Hong Kong director Tang Hin Sing (Billy Tang) gained notoriety in Hong Kong cinema in the early and mid 90’s as the country’s most controversial and dangerous director. Tang’s status as a cinematic bad-boy began with his collaboration with Danny Lee in 1992’s Doctor Lamb (he co-directed it with Lee)- one of the first Hong Kong films to unapologetically portray madness, violence and perversion on screen. Then in 1993 Tang returned to category 3 territory with Run and Kill, a grim action/drama again starring Danny Lee as a police officer and Simon Yam as a bloodthirsty maniac. By now Tang was among the ranks of Anthony Wong, Herman Yau and Simon Yam as one of Hong Kong cinema’s most brutal auteurs. But Tang would still have one more sweaty and horrifying film to give to an unsuspecting audience, Red to Kill, before his work inevitably gave way to less extreme fare.

Red to Kill can be seen as the ultimate in Tang’s category 3 "trilogy." It is the most deliberately vile, unrelentingly salacious and painfully upsetting of his films. The story itself is deceptively simple: a mysterious murderer stalks a mentally disabled hospital, brutally raping and slaughtering his victims. It seems that the murderer’s wrath is triggered by the color red, seemingly a link to his traumatized past. And when he fixes his desires on Ming Ming (an adult woman with the mind of a child), all hell breaks loose when she wears her favorite red dress to a dance recital.

What makes the film so undeniably disturbing is how well Tang manipulates our pity and sympathy for the disabled, and then shatters them with torturously graphic scenes of sexual assault and murder on utterly helpless prey. In the first few minutes alone a disturbed woman hurls herself along with her baby out a window, with her baby’s brains messily splattered on the pavement. As if that weren’t enough, the mysterious assailant brutally murders a repressed teenage girl (choking her with her doll) and then viciously rapes her.

But the film is not a perfect category 3 sex and blood fest, as Tang often slows the pace of the vicious goings-on to develop seemingly unimportant characters (such as many of the patients in the hospital). There are also a few "movie moments" that are simply so implausible that a share of the impact of the film is stolen. One such instance is when the suspect is apprehended and his case is heard in court. The murderer is allowed to go scott-free simply because his victim (Ming Ming) is incapable of testifying! It truly is a shame that Red to Kill sporadically succumbs to such typical exploitation trappings and plot contrivances. As it is, Red to Kill is worthwhile category 3 viewing, as it more often than not delivers on its promises of vile shocks and graphic acts of sexual assault and murder. But it may very well be undone by those very factors, as it often seems Tang is more willing to cater to the exploitation crowd than a more serious film-going public, resulting in some extreme elements missing their power.

DVD SPECIFICATION
Original Year of Release: 1994
Approximate Running Time: 91 Minutes
Aspect Ratio: Widescreen 1:66:1
System: NTSC (colour)
Rating: Category 3 (Hong Kong)
Sound: Cantonese, Dolby Digital Stereo
DVD Release: Ocean Shore Films
Region Coding: Region 0 (Region Free)

MAIN CAST

Lily Chung....Ka Lok Cheung
Man Yee Lo....Ming-Ming Yuk Kong
Ben Ng....Chi Wai Chan

MAIN CREW

Directed By....Tang Hin Sing

DVD RATINGS(out of 5)

Picture (2/5)

Pretty lackluster. A no-frills dvd with a no-frills picture. I really don’t think there was any remastering to speak of. The print has plenty of scratches, grain, and print damage. There are also wear lines that appear periodically and the picture is often shaky. Although not all is lost, as the image itself is rather sharp. The print has burned in Mandarin and English subtitles.

Sound (2/5)

Again, nothing great. The mono mix has some hiss and sounds rather weak.

Extras (1/5)

Absolutely nothing. Ocean Shores gives us no chapter stops, no menus whatsoever, no alternate audio mixes, no trailers, commentary, bios, or anything. Unacceptable in my book. The main (well-ONLY) attraction here is the feature, which doesn’t even look that good. Thankfully though, this controversial and often cut film is shown here UNCENSORED. Hooray!

Overall Rating (3/5)

Everything considered, I’m giving this disc 3. I’m being generous, but the film itself is excellent, and it is great that it is uncut here. Shame on the extras though.

AKA

Ruo Sha-original Hong Kong title

ALTERNATIVE VERSIONS

Tai Seng has a domestic tape of the film out, but I believe this is the original Hong Kong theatrical cut (which is missing some violent footage).

***UPDATE*** 8/30/02: The film has been given a much-needed visual revamp. It has been re-released on dvd and vcd by another Hong Kong mainstay, Universe Laser and Video, with much increased visuals and the original aspect ratio. I have heard that this new release also retains all of the footage. So I recommend picking this release up instead! Get it at a great price at www.pokerindustries.com! Below is a pic of the Universe dvd cover: