HK Cinema - 1991
Going back to the 1970’s HK filmmakers have been
producing films with an erotic nature and sexual content. These films are
often referred to as Category III films as the HK Film Board rates them
as such.
Most of them tend to be low budget trash, but
in 1991 they produced a film that was visually sumptuous and starred the
equally sumptuous Amy Yip. The film is based on a Ming classic tale of
a man who goes against the dictates of Buddhism and his sexual desires
lead to his downfall. The film has lots of nudity and bizarre scenes such
as the man having a horse’s penis transplanted in substitute for his own.
But it was really Amy Yip that made this an international hit and one of
the top grossing films in HK history. This lead to a huge output of Category
III films and they have become a major staple of the HK film industry.
As mentioned above, HK films beginning in the
seventies started including sexual content. The Shaw Brothers were the
first major studio to begin producing a number of these films. They were
inexpensive and they were profitable. Pete Tombs reports in Mondo Macabro
that 1973 was "a watershed year for HK sex films with titles like The Sugar
Daddies, Sexy Playgirls, Queen Hustlers and Sex Maniacs appearing in rapid
fashion". Some of these films had larger ambitions and budgets such as
Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan. One of the main actresses
in these films had the great name of Yum Yum Shaw !
In 1988 the ratings system was introduced.
Category I indicated general viewing, Catagory II meant parental guidance
and Category III was for adults only due to either sex or violence.