended highly!

The Peeping Tom (1997, Kai-Ming Lai)

Balls-to-the-wall CATIII sleaze-ertainment, here. If the glamorization of rape bothers you, than this may not be for you...

A serial killer/rapist with a rabid leg fetish is running amok around HK, sexually violating women and lopping off their 'stems' for his collection. He ends up getting fixated on a female cop and begins stalking her, breaking into her apartment when she's gone and, eventually, going after loved ones in a sociopathic attempt to win her over.

"The Peeping Tom" wouldn't rival truly quality HK shit like "The Untold Story" or "Red to Kill", but it DOES certainly pile on the sadistic AND sexy 'action' that keeps it rolling along nicely. The scenes of rape and murder are pretty strong and the maniacal antagonist is well played. There's also countless scenes of chicks undressing as well as a gratuitous shower masturbation scene thrown in for good measure. In all, I can't say that this flick is ever boring or slow, due to it supplying a terrific blend of drama/action/serial killer/sleaze elements that all work well together. I'm definitely putting it in my CATIII top-5.

The Complicated Raping Case (1993, Dai Yue Lok)

This may rank among one of the dullest CATIII movies I have ever had the displeasure of watching. Now, to be honest, I got pretty liberal with the fast-forward button around the halfway mark so I'll have to just base my opinions on only what I managed to endure from this mind numbing waste of time...

A billionaire and his mistress are attacked and go missing after a mysterious assailant barges in on their video-taped sex session. After that, the man's trophy wife starts talking to the cops about where he could be, all while a steamy romance takes shape between her and one of the detectives.

Maybe I got a cut version, but I didn't see any rape in this movie, ironically titled "The Complicated Raping Case". There is barely any IMPLIED rape. What you get is a bunch of passionate, soft-core sex scenes with slow saxophone jazz accompaniment. This movie is more of a 'seductive mystery-thriller' than anything downright sleazy which would be all fine and dandy (although I prefer my CATIII rape flicks pack in a fair amount of sleaze), except that this thing is just so fucking boring and uneventful that I couldn't even get through it. Even the copious amount of nudity couldn't save it, as far as I was concerned. Complicated AND dull! Skip it.

Ebola Syndrome (1996, Herman Yau)

It doesn't get much better than "Ebola Syndrome" when it comes to the fucked up salaciousness of CATIII cinema. I'd say it's definitely on an even keel with "The Untold Story" in terms of the crazy storyline, depravity and Anthony Wong completely delivering!

Wong plays a degenerate who is caught fucking his boss's old lady. After a firm beatdown, he manages to avoid a forthcoming castration by turning the tables on them and killing everyone in the room except the young daughter who soon shows up. As he's dumping gasoline on the little girl, he's interrupted and flees. Cut to years later, he now resides as a wanted man in South Africa, performing low-paying grunt work for a Chinese restaurant. When their local meat vendor jacks up his prices, he and the boss head out to visit a tribe in order to purchase some cheaper pigs. While there, they come across some ritual being implemented on some severely ill looking tribe members. On their drive back, they experience car trouble and while Wong goes for a stroll, he spots a sickly woman, whom he decides to provide a quick diddling, only to have her clamp down on his cock and spit some kind of mucusy vomit in his face. When they arrive back at the restaurant he falls ill, as well, but springs to life, suddenly spry as a spring chicken and begins acting as the oblivious carrier for a widespread Ebola outbreak...

Plenty of nasty, mean-spirited gore and sleaze on tap with this one! As usual, Wong steals the show - once again showing his extraordinary prowess in playing loathsome dirtbags while actually managing to be pretty damn funny at the same time. His performance here is spectacularly lewd as he rapes, kills and grinds people into hamburger meat. At one point, he pays unknowing Hong Kong hookers wads of cash to pump his Ebola-infected seed into them. By the end, he's running through the streets, spitting blood in the faces of innocent people! What's not to love about "Ebola Syndrome"? It's simply QUALITY classic CATIII goodness with never a dull moment to be had. It's right up there with "The Untold Story" and "Red to Kill" as a highly entertaining, unapologetic HK delight!

The Rapist (1994, Chuen-Yee Cha)

I think the primary focus of this one goes without saying. This 'category III' flick isn't called "The Rapist" because it's a family friendly rom-com or some kind of art film... This is an unapologetically misogynistic Hong Kong 'shocker' that dishes out some savage fuckin' rape.

Plot is pretty thin: guy runs around at night, attacking women in the elevator of an apartment complex and usually raping them violently in a nearby stairwell. There's some detectives who are exuberantly attempting to track him down...

Most of the rape scenes are harsh and brutal - namely the one involving a 50-year old woman. "The Rapist" keeps things pretty grim and serious - nixing much of the customary humor that most CATIII films of this nature tend to use. Aside from the Jenga scene, of course, which was actually pretty funny to me. Overall, it's worth a look for fans of more "extreme" cinema. The 'casual' film fan will surely be appalled by "The Rapist" which... is understandable, I'd say. It gets a little slow in spots, but it's a worthy piece of CATIII sleaze.

