I didn't finish that last sentence since I just ate dinner. Over dinner, however, the name Ming Ming came to me. I could easily check it out on the web, however, I'm going to live on the edge and just assert that Ming Ming is in fact her name. I'll find out the truth some day.

Red to Kill is a well known classic in the CAT III genre. It has most of the markings of a CAT III production, but a few distinct ones. Where movies like Dr. Lamb and The Untold Story use low brow, silly, and downright juvenile humor in a way that usually clashes with the mood of horror or shock, Red to Kill actually uses humor in quite an effective way. The humor revolves around the residents of a facility for the mentally challenged, but instead of making fun of them, it makes them (including Ming Ming) more endearing to us the viewer. So instead of badly placed buffoonery to break up the grimness of the tale, we have instead a tool that works with and enhances the story.

How? I don't mean to imply that Red to Kill is on higher moral ground than other CAT III films. It is about a serial rapist/murderer (who doesn't like red - get it?) running amok and being nasty. But the movie can't help but be more powerful for letting us get to know, at least a little, the humanity the victim(s). Ming Ming becomes a character we actually care about and root for, instead of a nameless victim.

Don't worry, you'll get your fix of over the top shock and blood and violence. You just get a few heart strings tugged at as well. I was actually quite surprised at how moving the ending was.

Ming Ming is taken to a home for the mentally challenged by a female social worker who remains a supporting character throughout the film. Above and beyond the call of duty, I would say. Upon Ming Ming's (I really hope that's her name!) arrival, the neighbors in the community are in a mob-like state due to the discovery of dead young woman who has been murdered and raped (the film's opening sequence). The mob is highly suspicious of the mentally challenged persons and believes that the killer is among them. Ming Ming's social worker helps to settle things down and gets Ming Ming settled in.

Now I probably don't have to say much more than that Ming Ming loves to dance, and one suspicious character notices her red panties showing under her skirt. Later Ming Ming performs her dance for the other residents in a RED DRESS. Do you smell trouble?

Red to Kill goes too far, is too violent, and in the use of the innocent Ming Ming as a victim, is far too exploitive. And that's all as it should be. What shouldn't be is the aforementioned heart that the film shows. How to reconcile this discrepancy? Don't. Just take it for what it is. A twisted CAT III tale that tries to mix eroticism and violence, as is the norm, but also tries to make you care.

WARNING: I've read very cautious reviews that talk about how hard it is to watch Ming Ming being raped, and how sad it is to watch her try to clean herself, crying in the shower. I agree, but I think if you are going to watch CAT III crap, then why not feel bad for the victim. Just like they were a human being.

DO NOT BUY THIS FILM IF: You are looking for something romantic to watch with the spouse; you are looking for anything to watch with the spouse; you don't have a spouse, but would like one, and one who doesn't like people who like exploitive shock movies; or you HAD a spouse, but the last time you saw her she was wearing a red dress, dancing, and, for some strange reason, that red dress really pissed you off. That's not funny, by the way.

RECOMMENDATION: This is heavy stuff, only for those who like heavy stuff. There is violence, rape, nudity, blood, and injustice. If you like CAT III, I recommend Red to Kill.

To say you like this film will spark a whole array of reactions. To say you find it enjoyable will also. Think of this, there are countless classics of cinema with content far from enjoyable but what they're judged by is the quality of filmmaking. Same should be done with Red To Kill,coming from an industry that has played around quite a bit with strong, graphic imagery. The Category III rating have allowed filmmakers to stretch the limits quite a bit but from what I've seen, nothing has come to close to the intensity in Red To Kill.

Social worker Ka Lok (Money Lo from Brother Of Darkness) is on the brink of resigning due to loss of confidence in her line of work. Along comes the case of Ming Ming (Lily Chung from Daughter Of Darkness) though whose father has been killed in a car accident. Ming Ming has the mind of a 10 year old and is transferred to a hostel for retarded people, run by Chan (Ben Ng from Daughter Of Darkness II). Chan is an inspiration for Ming Ming as well as Ka Lok but underneath the friendly surface, there lies a beast of unparalleled proportions. There have been a series or rape-murders and one night, after Ming Ming wins a dance competition, Chan can't hold back his evil side anymore. He rapes Ming Ming but the justice system can't hold on to him due to her being too frightened to fully testify. Chan is let out and only way to stop him is to lure him in towards red...

Starting out with a plot that shares similarities with The Lunatics, Tang gives us a bleak look at a Hong Kong where even the welfare workers have given up. Even with the opening and very graphic rape by our, at this point, unknown beast rapist, there's positivity in the way we see Ka Lok achieving good things in the handling of Ming Ming. Obviously there's horror to come which in itself brings an certain feeling of unease, especially since the rape scene seen prior is strong in every sense of the word. Trust me, nothing in terms of that is titillating though. Tang talks about how easy the blame can be put on retarded people when they're closely connected to a crime spree of this sort (living in the same building) but also with that comes the fact that there are such tendencies in them actually (as seen in what turns out to be a very funny scene involving footballs). The twist that it's the apparent normal man that is behind the rapes works reasonably well and that is what I can say about Red to Kill as a whole because it doesn't become better than that. Much has to do with the actual valid over the top nature of the film that still lessens the overall effect.

