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NAKED KILLER (1992) Could I really resist yet another write-up of my favourite Category III film (after Sex & Zen, that is), given yet another opportunity to do so? I think not. When the film opens, a series of brutal sex murders have rocked Hong Kong, the victims gruesomely crippled and their sex organs mutilated. Anti-Triad Bureau detective Tinam (Yam) is convinced that they are the work of a lone female assassin, his superiors are not as easily swayed due to the ferocity of the killings. Tinam's purportedly ludicrous assumption is written off due to his ailing psychological profile, mentally scarred from killing his own brother in a triad bust gone wrong. His superiors demote him to the Anti-Vice squad for his own good. Then Kitty (Yau) walks into his life, and things promise never to be the same. Kitty is one tough little lady, when Tinam first happens across her she metes out justice to a hairdresser who has wronged a friend by taking a pair of scissors to his nether regions. Her courtship games with him are cut abruptly short when further scissor-happy antics (this time the man who murdered her father) land her on the wrong side of the law. She is taken under the motherly wing of Sister Cindy (Yiu), a professional killer, who sees great promise in her feisty, cold-blooded nature. With a new identity, she becomes Cindy's protégé. Soon, a hit on a high level Yakuza figure brings down the wrath of the Japanese, with the sultry pair the fresh targets of a fevered revenge plot. The Japanese turn to Cindy's former student Princess (Ng), a cold-blooded lesbian killer unable to love, who knows her former teacher's methods with almost obsessive vigour. With lover Baby (Madoka) in tow, Princess engineers her master's demise, with view to the sexual conquest of her new student. In the course of his investigation, Tinam is once again reunited with Kitty, but the flame of love rekindled may just guide them into Princess' hands with devastating consequences. At the time (1992), Paul Verhoeven's massively over-rated Basic Instinct was box-office champ in Hong Kong cinemas, and writer/producer Wong Jing rushed this project into theatres to capitalise on that film's success. Ultimately, Naked Killer has gone on to become an international cult classic in its own right, and viewing it nearly ten years later it's not hard to see why. The talent behind the camera is just as breath taking as that in front of it. Director Clarence Fok has never crafted a finer creation than this, its beautifully honed elements coming together like some wild erotic dream. The most staggering facet of this production is that it has not dated one iota in the last decade. The sartorial elegance of its costume design captures a timeless quality, and the Art Direction & Set design create an aura of exuberant elegance that is simply sumptuous. Wong's script borrows heavily from its progenitor, but is diverse in a uniquely Asian fashion, manifesting a more engaging motif than Verhoeven's trashy thriller with breathless ease. Thankfully, there is precious little of Wong's usual slapstick and lowbrow humour present, barring the now restored "severed penis" joke (which is pretty disgusting). Fok's ever-present slick visual eye composes scene after gorgeous scene rich in striking beauty. A serial killer sex film that is magnificently beautiful to behold? You better believe it! Director of Photography William Yim keeps the film awash in colour, visual splendor and soft focus imagery that is delicious to watch. Even Lau Shung Fung's martial arts & action choreography is a rapturous joy to be involved in. This is one film where the sum total of its parts adds up to much more than one film should be allowed to contain. A special mention should also go out to Carrie Ng as Princess, as she dominates every inch of screen time she is given. Once the "ugly duckling" who could muster up little but roles in television soaps, this was the film that broke her as a major actress. The following year (1993) her determination paid off and she was awarded Best Actress at Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards for her tour-de-force performance in Fok's other Cat III classic Remains Of A Woman. Through striking costuming, and a combination of smoldering sensuality juxtaposed with a devilish ice-cold intensity, her performance never fails to reduce me to a quivering wreck. The girls definitely have it all over the guys in this flick! I really can't recommend this film enough, as it truly is one of the finest Category III films to ever escape the auditoriums of Hong Kong and make its mark on the international cinema circuit. Neither Yam nor Yau deliver anything less than average, sometimes cartoonish, performances, but this is the only minor complaint I can level at this production. For me it is one of those rare animals that I would rate as a bonafide masterpiece of cinema, it is simply that good. M.C. THOMASON MC Thomason has contributed material to Shocking Images (California), Eastern Heroes (UK) Manga Max (UK), Hong Kong SuperStars (UK), Impact (UK; unfortunately unpublished) and Chinatown Video (Australia). He is now the Australian correspondent for the UK horror review site Sex Gore Mutants, from which this review is reprinted with kind permission. His finest HK moment was Siren's 10th Anniversary release of John Woo's The Killer; the boxset of which comprised his meticulously researched booklet. He is currently plotting the logistics of a History of Category III films from 1988 to the turn of the millennium, along with five fiction novels & his own Hong Kong cinema themed website. For more of M.C.'s recommended viewing, see his Top Ten.
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