Human Pork Chop

Now needless to say, I walked into this film blind. I didn't know what to expect, just felt like a gamble with some more HK category three horror 'entertainment'. Nice title, freaky cover image - but the film was nothing like what I expected to see!

Seemingly based on a true story (well aren't they all!), 'Human Pork Chop' is the brutal and tragic story of a young drug addicted mother/prostitute who truly does fall in with the wrong crowd. A victim of her situation, the young woman in desperation steals some money from a greedy pimp who one of her 'so-called' friends introduces her to. Said pimp soon realises that it's her that has stolen his money and along with some of his equally sadistic chums they lure her to his sleazy den where they hold her in captivity and put her through some of the most demeaning and brutal ordeals that no person should have to endure.

Harrowing and tragic, 'Human Pork Chop' is to the modern genre viewer what 'Last House on the Left' was to the 1970's, except here there is no revenge scenario, just the the bleak vision of the lowest edge of society. The film throughout is a catalogue of misery for the victim and a harrowingly insightful look at the 'pack' mentality of the degenerates that inhabit the underbelly of crime.

The film doesn't hold back in delivering the blows in this sordid piece (though cleverly much of the brutality is edited together to not overdo the visual graphic nature without losing impact) and is testomy to the sturdy job that the director has delivered. Same too can be said for the small cast who perform brilliantly delivering an intense performance throughout (especially our tragic lead victim).

The true life story that this movie is based on incidentally has been covered by two movie versions from the East. There is this one and also the derisory 'Secret in my Soup'. Of the two, 'Human Pork Chop' is definetely the one to go for. While 'Pork Chop' maintains a grim straight faced interpretation, 'Soup' as well as being the lowest form of exploitation (and a dull one at that), it is a very poor presentation of this harrowing tale.

This region free disc from Winson Entertainment is decent enough a release also. The widescreen print is reasonable, pretty much the usual NTSC transfer, with some grain showing in dark scenes. There's the usual optional audio and subtitles on offer (English and Chinese). Oddly, although there is a selection of trailers included, one for the film itself isn't one of them!

A grim experience but a great film also. Well worth checking out!