A Chinese Torture Chamber Story

A Chinese TORTURE CHAMBER STORY isn't a great film by any stretch, but it sure has some fun stuff going on... Long and short: a woman goes to work for a rich guy, the rich guy's wife gets jealous that her man is constantly eye-ballin' the hired help, and the wife decides to murder the servants husband and pin it on her husband and the servant-girl. The servant-girl's husband is known around town for having a big donkey-cock, and decides to slip an aphrodesiac in this poor cats medicine, causing his penis to explode (believe me, I couldn't make this sh!!t up if I tried...). Anyway, all goes according to plan until some of the other hired help rat the rich-guy's wife and her lover out.

The torture scenes are relatively tame if your used to this sort of thing, and the sex scenes aren't explicit compared to porn - but there are some truly funny and original things going on in A Chinese TORTURE CHAMBER STORY. The aerial-acrobatic-kung-fu-sex-submission and the invisible-stalker-man-in-the-middle-blow-job scenes were worth the price of admission on this one (not to mention the exploding-penis-hand-job...). The whole film is handled pretty tongue-in-cheek, so the f'ed up subject matter is a little easier to "swallow"...Definitely worth a look - 8/10

My favorite part of this bizarre movie, aside from the graphic violence and sex, was the poorly translated and wholly inappropriate sub-titling. The entire film already had me precariously balanced between disgust and hilarity, but the way they presented some of the dialogue pushed me over the edge into falling-out-of-my-chair laughter. What sticks in my mind the most (apart from the exploding phallus and aerodynamic coitus) was a scene where a woman in the midst of seriously pounding and fairly graphic sex moans something that was translated as "So comfortable... so comfortable..."

When I got this movie I assumed by the title that it would be ALL about torture. This is not the case. Within all the comedic scenes with the kung-fu sexaholics and the invisible guy, I did find satisfaction in knowing that the two main characters did seem to love each other. As I was sitting there watching, I thought, "Oh, what a horrible movie." I am a huge fan of the actress Gong Li (who does not appear in this movie) but a new interest has sparked within me for the young Yvonne Yung. I will be looking up some more of her movies. As far as a recommendation for you, I would say, it's twisted, funny & weird with lots of titties. If you can stomach that kind of stuff, then you should be able to get through this. Yvonne Yung makes it worth the watch. Beware: It's subtitled, so pay attention!

The title says it all.

A woman is accused of the murder of her husband. In order to extract a confession the court subjects her to a series of violent methods of torture. Most of the story is told in flash backs, recounting how the story leads to the ultimate gory death of her poor husband (his penis explodes). Along the way we found out about sexual martial artists, lesbian frolicking, adultery, lost love, back stabbing and a very potent aphrodisiac.

The torture scenes are appropriately brutal, but generally short. There is nudity aplenty and some sex, but it never gets excessively graphic. Also there is an odd unbalance of dead serious scenes and goof-ball humor; half the film is comedy. Genre fans familiar with exploitive flicks will likely find this a tad prodding and slow, all others will sit slack jawed muttering "what the hell..."

It may be a little too violent for some viewers and not sexed-up enough for others, but those willing to take a shot might enjoy it. Maybe...

5/10

As a native Cantonese speaker, I found this film hilarious with its over the top depiction of Qing dynasty court procedure, Taoist sexual practices and Confucian moralizing.

I have watched this film with some Chinese people who were very westernized or Chinese who were very uptight. They were offended as much as some Western viewers. Other Chinese have found it just as funny as I did.

There is a lot of very fine dialogue that unless you are a Cantonese speaker you cannot appreciate it. The acting is modern and naturalistic. It does not appear stylized or affected in a manner that a historical costume drama would suggest.

The voice over narration at the beginning and end of the film was also hilarious in putting a pseudo scholarly & historical tone to the proceedings.

This is a must see if you have any serious interest in Hong Kong films. Top notch entertainment if you are into this stuff. 10/10