Passionate Killing in the
Dream
Director: Huang Kuo-chu
Year: 1992
Rating: 5.5
This is
your traditional kung-fu Giallo film starring Michiko Nishiwaki and Gordon
Liu Chia-hui. Some slicing and dicing of women interspersed with some kung
fu beat downs. Neither are done really well but it is still entertaining up
to a point. It begins with a cock-fight being interchanged with a man murdering
a woman with a razor in his mouth. But it is all a dream and Sha Sha (Michiko)
wakes up from it shaking like a leaf in a cold wind. She falls back to sleep
but in the morning she turns on the news and sure enough there is a report
of a woman bring killed just as she saw in her dream. Yikes. But she didn't
see the man's face. She is a world famous photographer and is hired by Queen
(Cynthia Lam) to photograph all the models in a fashion show. Oddly, Queen
seems to have a retinue of young women around her who do a lot of cooing
and hissing.
The identity of the killer isn't kept a
secret for very long. He is Chit Chit played by Gordon showing his naked ass.
He seems to be having confidence issues after being clobbered in a professional
Muy Thai (this takes place in Bangkok) match that also utilizes wooden sticks.
I think it is called Krabi Krabong - with Krabi one uses swords, with krabong
sticks. Swords would be interesting. Sticks are brutal enough and we see two
such matches. So to bolster his confidence, he begins killing women. It is
sure a long ways from the Shaolin Temple for Gordon. Another killing, another
dream. She goes to see a psychiatrist (Lau Siu-kwan) who keeps telling her
to relax and puts the moves on her. Successfully I sadly report. Not Michiko
worthy. There is even a music video of their trip to the beach. Good grief.
The cops are brought in as well in the form of Lam Wai. They put Sha Sha
out as bait.
There are a couple ok action scenes - in
one Queen comes on to Sha Sha - ok that explains all those young girls. Sha
Sha is shocked - she is a nasbian (sic) she tells the analyst. But Queen comes
on to her in an outdoor restaurant and that attracts a group of men and a
nice fight breaks out. Later some of their friends attack Sha Sha but it
doesn't amount to much. And finally of course Gordon shows up but she has
taken two sleeping pills and falls asleep! What the hell. Whose idea of great
cinema was that? During the fight before she takes a nap Gordon starts having
flashbacks to his cruel childhood - in the middle of trying to kill Sha Sha.
Come on. Keep your flashbacks to an appropriate time and place. I think Michiko
is great and it is nice seeing her lead a film but this is pretty bland overall
with a lot of dead time. A couple more killings and intense fights were very
much needed. Apparently, there is an American film titled The Eyes of Laura
Mars that this resembles. My guess though is that Laura did not do kung-fu.
