Riki-Oh (1991)

Director: Lam Nai Choi
Stars: Fan Siu Wong


Review:

As a Hong-Konger, if I were to list some of the famous Hong Kong movies, I would say those Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan movies, maybe also Infernal Affairs (2002). But it turns out that this one is actually pretty famous, at least among cult-film lovers. It is hard to define what is a cult-film but Riki-Oh is a cult film in every sense of the word. The special effect is cheap, and several parts of the plot seems unexplained or irrelevent, but everything is so bad it's good.

The movie follows Ricky, who was thrown into prison because of manslaughter and assault. He started a fight over an innocent old man, and turned out he is so strong that he can punch through human bodies. The warden afraid he is actually a special agent coming to investigate their secret of planting opium, he sent the Gang of Four, the four most powerful people in the prison to take care of Ricky. And, spoiler alert, what hysterical is Ricky is really not a special agent.

Riki-Oh is a film adaption of a manga, and faithfully so. It reenacts almost every scene in the first chapter of the manga, and maintained, if not exceeded, the gore level. It is so brutal that it maybe one of the gorest movie of all time. People seem to feel no pain and despite seeing all those gore and violence, they still have the mood for some sense of humour. For example there is this infamous scene that a guy cut himself to strangle Ricky with his own guts. Witnessing the badassness of this guy, the vice-warden said, "Alright you got a lot of guts Oscar!"

Alright you got a lot of guts Oscar!

Same scene in the manga.

Other crazy scenes include Ricky connecting his tendons of his own arm by himself, Ricky punches through someone's jaw, Ricky completely destroy one's fist, someone got skinned alive, and someone got shredded into a pot of meat. And more, and more.

Head explosion.

Same scene in the manga.

Punching half the head away.

Same scene in the manga.

Riki-Oh is definitely not for one with a faint of heart, or anyone who does not appreciate exploitation movies. But for cult movie fans, this is mandatory.