Well, here it is, the one you've all been waiting for. The kookiest movie title in Hong Kong movie history finally gets a little love.

According to the semi-review over at Yesasia, this movie (directed by Chan Siu-chuen) was supposedly the debut of Taiwanese pop singer Eric Suen, whose face appears the largest on the sleeve below, and who's listed in the DB as Eric Sung. Searching this spelling on the web brings back next to nothing, while searching Eric Suen brings back a ton of websites, so I think his listing should be updated to reflect the accepted spelling of his name, with Sung as an alias perhaps.

As to the movie itself, it's should come as no surprise that Eric was not asked to contribute a pop ditty to the soundtrack, as the filmmakers had already secured contributions from friggin' Aerosmith, Madonna, and Guns N' Roses! And I'm not talking some instrumental cover versions or b-lister knockoffs. I'm talking about the real deals. The Aerosmith tune, "What Kind Of Love Are You On" was previously featured on the soundtrack to Michael Bay's ARMAGEDDON, while Madonna's BUENOS AIRES comes from her film EVITA, and the G'N'R track, well, I still haven't been able to ID that one just yet. No doubt we've all seen our fair share of Hong Kong movies blatantly appropriating the instrumental scores of usual suspects like Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner and Alan Silvestri, or perhaps having a lesser-light HK star portray a nightclub singer warbling a cover version of a fondly recalled pop standard, but THIS takes things to a whole new level of balls!

But the music theft doesn't stop there, in addition to the usual lifted cues from instrumental scores, the freaking spicy killer of the title—a deranged former plastic surgeon turned serial killer who sets his sites on cokehead PR girl Daisy Woo—knifes his first on-screen victim to Bernard Herrmann's ACTUAL score from the shower scene in PSYCHO! Nice.

All in all, a pretty dumb movie, but made, as so many of these low-budget efforts are, with a sense of earnestness that overshadows gunfights that wouldn't look out of place on an episode of POLICE SQUAD! and other such nincompoopery.

Anyways, here's the swag. I couldn't get the first disc (as usual) to load in my laptop, so the back sleeve scan is a little larger as it has most of the main credits on it:






Miki Lee


Miki Lee


Waise Lee


Daisy Woo


William Ho


Eric Suen


????? (plays the Freaking Spicy Killer - not a spoiler)


Miki Lee, widescreen


????? (Cop)


????? (Cop)


????? (Cop) Same guy as above, but different angle for IDing


????? (one of William Ho's henchmen)


????? (one of William Ho's henchmen)


Miki Lee, Daisy Woo


?????, Waise Lee and ?????
(mainly posted this one because I just LOVE it whenever someone yells this line in a Hong Kong movie. One of the rare instances when I will shamelessly mimic an accent! )


CLOSING CREDITS

Added movie. Added VCD cover, posterized. Added director and 5 cast members. Added 15 images.

http://www.hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=12065

Note: Some places list this as a 2004 release.

Yeah, the release date is somewhat arguable. I've seen some of the sites that credit it as a 2004 release, but I'm certain I've seen that VCD floating around a bit longer than that, which is why I tried to find a site that suggested differently, and came up with YesAsia's listing, which claims the VCD was actually released in November, 2001.

http://global.yesasia.com/en/PrdDept.as ... 001819473/

plus another site lists 2000
http://www.mtime.com/movie/45985/

I suspect folks claiming a 2004 production simply may not have seen the movie until then and assumed it was newer.

The stolen music in this pre-dates 2000 as well, though I realize that doesn't necessarily prove anything, I'd think producers with stones big enough to rip off such high-profile music would surely have found newer pieces had they made the movie in 2004.

My best guess would be that it's a 2000 production that simply sat on the shelf for a time because it's very, very average.

Brian Thibodeau wrote:... but I'm certain I've seen that VCD floating around a bit longer than that ...

I second that. I had this as a VCD some time before 2004 if I'm correct. A production year of 2000 / 2001 seems more likely to me as well.

I owned/saw the movie well before 2004. 2002 at the latest, I think.

according to your credits the director is not 陳少川 Chan Siu-Chuen but 陳木川 Chan Muk-Chuen. Changed.

also added prod., pres., prod. man., plan., writer, action dir., assist. dir., continuity, phot., mus., ed., art dir., makeup, gaffers, sound and 10 actors more.

Wow, who'd ever have thought this title would get such a thorough treatment!

Matched Lee Kit-shing to his photo. He IS the Freaking Spicy Killer! I wonder if he's ever capitalized on that?

according to your credits the director is not ??? Chan Siu-Chuen but ??? Chan Muk-Chuen

Well, now Aerosmith can at last put a face to the man who ripped them off! I'm sure they've been dying to know!

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And I still think Eric SUNG should be changed to Eric SUEN, with Sung becoming an alias at best. From what I can see online (where virtually every site that mentions him spells his name SUEN) he's got a fairly large fanbase, but if they were to search for him here under that spelling, they'd get nothing... His name's even spelled this way on his CDs.
http://us.yesasia.com/en/ImageGallery.a ... #selection


.

You are right. Changed.