Intended as a critique of the fashion and diet industries, the movie serves up a host of characters with body image issues. The main action takes place at the Friends of Fitness beauty spa, where middle-class women pay money to be underfed and have all of their flaws pointed out to them. Already unhealthily thin, one of the victims doesn't think the ordeal will be such a bad idea at first if it gives her the opportunity to shed some of those unwanted ounces. Even our hero experiences marital strain because his wife refuses to have sex with him in fear of getting pregnant and hence fat. In one of the movie's more interesting meta-cinematic scenes, we're taken onto the set and behind the scenes of the real Chinese horror film Dumplings (or a convincing facsimile of it), another tale of an unnatural fixation on youth and beauty.

Slim Till Dead is a slick, polished, and ultimately superficial thriller whose pretensions about addressing serious issues are undercut by a reliance on generic serial killer movie clichés. The picture is filled with shock cuts, "stinger" scares, and lots of gruesome flash-frame imagery. The plot of course delivers a number of requisite red herrings, all leading to the revelation of the killer as exactly the person we thought it would be when they were first introduced. Some poorly executed attempts at lowbrow humor don't help matters much. Supporting characters have names like Tin Fuk, Inspector Tit, and (I kid you not, American Idol fans) William Hung. The subplot about Inspector Wong's unsatisfying sex life is also inappropriately jokey in the most juvenile of ways. The fact that star Anthony Wong looks to have lost quite a bit of weight since the Infernal Affairs series not very long ago seems to work against the movie's message as well.

To give it some credit, the movie is efficient at what it does and is reasonably entertaining. Wong is a charismatic and appealing lead, even when given such thin material (no pun intended). It's not a great work of art, or even as good as it might have been with a little more thought and effort, but Slim Till Dead certainly isn't the worst of the Se7en imitators, and is worth a look for fans of Chinese horror movies.

Final Thoughts: Slim Till Dead may not be one of the best entries in the recent wave of Asian horror, but it gets the job done well enough to qualify as at least a rental recommendation for fans of the genre.

Teaming up again after the surprisingly adequate Colour of The Truth, this time Marco Mak takes sole directing reigns with Wong Jing steering the boat from the writer- and producing chair. The result is Slim Till Dead, a nice literal title for the crowd that needs to decide on a buy or a rental fast. As flawed and uneven as the movie is, it is equally important to point out the positives that add up to this passable thriller.

So what is Wong Jing trying to do here? Hong Kong's answer to Se7en and The Silence Of The Lambs? More like a 3rd generation xerox if you ask me. Is it all an excuse to have beautiful, young Hong Kong women strut around in skimpy outfits and bathing suits? Probably but you would be surprised how little exploitation goes on here. Finally, is Marco Mak going to take the next step up to something beyond other than decent? Sadly, Mak seems stuck in a rut but as seen proven prior, it isn't necessarily the worst thing you'll encounter.

You'all know Wong Jing, for better or worse, and with Colour of The Truth, despite some fine writing, he just couldn't stay away from goofy or comedic elements and no different with Slim Till Dead. While the subject matter surrounding the obsession with ideal weight according to social rules of today versus the humour isn't as contrasting as in Wong's Raped By An Angel series, he ever so slightly goes too far with his "comedic" aspects. It actually isn't that broad (Chapman To is thankfully absent) and mostly confined to the interaction between Anthony Wong and Sharon Tang's characters but it gets awfully loudmouthed and juvenile when the same joke (i.e. she won't have sex with him) goes on repeat. This is basically the worst crime of Wong's in the film and in a weird, self degrading touch through his minor role as Tak's superior William Hung (a reference to the talent less American Idol cult figure who also soiled Hong Kong cinema with his presence through Where is Mama's Boy?), Wong seems to poke fun at the fact that he's a hack, trying to quickly cash in. Let's all agree. So moving on to the thriller part of Slim Till Dead, much flows as expected.

Wong Jing hands Marco Mak no originality to work with and echoing classic imagery from Se7en (rain) and The Silence Of The Lambs (objects lodged in victim's mouths) only solidifies the recycled elements that Wong has peppered his script with. One should expect that this is about as best as we see him do, even though Colour of The Truth had unexpected amounts of character written into it, but Slim Till Dead represents nothing more than a quick thrill fix for Wong Jing and his audience (not a whole lot of box-office returns came with this one though). Effort is secondary but where the actual effort lies is in Anthony's and Sharon's characters. Through performances, this becomes an amusing, mostly bearable double act that also brings out a worthwhile serious aura as tragedy may tear them apart. Anthony and Sharon also has an easy going, genuine chemistry that despite working with most familiar plot devices in the book, becomes a memorable section of Slim Till Dead alongside Marco Mak's visual style. Most of the remaining character gallery are types, cardboard cut outs and frankly a waste of celluloid but you wouldn't have a feature without some puppets thrown in, including the young cop character Raymond Wong plays. He wasn't memorable as a lead in Colour of The Truth and is still not progressing either. Thankfully, he's relegated mostly to support here as per his early days in Johnnie To's movies at Milkyway.

