26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Ultimate Slasher/Gore Flick!, February 6, 2005
I never thought a film could be made like the 1992
Chinese presentation of "The Untold Story". Let me
start by saying that this is the only film in all my
years of moviegoing that actually nauseated me. Give
me credit. I have a very strong stomach. Maybe what
makes it so horrific is that it is based on true
events. I thought I had seen it all...now (maybe) I
have. I love horror, gore, frightening tales of
terror, but this one crosses the line. It is
shocking...to say the least...and it doesn't start out
that way.
The crew of police officers and detectives in this
film are a bunch of comedians. They are constantly
ribbing one another...find excuses not to work...and I
thought I was in store for a Chinese rendition of Mel
Gibson and Danny Glover in "Lethal Weapon". In
afterthought, their comedic relief is to take pressure
off the gruesome antics of a psychotic killer Anthony
Wong, who won Honk Kong's Film Award for Best Actor in
1993. Best actor? This guy is so convincing he
scared the hell out of me.
While I find it just as hard to understand how such a
film could be made, I was more perplexed over the fact
that I WATCHED IT! Wong is a true psycho-maniac.
There are moments that are simply
disgusting...overboard...unthinkable. And, of course,
I had to buy the ORIGINAL UNCUT VERSION! Guess what?
There's nothing "uncut" about it...if you get my
drift. Words of wisdom:
Stay away from the barbecued pork buns and beware of
the chopsticks.
If you're brave enough to watch this, you may want to
be selective as to who (if anyone) joins you. I've
seen "Silence of the Lambs", "Dahmer", "Portrait of a
Serial Killer", "Bundy", "Helter Skelter"...and a host
of deranged serial killer flicks, but this one takes
the cake...or, better yet, "cuts" it.
In the gruesome serial killer genre', this one is a
"10". If you can't handle this type of flick, I
recommend "Shrek 2"...your side will split from
laughter...not via a meat cleaver.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Disturbing and Unpredictable, August 2, 2004
I saw this back in 1997 at the Fant-Asia film festival in Calgary and I was just stunned. From what I've heard, they just don't make slasher/horror films that often in Asia, so when they set out to shock and horrify, they go to the extreme, in true Asian style. This story concerns a serial killer posing as a restaurant prorietor who goes into violent rages and indulges in sadistic acts. For those of you used to Anime and other far-out Asian arts, you may be already jaded and unaffected, but for those of you looking for something to disturb you, seek this out. It's not an atypical story by any means, but the murder scenes are pretty grisly. It's not quite all out gore, but it's pretty disturbing in that you're just not used to this kind of stuff. One guy gets chopped up into dim sum. In another sequence, a family gets hacked to pieces...you ever notice in Hollywood where murdered children get killed offscreen? Not here. There's also a graphic rape scene involving chopsticks that ain't exactly feminist-friendly. Needless to say, with every succesive murder during the screening. more and more people walked out. It's rare you see a horror film provoking anything more than laughter nowadays. This one is all out, gung-ho savagery. What's even weirder is the moments of slapstick that pop-up whenever the cops are in a scene. A strange way to lighten the darker scenes, but, that's Asian cinema for you...unpredictable, daring, extreme and the polar opposite of Western filmmaking. The guy who plays the killer won some prestigious awards in awards for his portrayal, and he deserves them. He's convincingly creepy. Go to your local Chinese videostore and try and get this gem and play it at your next sleepover party.
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20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Gory but not fun, December 8, 1999
Being a big fan of HK cinema and an even bigger fan of gore films, I highly anticipated watching the untold story. The box promises cannibalism in a humorous vein and comes with a standard warning of graphic violence, so I figured it would probably be a lot of fun. The first scene has Anthony Wong, the big time bad guy, setting fire to a man after a gambling dispute, very realistic. Then, after some plot developement which more less establishes Wong as being a despicable man, he kills again and chops up his victim into pieces in a scene which is gut wrenching and very convincing. So far, I think it's pretty cool. then the film suddenly slaps you with this awful rape scene, certainly the most disturbing, graphic, and frighteningly realistic of such depictions I have ever seen. I won't repeat what all Wong does to this woman but I can assure you watching it is far from what anyone should be considering enjoyable. After that we're treated to about 40 minutes of moronic cops torturing Wong into confessing. These scenes are not any fun either, they're drawn out and pointless and lead the film nowhere. Eventually, after much police brutality and sleep deprivation the film goes into a flashback where we see Wong slaughter 8 more people, including 5 young children whose participation in the film must have been traumatizing for them considering their age. This is another very gory scene, and a rather long one, but not quite as disturbing as the one I mentioned earlier. Like I said, I was looking for a movie a little bit more laughable in it's use of blood and guts, but this film is no laughing matter! It's main purpose seems to be the intention of shocking and upsetting the veiwer, and to it's credit it acheives these goals. Wong received the Hong Kong film awards best actor for his role here and I guess he deserved it considering all the awful things he did for this movie. A true study in method acting but other than that he just sneers and screams alot. The cops, as I said, are depicted as sexist and incompetant morons who turn surprisingly cruel once they have their suspect in custody. HK movies often depict cops as idiots for comic relief (see Dr. Lamb or Naked Killer among others) but here it's just really out of place and unnecesary. That's the main fault of the film, but mainly I want to warn others who might consider renting or buying this movie in the hopes of getting some laughs out of it- you won't. This is some hard core stuff. As a side note, the extras and additional trailers are really neat, and the transfer looks great.
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