We get a sense of the beast in hiding during the opening minutes of the film. The heavy breathing, close up of sweat and muscles is a fairly effective way of establishing him. It also works as way to make sure that there's nothing redeeming about the acts to follow. I will always applaud Tang for not using the established flashback structure of Cat III films (after Dr. Lamb that is) but he would've done himself a small favour if he had stopped for a minute and stripped some of the intensive layers off. Filter the intensity if you will. When we slowly reveal the fact that mild mannered Chan is the rapist of the film, we quickly get the backstory behind his madness; one of a childhood trauma connected to the colour red, an explanation that isn't particularly fresh. On the other hand, this era of Cat III wasn't concerned with being classy. Therefore there was laziness on display in terms of character motivations and backdrop so even if screenwriter Wong Ho Wa's backstory of Chan is familiar to a degree, it is actually a bit more deeper than anything other directors did for instance. One other thing is that the way Chan's insanity manifests itself can sometimes be almost comically intense. I don't see any big fault in it though. The human mind works in different ways and go in many directions, big or small so his particular way of insanity in my mind doesn't feel wrong as such. There is that balance between so called praising and criticism you may feel I walk here which is true. Billy Tang's Dr.Lamb (co-directed with Danny Lee) also featured a less classy character background that also generated a certain extreme level of madness. It worked in parts for that film because of an effective atmosphere alongside with Simon Yam's performance.

What is clear though is that no matter how many hardships Chan went through and the small inner conflict that tells him not to rape, there's nothing sympathetic about him. It's pure, intense evil that deserves no place on earth which leads me to discussing two scenes. One that is probably the one scene in Cat III films that truly made me uncomfortable and one that is actually one of the worst to an extent in the film. The big rape scene of Lily Chung's character by Ben Ng is so relentlessly in your face and hurts like hell while Tang in the midst of all this adds further layers to Chan's insanity. He actually thinks he does this out of love which suitably makes the audiences hatred build even more. This sequence isn't over till its over and carries over to the aftermath scene with Lily Chung in the shower. We see her as a character not really knowing what has happened to her except that it hurts and boy does this affect us even more (this is also a tour de force moment for Lily Chung). We've of course grown to like Ming Ming and seeing her crushed, to say the least, is extremely harrowing. That worst scene I talked about I'll briefly discuss. There's a subsequent courtroom scene that falters a bit due to some unrealistic circumstances in terms of one witness interrogation. It purely written so that the movie can actually continue for another 30 minutes and not anchored in any reality in my mind. Not to go into scene to scene explanation but the finale is quite something. It does suffer a bit from being way over the top, almost becomes surreal in its relentlessness, but the intensity conveyed by the filmmakers and the dedication from the cast is unlike anything you ever thought existed in Hong Kong cinema.

Behind the scenes, as usual, we find cinematographer Tony Mau and composer Jonathan Wong. Tony provides moody cinematography with emphasis on blue which lends itself to a suiting grim mood (he has great fun with the red that appears just everywhere in the film also). Wong's score, as heard in other movies, is mostly synthesizer based and also as heard prior, it can be hit and miss within the same film. The majority of the scenes benefit from his work and adds to the direction and cinematography nicely. At other times he's overscoring moments and scenes. Also HE could've stripped down some of the layers in his work.

Say what you want about the flaws in terms of intensity but Ben Ng being in tune with that generates an amazingly memorable performance. He looks eerily like Jet Li at times and his switching between mild mannerism and all out psycho is, for the genre, work worthy of kudos. Lily Chung, a familiar face and body to the Cat III genre, has always shown dedication and an uncanny ability to radiate sympathy, as she's many times a victim of different circumstances. She is held back in her childlike acting and it doesn't need to be anything more than that. In terms of the sympathy mentioned, the audiences is subjected to the horror towards her as well and Lily Chung, while on the receiving end, communicates so well what her scared mind is going through for most of the film. She's underrated and maybe she won't do as well in lighter films, it remains for me to see. It's a shame that Cat III like Red To Kill rarely gets addressed at awards ceremonies (The Untold Story and Remains Of A Woman are two exceptions though) since Lily Chung's performance here I believe should've been acknowledged.

Time ran out for Category III and this was really Billy Tang's last of them. Run And Kill remains his overall most successful movie but both this and Brother Of Darkness makes for three strong viewings for the genre aficionados (and maybe a small band of curious ones). Red To Kill subject matter isn't something you'll like or enjoy but despite missteps along the way, Billy Tang's piece of backside Hong Kong cinema is truly one of a kind. It will hurt however.

In the world of Category III movies, it takes a lot to shock regular viewers of the genre. Apparently, this movie has pressed a few buttons. Even Asian Cult Cinema author Tom Weisser (who normally seems to have an obsession with these "roughies") said in his review of the film "Red to Kill is excessively grim, salacious, vile, offensive and sleazy." I will agree that there is a lot to take issue with in the movie, including several graphic rape scenes (some involving a semi-retarded girl played by Chung), necrophilia, a woman cutting her genitals with a straight razor, and just unrelenting and very gory violence.

However, at its' core, Red to Kill is a very effective horror/exploitation movie for a few reasons. First, the movie has a very ominous look to it -- full of dark blues and cast shadows -- which gives the viewer a spooky feeling throughout the movie. Secondly, the brutality in the film works. It's graphic, it's intense...it will scare the hell out of or, at the very least, disgust you. This movie's scenes stuck in my mind, unlike many others in the genre (both in HK and elsewhere) which blend together after a while. And finally, one cannot understate the power of the acting in this movie. Acting in genre films tends to usually get overlooked in favor of blood and sex, but here director "Bloody" Billy Tang manages to get some good performances out of his actors.

Red to Kill definitely is not for everyone, even for horror or exploitation fans. It is "excessively grim, salacious, vile, offensive and sleazy," but it's also one of the most intense viewing experiences you will ever have.