Supposedly based on a true story, this is perhaps the most notorious Category III movie to come out of Hong Kong. Thanks for this must largely go to Anthony Wong, who manages to overpower some quite awful and ham-handed attempts at comedy, turning in a performance which won him the industry's top acting honour. Deservedly so, at least for sheer coldness. He plays a restauranteur who gained the Eight Immortals establishment by offing the previous owner, and embarks on a similar policy towards any employees who irritate him. The bad news is: he soon finds himself short-staffed. The good news is: his new pork buns are proving very popular...
The nastiness on view is phenomenal - a double bill of this and The Ebola Syndrome will put you off Chinese food for life - yet jars badly with cringeworthy humour, as the police fail miserably to investigate, preferring to bicker and sexually harass each other, while their boss (Lee) meanders around with hookers. Hold my aching sides, before they split asunder. Oddly, two-thirds of the way through, the film flips, and Wong's character becomes almost sympathetic, at least until the horrific nature of his crimes are revealed, in a flashback that goes head to head against "the bit with the chopsticks" in a battle for worst sequence, not just in this movie, but perhaps the history of motion pictures. Dumping the supposedly funny parts, you only have half a movie here. But, sheesh - that's enough for me.
B-
