This is one of the more tepid rape/revenge films that I have ever
come across. That sub-genre of revenge films has certain rules that you
have to follow – horrible victimization followed eventually by gut wrenching
cathartic satisfaction at the fate of the rapist or rapists. This film
leaves the viewer on a totally downbeat anti-climatic ending that puts
forth the moral position that you should not take the law into your own
hands no matter what. What the hell. No, not in these kinds of films –
that is the entire purpose of their existence – that sometimes you have
no moral choice except to reap revenge. Of course that isn’t the only reason
for this film to have been produced. The other one is nudity and sex and
on that front this film delivers in spades with numerous sexual trysts
occurring that often have nothing to do with the narrative. Just good old
fashioned exploitation. Nothing wrong with that of course but as a warning
the sex is squalid, rough and rather wretched.
Lyon (Matsukaka Hiroko) is driving home one evening when her car
breaks down on a deserted road and she looks for help. This being Hong
Kong of course the first car that drives by is full of leering men who
take her to the side of the road and rape her. She calls her boyfriend
(Alex Fong) and her sister Wella (Pauline Chan) to come get her and wants
to initially go to the police. But her boyfriend Chin is a cop and thinks
it will look bad that as a cop he could not protect his girlfriend and
so he says he will take care of things. Lyon discovers that she has caught
a venereal disease but unlike Pauline Wong in Her Vengeance or Chen Ping
in The Kiss of Death who grab revenge like a strangled chicken, she just
kills herself.
Since Chin knows by this time who was behind her rape, you would
think this would send him off in a killing fury, but he wants to jail them
for some of their other illegal activities and bides his time like a two-bit
Hamlet. It is up to Wella (a bar hostess who is rightfully assigned to
the “Big Bust” group!), to set the spider sex web for her sisters rapists.
But after so much trashy exploitation, you might be expecting a snap crackle
pop ending but for whatever reason the filmmakers go soft just when they
needed to go for the jugular. This was one of Pauline’s first films in
the business and there are a few nice close-ups of her face and of course
the required gaze at her breasts. Alex Fong had already been acting for
about five years, but I have to say this is some ghastly acting here on
his part – it wasn’t really for another few years till he was able to bring
some substance to a role.
My rating for this film: 4.5