The Imp
Director: Ivan Lai
Year:1996
Rating: 6.5
This tawdry exploitation film
has the appropriate mix of sex, gore and chills to satisfy most fans of
this genre. It also has a very revealing performance from “Mystical Breasts”
– Diana Pang Dan – that was quite an eyeful. Such an eyeful in fact that
I think my VCR overheated and destroyed the tape halfway through. Fortunately,
it has been released on DVD to more fully appreciate the finer nuances of
this film. As revealing as she is here, Pang Dan still seems to have mastered
the Amy Yip technique of never quite showing off everything – the “keep the
viewer wanting more” theory of acting!
Well, using the term acting might be pushing it regarding Pang Dan in this
film as her main expression here seems to be one of bewilderment – but as
there is a lot going on in the film it is an easy thing to overlook. If you
have Mystical Breasts – one can’t really expect method acting to go along
with them – can one? At any rate, she is an extremely good sport here - allowing
all sorts of bad things to happen to her.
Pang Dan begins getting
telepathic flashes of images from her twin sister who is away on a trip.
In these flashes, she sees her sister running in fear, stumbling and then
someone coming at her with a long very sharp knife. Pang Dan though can’t
see the face of the attacker which is unfortunate as it would have saved
her a lot of trouble later on. So she travels to this small town in
the hinterlands to try and locate her missing sister and immediately runs
into a camera crew who are there to film an Aboriginal fertility rite.
They all stay at this small creepy inn that is run by a clearly deranged
woman – Ruby Wong (not that Ruby Wong) – who doesn’t seem to notice when she
slices her finger while cutting the veggies and seems more than willing to
give the male guests all the services they need. Lots of strange things
begin happening – frightening images, deformed mutes, odd lights, noises
in the dark, a fortuneteller with bad omens (William Ho). And I complain if
I don't get fresh towels everyday when I stay at a hotel. Oh, and lets not
forget about the sex – there is a lot of it in this film.
Pang Dan goes along with the crew to watch the ritual – and somehow manages
to wreck the ceremony and has the tribe chasing after her. She jumps into
some water and when she rises out – they want to either proclaim her the winner
of the wet T-shirt contest or begin worshipping a new Goddess ! Actually,
Mark Cheng – one of the crew – saves her – they run off and hide in a barn
– and while the tribe is looking for them they decide to take a little roll
in the hay. Literally. It’s funny what people will do when their lives are
in danger – somehow this would not have been a priority for me at that
moment in time! Thankfully though it was for them – and I finally got a good
idea as to why Dang Pan is nicknamed “Mystical Breasts”! I sort of felt sorry
for Mark though as he was tasked with the difficult job of having to keep
Pang Dan’s vital bits covered with his hands or mouth. A tough acting job
– but someone had to do it! Admittedly, during the love scene I was mainly
having a Memorex moment – real or not real? – hard to say, but it looked like
an 8 on the Richter scale would not begin to shake her main assets.
Then lots of people begin getting sliced and diced and the film starts pushing
the exploitation to the edge – the live rats on the naked girl were just about
my limit! For your basic B horror and sex film - this was quite enjoyable
and is an opportunity (if this would in any way be a priority in your life)
to see one of the better-known Cat III actresses of the nineties.