The Underground Banker (1994, Bosco Lam)

Very entertaining, off-the-wall CATIII revenge flick about a truck driver who is finally able to move his family out of the slums and into a more upscale apartment complex. Unfortunately for him, his wife runs into an old boyfriend who convinces her to play in the stock market, causing her to lose a shitload of their cash. So before hubby finds out, she is urged to see a loan shark for some financial relief. Turns out, this guy is a notoriously sadistic, two-timing, interest-soaking madman who takes drastic and deadly measures to ensure he is indemnified. So wifey can't seem to pay her debt and is forced into prostitution where she ends up banging one of her husband's friends, get's her sister-in-law abducted and almost raped, her husband is forced to get involved and is humiliated and beaten, and, eventually, shit turns REALLY tragic for the seemingly hopeless family which ignites a fiery need for vengeance against the crooked loan operation...

"The Underground Banker" is one of those odd blends of comedy and heart-rending catastrophe. The kinda thing that HK films of this kind did so perfectly. One second you've got some pretty over-the-top goofiness, then the next, a child is burned beyond recognition and struggling to be strong for his daddy. Yeesh! All this mixed with hot sex scenes, firm titties and kung-fu. Damn you, 'category III'! You're confusing my feelings and I love you for it! Oh, and there's also a character in reference to "Dr. Lamb" who assists in the big revenge-fueled climax. Check this one out. One of the funnest CATIII flicks I've seen in a long time!

Diary of a Serial Killer (1995, Otto Chan)

I might have to turn in my CATIII card for saying this, but I wasn't all that impressed with "Diary of a Serial Killer". At least, not as much as some of my fellow reviewers who consider it one of the 'greats' of the genre.

A family man with a ravenous sex addiction starts getting his felonious freak on with the wonderful hookers of Hong Kong after his wife fails to please him with her cooking oil tug-job. Shit gets kinda crazy when he starts torturing and murdering whores and storing them into the sealed of loft in his home, unbeknownst to his wife and small child. One day, his wife decides they're taking in a young woman who is trying to track down her boyfriend who left on business on never returned and some sexual tension is sparked between her and her new sadistic landlord... Also, like most CATIII films, the majority of the movie is told, via flashbacks...

There's a decent amount of violence and general sleaze on tap with this one, so there's no way to call it BAD. Still, it just struck me as poorly paced and seemed like it started to struggle around the middle and throughout the end. I found myself getting kinda bored around this point, whereas the beginning kicked things off with a bang. Literally! Toward the start, the guy wedges an M-80 into a chick's twat and lights it! Good shit! Then, throughout the movie there's quite a bit of necrophilia, tit and vag cutting, steamy sex scenes. Still, something about the pacing just made it feel overly long and like it lost it's footing as it started closing in on the third act.

That said, lovers of CATIII 'shockers' should seek this one out. It's been called the HK equivalent to "Maniac", which I wouldn't disagree with, though I also can't say it's on a even keel with that film. Plus, there's a neat little reoccurring reference to Ed Gein that shows up here n' there. So yeah, it started losing me after a while and I wouldn't call "Diary of a Serial Killer" the best 'category III" film by any stretch, but die-hards should probably check it out.

Dr. Lamb (1992, Danny Lee & Billy Tang)

Good 'category III' serial killer flick. Sort of in the vein of "The Untold Story", but not as awesome - "Dr. Lamb" is a compelling and reasonably nasty film.

A taxi driver is taken into custody after picking up some suspicious photos of dead women from the developing place. From the get-go, he's adamant that he's innocent and was simply picking the photos up for someone else. The cops get his family involved, drag everyone down to the police station, and begin to ruthlessly beat a confession out of their main suspect. Then, when his sister starts relaying some past perversions she experienced as a kid and it is revealed that he took sexually explicit pictures of his niece, the truth starts to come out...

The crimes depicted in the film are based closely off of the real life killer, Lam Kor-wan, who killed four women in the late 70s-early 80s. He was dubbed "The Jars Murderer" due to his obsession with removing the breasts and sexual organs of his victims and storing them in containers. He would also engage in necrophilia and take photos and home-video of them in various forms of dismemberment.

"Dr. Lamb" is a well done film. Strong performances and some fairly graphic scenes of necrophilia and circular saw dismembering. Again, not as strong as "The Untold Story", "Daughter of Darkness" or "Ebola Syndrome", but still a worthy CATIII entry.

Red to Kill (1994, Billy Tang)

Gotta love this rapey CATIII gem! Definitely in my top 3 favorite fucked up Hong Kong flicks of all time.

