The Imp
This tawdry exploitation film has the appropriate
mix of sex, gore and chills to satisfy most fans of this genre. It also
has a very revealing performance from “Mystical Breasts” – Diana Pang Dan
– that was quite an eyeful. Such an eyeful in fact that I think my VCR
overheated and destroyed the tape halfway through. Fortunately, it has
been released on DVD to more fully appreciate the finer nuances of this
film. As revealing as she is here, Pang Dan still seems to have mastered
the Amy Yip technique of never quite showing off everything – the “keep
the viewer wanting more” theory of acting!
Well, using the term acting might be pushing it
regarding Pang Dan in this film as her main expression here seems to be
one of bewilderment – but as there is a lot going on in the film it is
an easy thing to overlook. If you have Mystical Breasts – one can’t really
expect method acting to go along with them – can one? At any rate, she
is an extremely good sport here - allowing all sorts of bad things to happen
to her.
Pang Dan begins getting telepathic flashes
of images from her twin sister who is away on a trip. In these flashes,
she sees her sister running in fear, stumbling and then someone coming
at her with a long very sharp knife. Pang Dan though can’t see the face
of the attacker which is unfortunate as it would have saved her a lot of
trouble later on. So she travels to this small town in the hinterlands
to try and locate her missing sister and immediately runs into a camera
crew who are there to film an Aboriginal fertility rite.
They all stay at this small creepy inn that is
run by a clearly deranged woman – Ruby Wong (not that Ruby Wong) – who
doesn’t seem to notice when she slices her finger while cutting the veggies
and seems more than willing to give the male guests all the services they
need. Lots of strange things begin happening – frightening images,
deformed mutes, odd lights, noises in the dark, a fortuneteller with bad
omens (William Ho). And I complain if I don't get fresh towels everyday
when I stay at a hotel. Oh, and lets not forget about the sex – there is
a lot of it in this film.
Pang Dan goes along with the crew to watch the
ritual – and somehow manages to wreck the ceremony and has the tribe chasing
after her. She jumps into some water and when she rises out – they want
to either proclaim her the winner of the wet T-shirt contest or begin worshipping
a new Goddess ! Actually, Mark Cheng – one of the crew – saves her – they
run off and hide in a barn – and while the tribe is looking for them they
decide to take a little roll in the hay. Literally. It’s funny what people
will do when their lives are in danger – somehow this would not have
been a priority for me at that moment in time! Thankfully though it was
for them – and I finally got a good idea as to why Dang Pan is nicknamed
“Mystical Breasts”! I sort of felt sorry for Mark though as he was tasked
with the difficult job of having to keep Pang Dan’s vital bits covered
with his hands or mouth. A tough acting job – but someone had to do it!
Admittedly, during the love scene I was mainly having a Memorex moment
– real or not real? – hard to say, but it looked like an 8 on the Richter
scale would not begin to shake her main assets.
Then lots of people begin getting sliced and diced
and the film starts pushing the exploitation to the edge – the live rats
on the naked girl were just about my limit! For your basic B horror and
sex film - this was quite enjoyable and is an opportunity (if this would
in any way be a priority in your life) to see one of the better-known Cat
III actresses of the nineties.
My rating for this film: 6.5
DVD Information:
Distributed by Universe
I have no real complaints with the transfer
- some of the inside scenes could have been lighter - and the colors looked
soft on occasion - but overall it is more than adequate.
Letterboxed
Cantonese and Mandarin language tracks.
8 Chapters
The subtitles are Chinese or English.
There is a trailer for this film - plus ones
for Till Death Do Us Part and The Executioners.