Muk lau hung gwong (1999)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Ringo Lam

Writers:

Ringo Lam (writer)
Joe Ma (writer)

Release Date:

16 October 1999 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Plot:

A computer engineer is kidnapped and tortured. Since then, his girlfriend senses he's no longer the same person...

Awards:

1 win & 8 nominations

Cast

Tony Leung Ka Fai	...	Pit
Ching Wan Lau	...	Manson Ma
Amy Kwok	...	Amy Fu
Emily Kwan	...	Po
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Man Cheong Chan
Tony Chiu
Collin Chou	...	Shing
King-fai Chung	...	Chairman Lee
Kong Fu Keung
Shiu Hung Hui	...	Yee
Suki Kwan	...	Grace
Yiu-Cheung Lai	...	Bee / Ting Gun-kwun
David Lee
Joe Lee	...	Uncle Kwai
Wai-sheung Lee
Ngai Lui
Alannah Ong	...	Chairman Lee's wife
Rebecca Tam
Chun Kong Wong

Also Known As:

Mu lou xiong guang (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)
The Victim (International: English title)
Victim (Hong Kong: English title)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | Hong Kong:IIB

A Great, Gripping Mixture of Horror/Crime Film

I find it inconceivable that Ringo Lam failed to make it in Hollywood. He's just as powerful a director as John Woo, and in some ways, moreso. His worldview is a depressing and downbeat one and the pressure on him to provide his sole Hollywood film to date, Jean-Claude Van Damme's _Maximum Risk_ with a happy ending, may have deprived American audiences of a great talent.

The proof of this statement lies in the films which Lam has made since returning to Hong Kong: _Full Alert_, _The Suspect_, and this, _Victim_. Starring the intense Lau Ching Wan, an actor who may one day give Chow Yun-Fat a run for his money, this is an offbeat mixture of horror and crime film. That the combination works so well is testament to Lam's direction and screenplay. Wan's character is a former employee of the national mint, whose lost his job and is kidnapped one day by a group of criminals who leave him, hanging by his heels, in a deserted hotel, haunted by the ghosts of the former owners, victims of a murder-suicide. Wan uses this background as a sort of cover as he seemingly becomes possessed and acts strangely. His girlfriend and the cop on the case don't know what to make of his actions--sudden, irrational outbursts, digging in the garden late at night, leading the police on high-speed car chases. When the answer comes, it's as much a surprise to us as to the other characters and the final 30-45 minutes of the film are unrelentingly grim and downbeat, with a nihilistic finale, similar to that of _Full Alert_.

Lam is still a director to be reckoned with and he's still adding gems to a resume that already contains such classics as _City on Fire_ and _Full Contact_. Perhaps he'll get his second chance at a Hollywood career--lord knows, he deserves it!