Dr. Lamb's Secret Porno Empire?

Did Hong Kong's 'Dr. Lamb' character (played by Simon Yam in Billy Tang's gut-punching horror film) inspire these unbridled tomes of version?

Probably not. But it's fun to consider a fantasy connection, at least. 

Unapologetically lurid in title, content, and form,  the Dr. Lamb Library series was spawned by Star Distributors, the sleaziest and, arguably, most audacious of the pulpy porn paperback publishers. 

They managed several porno lines including 'War Horrors Casebook', 'Slave Horrors', and the 'Bizarre Library', which often featured great cover art by Phantom favorite Di Mulatto. 

The company survived for fifteen years in a competitive and transforming market before its founder,  Robert "Dibi" DiBernardo, was found in the trunk of a car. He wasn't smiling.

The company employed talented artists at bargain basement rates and these fellas really delivered the erotic goods. 

These covers, married to uncluttered graphic presentation, are examples of fine, unpretentious work.

The element lacking in the cover art of the Dr. Lamb Library is "fun" (a relative term, of course). These tales were hard and unforgiving, set in a world where lust trumped all else and a body was a vessel for selfish pleasure. Cover art from Greenleaf, for example, was more inclined to feature characters sporting a naughty smile or a background character getting their vicarious jollies from an observed scene of carnality.  

Common in porno novels of this period were the small swinger ads, some accompanied by grainy black and white pictures. 

I've yet to encounter anybody who can testify to the effectiveness of these.   

I love the 'strictly business' attitude of the guy here. He takes his pleasure seriously. 

The green socks on the lass are a fine touch.

The series was created by A. de Granamour (real name: Paul Little), who penned the bondage classic The Cult of Sathanas.  I don't believe he was the same Paul Little who created (and is) Max Hardcore, although the coincidence would have some folks scratching their heads.

The True Horror of Silence

 This movie -- Silenced (Do-ga-ni/; Korean, 2010) -- is really something else. The one current imdb review gives it high praise and pretty much parallels my take on it. It opened last week at a very limited amount of cinemas, is UNRATED for very good reason, and is a major dose of heart-wrenching bleakness. That it is based on a true story that ended tragically makes watching it almost unbearable.

The story involves a school for the deaf where very young students (pre-teen boys and girls) are being beaten, raped, and intimidated by senior faculty members and their immediate family members.  If it weren't true, it would sound outrageously improbable. In his LA Times review last Friday, critic Kenneth Turan attacked the film for sensationalizing the sexual crimes. I disagree that the graphic depictions of child abuse are included for the sake of sensationalism. They are included because they need to be. We need to see and feel what these children went through in order to fully comprehend how barbarically they were treated by their carers at the school and by the corrupt Korean court system. Not surprisingly, "important" and influential men were protected by the court as their victims were denied justice.

 At the center of the film is a young male teacher (Gong Yoo) who suspects the children are being abused almost immediately after beginning employment there. When he witnesses a shockingly brutal beating of a young male student by a colleague, his desire to intervene is natural and strong, but he encounters opposition driven by different agendas from the school's principal and his own mother. It's a human rights worker who provides him the courage to fight a very broken system.

The first half of Silenced (the literal Korean title is Crucible) involves the teacher's discovery of the school's dirty secrets.  The second half focuses on a court case in which the children take the witness stand in front of their abusers. Some crimes are recreated. All recreations are beyond what you'd see in an American or British film, although works such as Tim Roth's The War Zone and Angelica Huston's Bastard Out of Carolina carry some of the same dramatic weight.

 Silenced is obligatory viewing for many reasons, but the primary one is its courage. When Kenneth Turan criticizes the film for its "sensationalism", he's taking an easy swing at it. How should the film's horrors be conveyed, Kenneth? Should they be less shocking? More palatable to you as a viewer? Suitable for the average American viewer? Sanitized enough for a PG rating?

