Chinese Torture Chamber Story 1 & 2, A (Blu-ray Review)

Reviewed by: Stephen Bjork
Review Date: Aug 16, 2024
Format: Blu-ray Disc

Director

Bosco Lam/Kin-Nam Cho

Release Date(s)

1994/1998 (August 27, 2024)

Studio(s)

Wong Jing’s Workshop Ltd./Golden Harvest (Vinegar Syndrome)

Film/Program Grade: See Below
Video Grade: See Below
Audio Grade: See Below
Extras Grade: B+
Overall Grade: B+

Review

Since it’s nearly impossible to discuss A Chinese Torture Chamber Story without mentioning Hong Kong’s Category III classification, a brief digression is in order. For all of the furor over the frequently arbitrary nature of the MPAA rating system, there’s still a gulf between this kind of de facto censorship and the real thing. Standards change as society changes, but America has still only traded in one privately operated ratings system for another. Hong Kong, on the other hand, operated under full governmental censorship until 1988, when their own classification system was established. Category III was the most restrictive of the new ratings, essentially the equivalent of the original X rating that the MPAA eventually discontinued in favor of NC-17. Category III films were still softcore, but with the sex and violence dialed up such a level that no one under the age of 18 was allowed to view them.

Enter a group of exploitation filmmakers who recognized one immutable constant in the known universe: sex and violence sells, while extreme sex and violence can sometimes sell even better. One such filmmaker was the notorious Wong Jing, whose motto has always been to give the people what they want. Wong is a prolific writer, director, and producer who has worked with everyone from the Shaw Brothers to Stephen Chow. While he didn’t spend much time directly behind the camera on Category III projects, he produced a number of them under the banner of his own production companies. He usually turned the directorial reins over to others, but he was still the driving force behind a variety of films designed to capitalize on the relative freedom of the Category III rating.

The Chinese Torture Chamber Story films were based oh-so-loosely on real historical events, but that was really just an excuse to provide a respectable period veneer to paper over the otherwise disreputable shenanigans. Director Bosco Lam’s A Chinese Torture Chamber Story (aka Moon ching sap dai huk ying) was based on a famous Qing Dynasty court case that took place during the nineteenth century: the tragic tale of Yeung Nai-mo and Little Cabbage, which has been adapted many different times in a variety of media. The convoluted plot of this version is filled with conspiracies and betrayal, with the falsely accused Little Cabbage (Yvonne Hung Yung) and the scholar Yeung Nai-mo (Lawrence Ng) being forced to endure the literal tortures of the damned before the conspiracies unravel and the true guilty parties are brought to justice. A Chinese Torture Chamber Story also stars Mai Ching, Elvis Tsui, Julie Lee, Tommy Wong, and Siu-Kay Lee.

A Chinese Torture Chamber Story puts the extreme in extremity, with its sights and sounds including (but not limited to): castration; skinning alive; fingernail pulling; death by penile explosion (don’t ask); an oversized wooden dildo in action; invisible molestation; cartoonish, exaggerated money shots; and a wuxia-style wirework sex scene in the forest (there’s nothing either crouching or hidden about this particular tiger and dragon). There’s even a novel form of capital punishment that involves being raped to death by a Sybian-saddled wooden donkey. Needless to say, A Chinese Torture Chamber Story won’t be for all tastes. Yet everything is so outrageous and over-the-top that there’s a decidedly comic edge to the proceedings. The tone veers wildly, but taken as a whole, there’s a shred of wit on display amid all of the violence, depravity, and degradation—Category III or not, this is no Man Behind the Sun.

That’s less true of director Dick Cho’s sequel A Chinese Torture Chamber Story 2 (aka Moon ching sap dai huk ying: Chik loh ling chi), which dispenses with all of the wit in favor of genuinely mean-spirited cruelty. The story this time was inspired by another nineteenth century Qing Dynasty tale, the assassination of Ma Xinyi. The plot is more overtly political than the previous installment, with the falsely accused suffering an even worse fate, and while justice is eventually served, it’s at far too great of a cost. A Chinese Torture Chamber Story 2 stars Yolinda Yam, Mark Cheng, Wai-Kin Lam, Fan Yeung, and Hsiung Yang, all of whom end up being the worse for wear by the end.

A Chinese Torture Chamber Story 2 feels more padded out that its predecessor, but once the wheels of the plot are set in motion, it offers its own contributions to the extremity of Category III films. The wooden dildo has been replaced by a red-hot metal one instead; breasts are cut off; and there’s the inevitably tongue-ripping (all torture porn has to get to tongue-ripping sooner or later). The biggest issue isn’t necessarily the lack of wit, but rather that all of the depravity lacks the warped sense of karma that the first film had. In that case, innocents were tortured and abused, but they survived, and those who were responsible for it suffered an appropriate fate. The ending offered a modicum of hope for the future. There’s no such hope at the end of A Chinese Torture Chamber Story 2, and the only victory that it offers is a Pyrrhic one. The guilty party is punished, but far too late for those who were falsely accused. Neither one of these films will be for all tastes, but be forewarned that the nihilism of the second installment makes it a genuinely grim and unpleasant experience.

Cinematographers Kin-Fai Mau and Chung-Yuan Chen shot each installment of A Chinese Torture Chamber Story on 35mm film using spherical lenses, framed at 1.85:1 for their theatrical releases. These versions are based on 2k scans from the original camera negatives, although there’s a caveat about that in the case of the first film. It has speckling, minor blemishes, and small scratches throughout, but there are a few shots that appear to have been derived from later generation dupe elements with burned-in subtitles. Those shots suffer from instability and frame jumps. (The closing credits also suffer from some instability.) Otherwise, the colors, contrast, and black levels are all quite good. The second film is cleaner with much less speckling and blemishes, but it does have a few major scratches instead. Overall, it looks better than the first film, but there’s a trade-off in the form of colors that are less saturated. The brighter colors of the first film give it more of appealing comic book quality, while the second one looks more muted in comparison. On the other hand, that probably suits the grimmer nature of the story. (Note that the closing titles for the second film appear to be upscaled from a standard definition video source with combing and/or interlacing artifacts visible.)

