Chik juk ging wan

Ival Lai's (Daughter of Darkness 1-2) Peeping Tom (1997) stars Mark Cheng as sick serial killer rapist Roy Chen Chih-Lai who not only rapes and kills his female victims, cuts off their legs as he seems to have some fetishism towards them. He does this by a handsaw and then gets rid of the rest of the body. Jade Leung (the lead actress in Stephen Shin's Black Cat, 1991) plays police detective Cheng Hsuen who gets during one spectacular shootout on the top of the killer's hunting list. She has also a sister Kelly played by Japanese Miho Nomoto and they both are cops. Michael Tse plays Jade's boyfriend and a police chief so they all are trying to capture this nasty killer on the loose.

This film suffers from things which are hard to take seriously and the script is almost laughably bad at times. HOW on earth the police cannot do anything to get the killer as they know his face and the red glasses he wears and the white van he drives, and as he appears everywhere all the time?! This kind of stupidities make me almost angry when seen on film. Also, the motives of the killer are more than ridiculous as he finally tells them to Jade. This is, in fact, pretty bad film, but as a Hong Kong cinema lover, this is little easier to sit through and watch.

The cinematography tries to be ultra stylish but fails. It is not stylish to keep the camera twisted and moving all the time. Clarence Fok's Naked Killer is stylish film because it doesn't sow these camera techniques everywhere but uses them more restrainedly and in right places to create the crazy atmosphere for the film. Peeping Tom looks occasionally nice and has some distant atmosphere or even suspense, but otherwise never achieves what it tries.

There is one very well done gun play sequence in the beginning and that's about the only really fast moment in this film. It is pretty violent and reminded me of such brutal Hong Kong classics as The Big Heat and Requital. The violence is pretty strong throughout the film, but the leg sawing at the beginning is the goriest part there is and it seems to be there just to grab the viewer's attention for the rest of the film. There's plenty of sex and nudity, too, and one amazingly long and detailed scene in which Kelly masturbates in a shower and that scene is definitely more than explicit! The film isn't too strong compared to other CAT 3 films, but it has enough nasty moments and sleaze elements to achieve the CAT 3 rating.

I can't say this is too great film, but it is much more watchable than some Daughter of Darkness 2, which is horrible example of CAT 3 junk. I give Peeping Tom 4/10 and "recommend" it for Asian buffs only.

This film is about a serial rapist/killer with a leg fetish. In one of the rape scenes, he takes his unconscious victim in his van and parks it in a busy Hong Kong street. He then goes on to undress the victim, fondles her breasts and legs, savouring the beauty of her naked body. The rape itself is done in a very exploitative manner. The rape victim, played by an absolutely gorgeous Japanese actress, is meant to be unconcious. While she is being raped, she is shown in full-frontal nudity and moans quietly. The rapist is also a very handsome man. This leaves no doubt that the director intended to maximise the titilation effect of the rape scene.

Obviously, this is not a very politically correct film. It makes rape look glamourous and sexy. Do these sort of films encourage rape fantasy or even rape ?

The movie is about a manic rapist and murderer who falls for a female police officer and stalks her and her family members. Acting of Mark Cheng who plays the role of rapists/murder is superb. Screenplay is ok. Acting of the support staff is ok. A good c grade thriller

To be honest, I really wasn't expecting much going in to THE PEEPING TOM. I have to say I was quite pleasantly surprised. This one has a bit of everything: violence, rape, gun fights, car chases, and all other sorts of Cat III goodness. The story centers around a serial killer who collects his prey's legs as trophies (after he rapes them, of course...). A female police detective and her cop boyfriend are on the sick-o's trail, and the killer starts obsessing over the female detective - and it all goes downhill from there...

There are a lot of great elements to THE PEEPING TOM. Strong sleazy rape and nudity (not to mention a protracted shower masturbation scene that's pretty hot...), some pretty strong violence (though not nearly as graphic as some of the classic Cat III nasties), excellent acting and camera-work, and some really interesting plot twists. THE PEEPING TOM is also obviously devoid of the silly humor elements that are evident in even most of the strongest titles from this genre. The only comic relief at all is from a smart-ass reporter who has a combined total of about 2 minutes of "on-camera" time. If you dig HK action/horror/drama/sleaze then I think you'll really get into this one. An excellent, straight-faced serial killer entry ... 8.5 out of 10

This is another Hong Kong movie that it got the infamous CAT III certificate, obviously the CAT III rating was given because of the rape scenes and the graphic violence and bloody images.

This was directed by Ivan Lai (director of Daughter of Darkness), the movie features some good sound design and camera work.

Obvisiouly, you want to see a CAT III flick for the sleaze and violence, well we have sleaze and lots of it, which it's most focused on the rape scenes, the rape scenes are not trying to be disturbing or disgusting, but arousing (that kind of stuff that will shock the censors).

Unfortunately, the movie doesn't go far with the gore, we just see the bloody aftermaths.

Unlike many other serial killer CAT III movies, the killer of this movie is a metro sexual, with a leg fetish.