After her father is killed in an accident, a mentally retarded girl is brought to a Sheltered Workshop/Hotel for the mentally disabled. Turns out, one of the guys who works there moonlights as a serial rapist/killer, targeting women who wear red. According to a flashback, his mother was a bit of a whore who fucked around on his dad, which resulted in a deadly altercation between his ol' man and mommy's affaire. And his mom wore red, which obviously planted the seed of female-generated hate into his psychotic mind. So when one thing leads to another and he catches a glimpse of the new girl's red panties, he brutally rapes her, but lets her live - resulting in a big court case. Because the courts apparently don't take the word of mentally handicapped victims seriously, Mr. Rapist gets off scot-free which doesn't sit too well with the girl's social worker who plots to deck herself out in all red and flirt with the deranged lunatic. Things kinda don't go too well and we're treated to one hell of an awesome climax...

"Red to Kill" is a pretty phenomenal shocker that incorporates both 'exploitation' and heartbreaking drama very well together. To be honest, the impact of the character's emotions and struggles really outweigh the 'exploitation' factor which I would say is a good thing, despite many people labeling the film as just "violent" and "sadistic". The scene with the mentally retarded girl sobbing in the shower after her rape, while shaving her pubes off until she bleeds is an especially powerful moment. Also, the guy who plays the rapist is, without a doubt, one of the all-time BEST psychopaths in the history of cinema. Especially during the big ending when he's bald and wearing wrestling tights. He's just a spastic, bulky, sweaty, screaming nutjob.

If you're looking for top-quality CATIII awesomeness, you can't go wrong with "Red to Kill".

Devil Fetus (1983, Hung-Chuen Lau)

I had heard a few good things about "Devil Fetus", but unfortunately it didn't live up to any of the hype for me. Pretty much Dullsville without all the gore people had mentioned in the reviews I had read a while back.

There's something to do with a vase that is bought at some Chinese auction. The chick who buys it starts getting all horned up and when her businessman hubby comes home to find her getting boned by a demon, he smashes the vase and his face gets all rotted and maggot-covered. Then he jumps out the window. Cut to years later, there's some spells, a couple of brothers who were around when the shit at the beginning went down and a love interest. One of the brothers becomes possessed by the malevolent demon from before and some random shit happens...

The plot of this thing was SO fucking arbitrary and disjointed. Definitely a weak example of CATIII cinema that did nothing for me. You got a worm-filled birthday cake, a dude munching on the guts of his dead German Shepherd and some ridiculous 'showdown' between the possessed guy and a samurai wizard - complete with laser-beams shot from eyeballs. It's all just so stupid and boring. Avoid.

Human Pork Chop (2001, Benny Chan Chi Shun)

"Human Pork Chop" is a very bleak depiction of an actual crime committed in the late 90s, dubbed "The Hello Kitty Murder", in which a 23 year-old Hong Kong woman was kidnapped by three men and tortured in an apartment over the course of a month before dying.

The film delineates the spree of her on-going abuse though daily beatings, humiliations and other kinds of physical torment - involving burning her with melted plastic, stuffing her in the refrigerator and forcing her to eat shit out of a clogged toilet... They eventually killed her (allegedly, since a potential drug overdose was not completely ruled out... ), dismembered her body, ate some of it and threw the rest in the garbage. Her skull was later found hidden in a large Hello Kitty doll...

The violence is pretty constant and the look of the film is wonderfully FILTHY and unpleasant. Not one of the most "disturbing" CATIII flicks out there, though it stays pretty consistent in it's savage, grimy tone - even throwing in a gratuitous canine shellacking. Good stuff. Those into good CATIII mayhem should check this out.

Men Behind the Sun (1988, Tun Fei Mou)

"Men Behind the Sun" is one I just have to go back and re-experience every once-so-often. I've seen a LOT of "disturbing" shit in my time, but none have come quite as close to capturing that special "vibe" that this one formulates. Could be for the fact that it is based on true events that seem to have been withdrawn from many people's consciousness... Could also be the general bleakness of the film. Either way, "Men Behind the Sun" is an uncomfortable ride...

Unit 731 was a secret Japanese army base existing throughout WWII that focused on experimental procedures meant to create biological "weapons" and chemical warfare. Many Chinese prisoners were the subjects of these sadistic war crimes, which (alledgedly) included freezing methods, plague exposure, gassing, decompression, starvation, sea water injections and live autopsies to name a few. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed there.

Aside from all the "graphic" content that "Men Behind the Sun" is known for, a worthy bit of historical intent shines through, which is how the film should initially be explored. School curriculum is only concerned with covering vague aspects of Nazi Germany and either glossing over entirely or fluffing the horrific forms of war violence. For many, it seems that Unit 731 has been discounted by many as irrelevant...

However, MANY memorable scenes of wild, bodily destruction are waiting to blow your mind, such as the infamous decompression chamber scene in which a man's body bloats and then erupts a stew of fecal matter and intestines. There's also the highly controversial "cat scene" to look forward to (though it was, in fact, fake) I Can't recommend "Men Behind the Sun" enough.