Audio on A Chinese Torture Chamber Story is offered in Cantonese 1.0 mono DTS-HD Master Audio with removable English subtitles, and English dubbed 1.0 mono DTS-HD Master Audio with optional English SDH subtitles. The audio for A Chinese Torture Chamber Story 2 includes Cantonese and Mandarin dubbed 1.0 DTS-HD Master Audio, in both cases with the same optional English subtitles. On both films, the sound quality for the Cantonese tracks is pretty similar, with minimal noise or other defects and dialogue that tends to sound a bit harsh at times, but it’s otherwise clear.

A CHINESE TORTURE CHAMBER STORY (FILM/VIDEO/AUDIO): C/B-/B
A CHINESE TORTURE CHAMBER STORY 2 (FILM/VIDEO/AUDIO): C-/B/B

Vinegar Syndrome’s Blu-ray release of A Chinese Torture Chamber 1 & 2 is a two-disc set that includes each installment on a separate disc. The insert is reversible, featuring alternate artwork on each side, and there’s a 20-page booklet with an invaluable essay by Grady Hendrix. There’s also spot gloss slipcover designed by Chris Barnes that’s available directly from Vinegar Syndrome, limited to 6000 units. The following extras are included:

DISC ONE: A CHINESE TORTURE CHAMBER STORY

Audio Commentary with Samm Deighan
Mandarin Language Version of A Chinese Torture Chamber Story (HD – 92:19)

The commentary for the first film features author and film historian Samm Deighan, who says that she’s very excited to discuss A Chinese Torture Chamber Story. That’s because it delivers the gore effects while engaging in satire, melodrama, romance, intrigue, and genuine eroticism. Deighan explores the historical context of A Chinese Torture Chamber Story, both in terms of its production and the period details that it presents. She offers some context for Category III films in general, describing it as being as much of a genre as it is a rating. Deighan covers the cast and crew as well, giving director Bosco Lam his due, and she also breaks down Wong Jing’s career.

The Mandarin language version of A Chinese Torture Chamber Story doesn’t just offer alternate dubbing; it’s a different cut of the film. The total running times may vary by less than a minute, but each version has footage that the other one doesn’t, so the differences span more like five minutes of run time. The Mandarin version abbreviates the strongest moments of sex and violence—for example, the money shots are still there, but they’re reduced to a fleeting glimpse. Yet it also adds a significant scene that’s missing from the Cantonese version: a flashback to Little Cabbage as a child, showing her undergoing the torturous foot-binding process that led to her having such tiny feet. Strangely enough, for all of the cuts to the sex and violence, this scene also includes a moment where Little Cabbage observes a neighbor boy being turned into a eunuch. Cartoonish money shots were apparently a bridge too far for Mandarin language audiences, but underage frontal nudity was just fine.

The audio for this version is Mandarin 1.0 mono DTS-HD Master Audio with optional English subtitles. Note that they may not play by default; I had to manually select them.

DISC TWO: A CHINESE TORTURE CHAMBER STORY 2

Audio Commentary with Frank Djeng
Interview with Wong Jing (HD – 5:20)
The Cat III Films of Wong Jing (HD – 17:31)
Titillating Torture (HD & Upscaled SD – 17:58)
Trailers:
- A Chinese Torture Chamber Story 1 (English) (HD – 1:55)
- A Chinese Torture Chamber Story 1 (Cantonese) (HD – 2:05)
- A Chinese Torture Chamber Story 2 (Cantonese) (HD – 2:15)
English Title Sequence: A Chinese Torture Chamber Story 1 (HD – 1:08)

Asian cinema expert and professional speed talker Frank Djeng is on hand to provide the commentary for A Chinese Torture Chamber Story 2. It’s one of his typically fast-paced tracks that’s dense with information—you have to pay attention in order to keep up with him. He provides a wealth of details about the film and the history of the Category III rating. He goes into depth about all of the major cast and crew members, and doesn’t spare all the gory details of the real-life tortures that were committed during the Qing Dynasty. Djeng feels that A Chinese Torture Chamber Story 2 is better than the first film because it’s a more coherent and consistent period drama, with none of the wild and wooly nature of its predecessor, but he admits that the ultra-seriousness makes the torture scenes harder to watch.

The rest of the extras consist of interviews, video essays, trailers, and an alternate title sequence. The Interview with Wong Jing presents the maverick filmmaker describing his cinematic philosophy and explaining the way that he recalibrated himself all throughout his career, with an emphasis on his move into Category III. The Cat III Films of Wong Jing is a visual essay by Justin Delacroix of The Important Cinema Club. Contrary to Samm Deighan, he emphasizes that Category III is just a rating, not a genre, and he provides a brief overview of it before going through the Category III films of Wong Jing. Titillating Torture is a video essay by film historian Erica Schulz, who breaks down the real tortures during the Qing Dynasty and the way that they’re portrayed on film in the Chinese Torture Chamber Story films. Finally, the English Title Sequence is the alternate titles for the English-dubbed version of the film.

Considering that neither of these films has previously been available in high definition, never mind the fact that they’ve never had any special features of any kind, to say that Vinegar Syndrome’s Blu-ray release is a massive upgrade would be an equally massive understatement. Whether or not that’s a good thing will be a matter of taste, but there’s no getting around the fact that this is as definitive a release of the Chinese Torture Chamber Story saga as we’re ever going to get.

- Stephen Bjork

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