| The images of a resigned Pauline Chan during the opening suggests something sad...wait...Johnny Wang directed this Category III drama so ah...everybody will go to hell then! Always nice to be in secure cinematic hands but Wang' "specialty" if you will was bone-crunching, intense violence and his dramatic excursions, attempting to speak of immigration issues, lies and deceit goes expectedly nowhere as there's no such confidence involved in the production. In a nutshell, Pauline Chan plays Hong, a prostitute that hooks up with ex-husband Sam (a sulky Alex Fong, pre-good acting days) who's been unwillingly drawn into a robbery scheme and is now a wanted man. Bricks keep falling on his head though as it's news to him that Hong is a hooker and Billy Chow, after fighting a nude Sophia Crawford, is out to silence Sam...
Now, I threw in the famous Sophia Crawford bit there because Escape From Brothel really thrives when its focus is on the wild, immoral sights. Electro shock torture, wild sex scenes (primarily one with Stuart Ong as a client wanting to try every position in the book), smashed in skulls, knife murders, baseball bats forced up cavites...you get the idea and while played almost completely straight, Johnny Wang only has the exploitation elements in his favour. Therefore, elements of Escape From Brothel are to be thanked for. By us in that crowd. I don't care if you know who I am. Murakami Rena co-stars as Hong's fellow hooker Ann while screenwriter Jamie Luk and William Ho also appear.
It's worth tracking down the Dutch VHS release issued by Eastern Heroes under the label 4-Bidden Asia as it contains an uncut print of the film with minor violent bits not in any other version. Their UK edition was heavily censored. |
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