Looking at Marco Mak's directing, he takes the bad parts of Wong's script and spices it up as best he can with quick cut visuals while correctly calming down for the character moments that work on paper. The former choice does seem like a lazy filmmaking choice doesn't it but Mak once again showcases his skill for involving through weird cinematography choices, distorted visuals and audio. As Slim Till Dead progresses, Mak amps tension through all this nicely and it importantly becomes a driving force for this diversion to end up as passable.

It's once again much thanks to Anthony Wong's presence that 90 minutes doesn't feel like the double amount. Almost always amusing when in goofball mode, Wong brings Tak's familiar arc to acceptable acting grounds. You know that his dark past surrounding an accidental shooting is going to come back to haunt him in a final mental showdown but Wong makes very much good use of the material through his experience. It even becomes rather touching when this past event is featured and when the movie later kicks into high melodrama for a moment, it's again a testament to Wong's skills that the audience tears up as well. His co-star Sharon Tang is a revelation also, displaying strong feminine strength and smartness (a first for a Wong Jing film?) all up till the end confrontation with the killer though. Sad.

Cherrie Ying gets no chance to build much on the decently favorably impression she made in Throw Down. While she isn't memorable, the way Mak infuses her into some of the more wilder visual compositions is engaging and I guess that requires a small amount from the acting side as well. Crystal Tin is also one of the few to register favorably outside of the stars as a model doing Muay Thai but when captured, she displays eerie character acting. A model stuck way into her world and even more disturbingly so when faced with death. She is also the object of a parody of Fruit Chan's Dumplings.

Slim Till Dead sees Marco Mak still running back and forth on the decent track of filmmaking. With Wong Jing's unusually competent script (meaning wildly uneven), he logs a fairly memorable visual ride with only hints at grisly exploitation considering the plot. "Borrowing" heavily from known serial killer thrillers, that is something creator Wong Jing very much knows and Slim Till Dead won't restore people's of faith in Hong Kong cinema either. When the final product reaches passable however, that grade deserves to be highlighted.

In the movie, Anthony Wong plays a shell-shocked cop named Tin who can't even get laid by his wife (Sharon Tang). Despite his sad-sack life, he still has high hopes that he will be promoted, if simply for the fact that he is the oldest member of his squad. However, his dreams are shattered when a newcomer named William Hung (yes, Wong Jing plays a character named William Hung -- that should give you an idea of how stupid some of the jokes in this movie are) takes over the squad. Things go from bad to worse when a serial killer starts attacking models, forcing them to starve (or lose weight by simply cutting off parts of their bodies) until they are seventy pounds. After a few models get killed, Tin's superiors take him off the case, but he continues on in order to save face and gain redemption for the incident which caused his problems in the first place.

Like most films involving Wong Jing, Slim Till Dead veers all over the map. Director Marco Mak tries to keep things on the straight-and-narrow, but with a script that goes from broad comedy in one scene to gory horror in another, it's like trying to steer a plane that only has one wing. Case in point: one scene has Tin and his cop buddies looking at a creepy emaciated corpse and the next is a parody of Three Extremes: Dumplings (perhaps a dig at Miriam Yeung?). Wong Jing has long been known for this kind of style and can usually pull it off, but the problem with Slim Till Dead is that it never goes for the jugular. It always seems to try and play it safe, which only serves to emphasize how idiotic the attempts at comedy are.

Still, don't get the idea that Slim Till Dead is a bad movie. Despite its' problems (which include yet another "just for the paycheck" performance by Anthony Wong) Slim Till Dead is a pretty solid thriller that should please most fans of the genre. And -- as you might expect from a Wong Jing project -- there's lots of nice eye candy from the pretty actresses, so at least the guys out there will have something to hold their interest. Those viewers out there looking for serious or thought-provoking fare will most likely be disappointed with Slim Till Dead, but, then again, you probably shouldn't be expecting that from a Wong Jing film anyway.