The Untold Story 2 (1998)

Directed by Andy Ng Yiu Kuen

Produced by Danny Lee Sau Yin

Starring Emotion Cheung Kam Ching, Paulyn Suen Kai Kwan, Anthony Wong Chau Sang, Yeung Fan, Melvin Wong Kam Sun, Jamie Luk Kim Ming, Helena Law Lan

To drag out a tired old adage, they say the female is the deadlier of the species, right? After watching Andy Ng's economic (yet fictional) sequel to Herman Yau's factual crime thriller of 1993 you would be hard pressed to see things any other way. By reversing the gender of his serial killer, and substituting the relentless onslaught of sensational graphic violence of its progenitor with an unnerving atmosphere of psychological terror, Ng has fashioned a sequel that stands comfortably alongside its originator as a somewhat deadly little sister. Fans of the original film worried that Ng's follow-up may work on a more subliminal level can breathe a sigh of relief though, as although its horrors are primarily subconscious the narrative is perforated by the prerequisite parade of gross out shock scenes. And they're about as luridly nasty as Hong Kong cinema still permits, so let's take a journey into territory where getting all that one wishes for can result in grisly consequences.

Cheung (Cheung) is a small-time restaurateur whose business gets by, but leaves him at the mercy of his attractive, though less than faithful, wife Kuen (Yeung). His best friend, police officer Sung (Wong) (affectionately nick-named Officer Lazyboots), often shares a late meal, a beer or two, and the intimacies of his floundering marriage. Beset by an unfortunate bout of impotence, Cheung helplessly looks on as Kuen flaunts her affairs in his face. News of Kuen's visiting cousin Fung (Suen) do little to quell his inner sadness, until she arrives on his doorstep. The antithesis of his nagging, promiscuous partner, Cheung finds himself uncontrollably drawn to her more conservative cousin. A chance meeting with Sung sets off alarms bells, as his police-trained intuition triggers an unease with Fung, but the shop owner ignores his initial misgivings. However, Sung's suspicions are confirmed when Fung starts exhibiting sociopathic tendencies that swiftly veer into an obsessive, disturbing love for Cheung. Murdering Kuen in grisly fashion, she soon holds Cheung captive in his own home, leaving only Sung to act upon his ever growing sense of impending fatal terror for his friend.

Although not as balls-out horrific, nor deliriously graphic, as its predecessor, Andy Ng's continuation of a theme is a fairly fitting sequel to one of the most shocking slices of Hong Kong horror yet produced. Encoring producer Danny Lee enlists the services of Andy Ng, a filmmaker whose only prior convictions had been Associate Director on Lee's "Twist" (1995) and Director on true crime drama "Operation Billionaires" (1998). However, it's a gamble that pays off particularly well as, working from a competent script by Law Kam Fai ("Doctor Lam" & "The Untold Story"), Ng instills the production with a disturbing sense of menace, crafting some lush visuals in the process. Also encoring star Anthony Wong is the film's trick card, shown in red-herring fashion on the film's theatrical poster (as well as Mei Ah's DVD sleeve), skewing audience expectation by appearing as sympathetic cop "Lazyboots" Sang. Main protagonist Emotion Cheung, a former comedian, is the film's biggest surprise as he manages to elicit a fair degree of sympathy in what is essentially a part written to be a spineless, dysfunctional cuckold. His jittery nervousness in the film's final act plays off well opposite Suen's diabolical murderess.

It is however Suen's performance that has me somewhat divided on the strengths of this film. Previously seen in either "nice-girl" parts, or playing sexy screen sirens, Suen doesn't have quite what it takes to pull off a screaming mad femme fatale. There are moments where she comes over effectively chilling, but for the most her descents into madness consist of no more than intensely bugging her already wide eyes out into the camera lens (there are a number of moments where the effect is laughable). Although her ice-cold persona in the film's raison-de-etre, a giddily gruesome dismemberment, should sufficiently send chills down your spine. Of the film's show-stopper, Yeung's dismemberment is handled with gleefully disgusting gusto, playing out WAY past an acceptable amount of screen-time, and is only topped in its excess by the gag-inducing punch-line of witnessing her barbecued remains wolfed down by unsuspecting restaurant patrons the next day. If this doesn't make you choke on your beer and pretzels, nothing will! Wong Jim's score is a fairly maudlin affair, generating only base menace by being a bit too rinky-dink keyboard driven for its own good, but at least Ko Chiu Lam's cinematography is rich and colourful. When he steers his camera into the flames under roasting human remains, capturing every sizzling rivulet of fat dripping into the fire, you can almost smell the burning flesh.

Luckily, especially for the gorehounds out there, Mei Ah's disc has turned out to be a cut above (sorry!) their usual middle-of-the-road quality. Being a newer film, the print looks suitably lustrous with strong colours, excellent definition (see aforementioned barbecue scene) and fairly good black levels. Hence, the image always looks impressive throughout, if not a tad stomach-turning in parts. The audio is presented in Dolby 2.1 (three channel) and remains clear for the bulk of the running time, however it does draw attention to the limited budget this was made on as ADR work is painfully obvious in some passages. Optional subtitles too are eminently easy to read, and fairly free of the usual errors. As for extras, there's not a lot, as usual (the film's theatrical trailer and trailers for "Chinese Erotic Ghost Story" and "Twenty Something", as well as a filmography for Anthony Wong) but there is a small surprise! Included are two brief interviews with Emotion Cheung and Paulyn Suen about their characters in the film, both are English subtitled and Paulyn ruins things for male viewers by revealing that a body double was used for her rear-view nude scene. (

In closure, if you pick up this one expecting the full throttle relentlessness of Herman Yau's original then you will definitely be sorely disappointed. The inclusion of some fairly strong sex scenes may also be a mite off-putting for the more die-hard horror buffs, as will the prerequisite Chinese goofball humour. But like some of the region's culinary delights (of which I could LIVE on), Hong Kong horror is an acquired taste that takes some getting used to. But if you're a fan of the kind of Asian horrors that I've previously covered here, then you're bound to get a big kick out of "The Untold Story 2". As a word of warning, you'll be hard pressed to stifle the giggles once Paulyn Suen goes off the rails! She's definitely one of the goofiest screen villains that Category III cinema has produced. )

Review by M.C.Thomason