Bad Babies

THE DEMON'S BABY-1998-The Chinese army discovers an underground tomb full of buried treasure. Among the items they remove is a gold statue of Buddha which unbeknownst to them contains a demon. It falls into the possession of a general (Elvis Tsui) and his four concubines. When they become pregnant along with the ill treated maid Little Fish (Annie Wu) impregnated by Day Six (Emotion Cheung) the cook, the demon possesses them and their wombs become the homes for some demonic killer babies with sharp teeth. Day Six teams up with a very strange priest (Anthony Wong) to do battle against the demon women in a crazy finale directed by Kant Leung.

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Wong!

PLASTIC CITY-2008-I'd watch anything with Anthony Wong in it but this Brazil/Hong Kong/Japan co-production was a disappointment.

Yuda (Anthony Wong Chau-Sang) is a  Chinese mobster working as a smuggler in Sao Paulo. His adopted son Kirin (Jo Odagiri), who he found in the jungle runs their street operation. After years of building up their bloody empire Yuda grows weary of it when it starts to crumble. Nelson Yu Lik Wai 's direction is excellent but the story is confused and not that interesting. The best scene is a CGI laden dreamlike street fight.

Wong was in THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR the same year.

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Serious but Funny...??

JIANG HU-THE TRIAD ZONE-2000-Tony Leung plays a Hong Kong Triad boss in this kind of unusual but entertaining action film. It’s a comedy/drama satire with some seriously violent overtones. Leung is Jim Yam, a mob boss who’s frequently shot at. He has a wife (Sandra Ng) and mistress (San-san Lee) and most of the situations are played for laughs despite the violence. Things take a weird turn though when Anthony Wong shows up playing Master Kwan, an ancient god who saves Jim’s life! Though at times the story becomes very serious it always returns to comedy. Eric Tsang plays Jim’s jailed ex-bodyguard in a poignant scene. Director Dante Lam somehow makes it work and provides a very good shoot-out in a flower shop.

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Untold Till Now

THE UNTOLD STORY-1992-This is kind of like a Chinese IN COLD BLOOD but much more graphic, bloody and shocking. Because it’s supposedly based on a true story the film makers figured they could go all the way and show everything in gory detail.

Anthony Wong (from HARDBOILED and THE HEROIC TRIO) plays Wong, the new owner/butcher of The Eight Immortals Cafe. He’s a whacko guy who cheats at mah-jogg and is generally mean to everyone. He kills a guy who works for him and then chops him up and makes barbecued pork buns out of his flesh and guts. He later on rapes and kills his cashier and puts her through the grinder!

The Police (led by THE KILLER’s Danny Lee) suspect Wong might be responsible for the death of the previous owner and his family. The cops seem like a bunch of ignoramuses (they berate the one female officer for having small breasts) but they get it together and eventually arrest the suspected murderer. When he won’t confess they do everything in their power to make him talk. Interrogation, beatings, torture. They even put him in a prison cell with the brother of one of his victims. Eventually after much sadistic treatment he finally owes up and explains, in a blood spattered flashback, how he murdered the cafe owner, his wife and children and mother in law. This is one of the most bizarre and brutal scenes I’ve ever seen. He’s shown savagely killing all the kids. Then chopping up the bodies with a cleaver. Blood flies everywhere until there are piles of dripping limbs and heads! When he admits the ingredients of the meat pies the cops (who’d gouged themselves on free ones) all throw up. At the end he commits suicide.

THE UNTOLD STORY is a very strange film. Director Herman Yau seems to take sadistic pleasure in the pure and unadulterated scenes of shock and depravity. There seems no other reason for it’s viciousness. Few films have shown such graphic violence especially where children are concerned. His rape/killing (with chopsticks) of his cashier is hard to take.

The video box screams: “Based unfortunately, on real events” and “Horrifying because it’s true” but this is plain and simply a sick gore film trying to disguise itself as something more. Wong (who won 1993 equivalent of a Hong Kong Oscar for his performance) is very good though. He’s a pathetic, brutal psycho who’s treatment by the police almost has us feeling sorry for him (but not quite).

Unlike HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER this movie is hard to recommend. AKA: HUMAN MEAT PIES and BUN: THE UNTOLD STORY.

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