Director: Herman Yau and Danny Lee
Year: 1993
Country: Hong Kong
Alternate Titles: Bat sin fan dim: Yan yuk cha siu bau; The Eight Immortals Restaurant;
Genre: Exploitation
Plot:
After discovering a slew of rotten body parts, the local police officers suspect the new owner of a local eat shop as being responsible and when they find enough sketchiness in his story about being the owner of the shop it leads them to realize he’s been the killer all along and try whatever they can to get him to confess.
Review:
This was an exceptionally brutal and enjoyable exploitation offering. Most of the films’ grimy atmosphere is due to the openness this has with the reprehensible behavior shown throughout here. From the brutal matter of taking over the restaurant at the very beginning to the sleazy methods of killing his other victims who are either raped and brutally chopped to pieces or focused on the sleazy tactics to set up the kills for his victims by getting down and dirty with raping or just outright beating and brutalizing them beforehand. It offers the chance to dwell in the misfortune they have when he snaps and starts to stalk them where the men are offed in graphic fashion or in featuring quite a lengthy stalking scene that builds up to the actual slashing. Given that the brutality and gore here is quite shocking in the realism and cruelty he establishes in his kills, this goes over quite nicely in delivering the goods in that regard.
The general feel and tone here from these setups are interspersed with the actual investigation into the crimes and the antics of the police trying to catch him. The entire round-up that constitutes all the usual means of evidence gathering and procedural work that’s required in the style works incredibly well, with the officers working through the clues he’s obviously trying to cover up rather weakly and painting quite a clear picture of his guilt. These are generally enjoyable to see how they try to move through the different tricks they’ve uncovered as he continues all the flimsy tricks to get out of it. That he’s obviously guilty of everything the cops are looking into the case but are continually distracted by their own antics and generally goofy attitude that manages to eventually build to a fine conclusion. Overall, these are what hold the film up for the most part.
There are a few issues to be had here. The most egregious effort here is the utterly underwhelming comedy throughout the entire first-half as the ineptitude of the police crew who are basically acting as though they've never been in the training academy. Poking fun at each other for their lack of professionalism on the job, openly bragging about bringing prostitutes to crime-scenes or into the restricted part of the station and generally acting as though they’re simply inexperienced at interacting with other people makes for a wholly jarring approach against the outright brutality and sleaze experienced. Likewise, the last half of the film where he gets sent to prison and is mercilessly treated to beatings, assaults and various other tactics that seem illegal in order to get a confession seems wholly over-the-top, inappropriate and oftentimes downright repetitive when there’s more than enough evidence to get him on the charge anyway. These are the few issues here.
Overview: ****/5
Despite a few odd missteps that do hold this down, the barbaric cruelty and torture that are on-display here manage to overcome those issues for the most part and manage to make this one a squirm-inducing piece of sleaze. Give this one a shot if you're any kind of a fan of extreme cinema, appreciate these kinds of Asian shock-fests or just plain curious about this one while only those turned off by any of these elements should heed caution.
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