Asian Trash Cinema

Asian Trash Cinema by Thomas Weisser Published by ATC/ETC - 1995

Weisser apparently is detested by more people than Claude Van Damme in the HK film fan circles. They claim that he reviews films without actually bothering to watch some of them. I have no idea if this is true, but this book contains hundreds of short HK film reviews that cover most of the classics, but primarily focuses on the offbeat and often grotesque films. The sleazier the film, the more Weisser usually appreciates it. Many people have pointed out the many factual errors in the reviews and I have noticed a number myself.

Many of the reviews I very much disagree with - what 1 1/2 stars for Wing Chun while other pieces of dreck will be awarded with 4 stars. But nevertheless, Weisser talks about many films that you will never read about anywhere else and many that I tracked down turned out to be well worth it. So for that reason, I still think this is a worthwhile buy.