Fuck that! I can't help but reflect on stories we hear often about politicians who give their support to controversial laws -- stem cell research, for example -- after the life of a family member is saved. These changes of heart sicken me because they are the disgraceful folly of men with narrow, insular visions who are unable to empathize with the struggles of people (voters!) outside their immediate circles. Only when these idiots come face to face with the real possibility of loss do they do what they should have done long ago. The recreations of ugly, intimidating sex crimes against children do need to be graphic because graphic hits home. But it's not the sex that bruises the viewer of Silenced -- it's the violent intimidation that accompanies it. We see, in a way never conveyed so bluntly and brilliantly before, that the most heinous aspect of rape (of children and adults) is the intimidation of the victim by the cowardly rapist. The physical aspect of the rape ends, but the intimidation is maintained by the rapist, his family, the general public, and the courts. It's an endless nightmare.

 Aspects of Silenced reminded me of Dr. Lamb because, from a photographic point of view, the recreations are rich and moody. The film's grim tone echoes Blood and Bone, The War Zone, and Run and Kill. It's not a horror film in any traditional genre sense (there are no Freddy Krugers here), but it certainly explores horrific material, material more deeply disturbing than the recent Serbian Movie because the intimidation scenes accompanying the sexual abuse make the drama real.

Highly recommended for those not irritated by the sticky grit of truth.

Top 22 Horror Films in 22 Years

Recently, there have been a great many horror lists published on various blogs as a rebuttal to Owen Gleiberman's list in Entertainment Weekly.

I cheated my list back 22 years so as to include In A Glass Cage, one of my favorite horror films of any time.

Good horror comedies such as Shaun of the Dead are missing because they're not real horror to me.

You won't find Blair Witch Project here because it is now and always has been utter shit.

I realize some films here such as Battle Royale may not meet everybody's definition of horror. For mine, the film's premise is horrific ) enough in my book -- kill all your friends and classmates or you die!

Utterly disturbing.

Extremely tense. Claustrophobic. Doesn't put a foot wrong.

The cheat ending still bothers me, and almost bumped it off the list, but everything that comes before it is true horror executed with love and gusto.

A masterpiece from the late Kinji Fukasaku, a god among directors.

Surreal, atmospheric horror.

One of the best Italian horror films ever made (and they've made some doozies). Grisly, surreal, erotic, disturbing, and beautiful.

Despite the lack of perfect versions of this, it is a rich, atmospheric horror film occasionally handicapped by wrong-headed comedy. Still, its necrophilic tone qualifies it for greatness.

I love Arturo Ripstein, and this phenomenal Mexican version of The Honeymoon Killers is sometimes unbearable to watch.

As I am not a fan of Audition (I find it quite boring), my Miike choice is the brilliant and twisted Ichii The Killer.

As the years pass, I like Silence of the Lambs less and Ridley Scott's Hannibal so much more.

Gary Oldman's 'Mason Verger' is a modern horror creation that Lon Chaney would have been proud of.

One of the most subversive horror films ever to be slipped through a studio gate.

Real horror with brutal catharsis.

Easily one of the most bizarre, troubling, and anxiety-inducing horror films. From director Fruit Chan.

I may be alone on this one, but John Dahl's riff on the Duel premise is a taut, unrelenting horror pic with a great, unseen villain ('Rusty Nail').

What can I say that hasn't already been said?

Powerful psychological horror that captures the terror of being a prisoner of your own delusions.

A nightmare captured on celluloid.

This '87 masterpiece of bloodsucking just slips through the 22-year gate.

One of the most bizarre, cruel, and horrific studies of child abuse ever burned to the screen, Midori is a worthy successor to Todd Browning's Freaks.

Based on Mr. Arashi's Amazing Freak Show by Suehiro Maruo.

Supreme tension.

Masterful, understated horror fairytale.

Accomplished tale of alienation where the horror grows like cancer on sunburn.

David Mamet's only attempt at writing a horror picture is stark and frightening and unforgettable. Stuart Gordon's direction is flawless.

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.

Dr. Lamb Lobby Cards #1

For a ludicrous sum I'm trying to forget, I recently scored official Dr. Lamb lobby cards (there are 12).
The film is one of my all-time favorites, and I watch it regularly.

Made in the wake of the success of Silence of the Lambs, it is based on the true story of a Hong Kong serial killer who drove a taxi.

If I was pitching it to a moron, I'd tell him: "It's Taxi Driver Meets Henry With A Slice of Necromantik".

If you haven't seen it, please do. It's stunning.

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?