Dr. Lamb Lobby Cards #2

Lam Gor-Yu (Simon Yam) prepares to have sex with a dead girl in Danny Lee/Billy Tang's Cat-3 horror classic.

This sequence is beautifully scored, directed, and photographed.

Now available in its uncut form from XT Video, Austria.

The only drawback is the subtitles are terrible and the image is inferior to the original Hong Kong laserdisk.

All Classics, All Problematic

Bill Lustig's Maniac ('80)

POSITIVES

* Has a foul, depressing, sleazy atmosphere.
* Is ultra-violent (thanks to Tom Savini's vivid make-up effects).
* Boasts an amazing Joe Spinell performance.
* Has a terrific Jay Chataway score (available).
* Throws ex-Hammer beauty Caroline Munroe into the mix.
* Features numerous, bloody mannequins and dolls.
* Tom Savini's head gets blown off with a shotgun and we get to stare at the neck stump as it spurts blood.

NEGATIVES

Relationship between Spinell and Munroe is ridiculous.


Billy Tang's Red To Kill ('94).

POSITIVES

* Fetid atmosphere of menace
* Is set in a hospital for the physically and mentally disabled
* Features half a dozen brutal, beautifully shot rape scenes
* Musical score is menacing and disturbing
* Lead actress is cute and subjected to horrific humiliation
* Boasts a graphic scene in which lead actress rips out her pubic hair and says "Dirty, dirty, dirty" over and over again
* Delivers a mid-film plot surprise that further brutalizes a rape victim
* Ends violently
* Has no compunctions about offending everyone

NEGATIVES

* Actors playing the disabled are out of control (they are parodies)
* Story has zero credibility


Billy Tang's Run and Kill ('93)

POSITIVES

* Has an award-winning psycho performance from Simon Yam
* Stunning cinematography
* Gruesome, sadistic, tough as nails staging of violence
* Boasts the protracted burning to death of a little girl
* Psycho has a conversation with the charred remains of said girl
* The head of said girl is knocked off
* Enthusiastic use of large, sharp knives
* Depicts garroting in a gleeful manner
* Features a big, fat man (Kent Chang) in a sympathetic lead role
* Gives us Chang's mother plunging to her death
* Increasingly nihilistic atmosphere
* Danny Lee plays a cop (again)
* Fetishistic attention given to scenes of retribution
* Depressing score that offers no hope

NEGATIVES

* Slow to get going
* Not an entirely believable set-up
* Some silly music over opening scenes


Dr. Lamb ('92), directed by Billy Tang and Danny Lee.

POSITIVES

* Stunning photography by Kin Fai Miu
* Outstanding lead performance by Simon Yam
* Argento-esque climax
* Exquisitely directed scenes of necrophilia
* Realistic breast removal and amateur surgery
* Expertly staged moving car sequences
* Chilling score
* Inspired use of rain
* Bloody dismemberment with an electric saw
* Solid direction
* Fast pace
* Wallows in bodily fluids and every paraphilia imaginable

NEGATIVES

* Inappropriate and disruptive use of black humor such as a flying, severed breast landing on the back of a policewoman.
* This type of humor didn't do The Untold Story any favors, either.

Your thoughts?