Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #76749 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-05-22
• Rating: Unrated
• Formats: Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: Cantonese
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 88 minutes

Customer Reviews

Ain't nobody's business if you do...
Bear with me for a second while I try to explain about "Chinese Torture Chamber Story"....

This movie, along with "Holy Weapon" and "Mad Monk" to name a few, fall into the category of "China looks like it's a different world". It has many elements that are foreign to our sensibilities (even though many Hong Kong movies aim to please Western audiences), a story line that is exploitive and sexually charged (but no moreso than, say, "Barbarella"), somewhat violent (but more on the level of "gross" than "visceral") and, ultimately very funny (if you don't take it too seriously).

Confused? Don't worry, you're not alone.

Set in the curtroom of a small town, Little Cabbage and her scholar lover are accused of murdering Little Cabbage's husband by slipping a powerful aphrodesiac into his medicine (the effect of the aphrodesic cannot be said here). They protest their innocence and are alternately tortured and questioned in front of a corrupt judicial tribunal to "tell the truth". The tortures are quite graphic and account for the more serious moments of the film...

... but it's not a serious movie.

The nature of exploitation films is to make people believe that they're seeing something serious, but in actuality it's gross exaggerations and stereotypical characters mixed into a plot that can seamlessly show brutality, sex, fetishism, superpowers and kung-fu because they're all "integral" to the storyline. They turn out (mostly years after their initial release) to be dated pieces of celluloid tripe that draw cult followings... look at "Blackula" or "Cleopatra Jones" if you need an example of how this is done in America with moniority populations.

"Chinese Torture Chamber Story" is no exception. One has only to look at this title to know that. C'mon, like the word "torture" *isn't* inflammatory. Please...

Now for the confusing part: I like this film. I am one of those people who has seen this film and enjoyed it immensely. I'm sure if anyone knows anything about this film it's the famous in-flight coitus scene that can be found on the 'net for download. There are money shots that would kill people and a fabulous parody of "Ghost".

In summary, I believe that many people will find this DVD offensive. Others will find it hysterical. Still others will find it at a friend's house, borrow it and never give it back. You decide which one you are for yourself.

I'm the second and fourth types.

Torture porn done right.
It really does'nt get any better than this, I can honestly say I've never seen anthing that even comes close to the sheer brilliance of this filthy and disgusting masterpiece. It tells a complex and interesting story of blackmale and adultery while throwing in scenes of horrible torture, sex, and disgusting black comedy into one entertaining mixture of cinematic sleaze. I'd have to say my favorite scene was the acrobatic love scene with two people flying through the air like ninjas performing sexual acts on each other........I was speechless! Nothing could ever prepare you for such cinematic bliss. GO BUY THIS MOVIE NOW!!!!

Fast forward review
Well, what to make of this? In terms of sex sleaze scenes, there are a couple I suppose. The first that comes to mind is when one of the girls has her robe pulled up, her pants pulled down and gets whacked on the bootocks with paddles about the size of oars, with some nice squealing and some marks, but let's face it, there's tons of that stuff from Eastern Europe all over the internet (I don't think a lot of Czech girls get to sit down much these days), and this scene is brief. Let's see, what else . . . the old bamboo splints under the fingers bit (fully clothed), (...), but I think the device needs a re-design, and finally a rather penetrating horsy ride with nothing really showing. Oh yeah, one domestic whipping scene without much showing and then the whip breaks. Don't you hate it when that happens?

In between there's a whole lot of plot, something to do with marital infidelity and a trial before an emperor dude where some of the sleaze scenes play out (all these guys sprint into the scene with various devices when he barks) but mercifully the subtitles disappear on fast forward. Then, out of nowhere, there's a couple of interludes where a dude and a chick seem to be portraying kung fu sex warriors, including a sex battle in mid air crouching tiger style, with the dragon hidden you know where. Really weird, the babe can kung fu guys (...); whack! And the bad guy goes flying across the screen. And then there's this crazy dude with a love doll, but I don't know what that was all about, it went by pretty fast.

Tough to say, two stars? One for the few sleaze scenes, one for a fairly high NTRL (nudity to total running length) factor, (...) zero gravity sex, but a one star demotion for too much dude torture, yuch. That's it.