Pulpmovies Reviews

From 1976 to the end of the 1980s, Don Dohler wrote, directed and produced several science fiction and horror films. To say that the budgets for these films were low would be a bit of an understatement. Don Dohler was effectively making direct to video films before there was a video to go direct to.

But these films, such as The Alien Factor, Fiend and The Galaxy Invader had a real heart and, if nothing else, reflected Dohler’s real passion not just for genre cinema but also the process of making films. These weren’t the greatest films ever made but Dohler did manage to secure an international distribution for every one of them and built quite a loyal following of fans who recognised and enjoyed these films for what they were.

In 1988 Dohler decided he’d had enough and didn’t make another film for eleven years. He returned in 1999 with Alien Factor 2: The Alien Rampage, during the shooting of which he met Joe Ripple. The two men began to collaborate with Ripple taking on the directing duties, allowing Dohler to concentrate on cinematography and editing.

However, the world had moved on during Dohler’s hiatus and, with direct to video films coming to dominate the independent landscape, he found himself having to include more exploitative elements in order to secure the distribution deals he needed. All of which brings us to Vampire Sisters.

This is the story (a term I use very loosely here) of three lesbian vampires (Darla Albornoz, Jeannie Michelle Jameson and Syn DeVil) who – taking advantage of the internet – have set up a porn website to lure unsuspecting schmucks to their lair. Again, and again and again.

To be fair, there are some good ideas in this film and a couple of scenes that are genuinely painful to watch. But the whole thing is dragged down by the sheer repetitiveness of the titillation followed by violent death – endlessly repeated – structure of the film.

If, from the above couple of paragraphs, you have the impression that this film is entirely plot-free you’d be right. Almost.

There is a rather desultory attempt to give us the semblance of a plot in the form of a couple of vice cops (Mark C. Lassise and Leanna Chamish) who notice that the website is offering special favours to local men and decide to keep an eye on it. Eventually they cotton on to the fact that lots of people are going missing and they all have the girls’ website bookmarked. So they decide that they should… go undercover.

And there really is a lot less here than implied by the above.

Unambiguously exploitative films can be a huge amount of fun but only when the people making these films have a sense of fun which they can bring to the screen. In the case of Vampire Sisters, the film feels far too much like a by-the-numbers exercise and, even with this much flesh and blood on show, the whole thing very quickly grinds to a creaking halt.

Johnny To has already established himself as one of the better directors to come out of Hong Kong in recent years and he’s on fine form with this stylish crime thriller.

Following a run-in with a gang of thugs led by Ponytail, Sergeant “Fatty” Lo (Lam Suet) loses his gun and turns to the brutally efficient Sergeant Mike Ho (Simon Yam) of the PTU to help him retrieve it. It’s late and Lo agrees to search for the gun until dawn, after which he will follow procedure and report the missing weapon.

Things take a turn for the worse as Fatty’s search for his gun intersects with a gangland assassination that threatens to escalate into an all out war on the streets of the city. Of course, a murder such as this doesn’t go unnoticed by the police and the CID, led by Inspector Leigh Cheng (Ruby Wong) becomes involved. Cheng is also very interested to know what Fatty and the PTU are up to…

Taking place over the course of a single night and against a background of dark and often deserted streets, PTU has a very noir feel which comes across in both the cinematography and the pacing of the film.

To’s cinematographer, Siu-keung Cheng’s portrayal of Hong Kong is remarkably unique. The shops have closed and most of the population are at home, leaving the PTU operating in an almost eerie netherworld. It’s a look which, while being neither tense nor intrusive in itself, manages to convey a genuinely menacing airr throughout.

The pacing of the film is also remarkably restrained, almost static in places, and it’s with this steady progress through the accumulating events that To reveals the casual brutality of the police. And in the middle of it all is Yam’s frighteningly impassive sergeant for whom every beating is nothing more than another step towards achieving his goal.

Although PTU does feel like a character driven film, the characters portrayed are very much archetypes rather than rounded individuals and, as coincidence and bad luck pile up on each other, it becomes increasingly apparent that they are not in control of events. But, bound together by overlapping loyalties, they continue to try to clean up the growing mess.

All this makes for a very fatalistic crime drama which touches on themes of honour, loyalty and friendship as it progresses, almost fatalistically, towards a genuinely explosive climax.

PTU: Police Tactical Unit may be a little light on substance, but the style of the film more than makes up for this.

Things aren’t going too well for Chit (Krissada Terrence). He’s missing his sales targets and is getting deeper and deeper into debt. Then, to top it all, he loses his job. Things are pretty desperate, then, when he receives an anonymous phone call telling him that he has a place in a game show. All he has to do is complete 13 tasks in order to become a multi-millionaire.

The first task is pretty easy and the second is pretty gross. But, after a long hesitation, chit finds that the money on offer is enough for him to go through with it.

From here on in things get much, much worse.

Based on a comic by Eakasit Thairatana, 13: Game of Death follows the descent of the film’s everyman hero, and willing victim, as humiliation after humiliation is heaped upon him. Terrence does a superb job here of maintaining our sympathy as his character becomes increasingly degraded and disconnected from the rest of the world. And it’s because he manages to remain a sympathetic character throughout that the film packs such a horrific punch.

Thematically the film is reminiscent of Falling Down, but goes further and takes a look at the sort of social and economic pressures that lead to the emergence of people like Chit.

Chit, like those around him, is under pressure to conform to the expectations placed upon him by society, his friends and his family. He feels the contradictory pressures to be materially successful, to maintain a successful relationship, to have time for his family and to be a model citizen. There aren’t enough hours in the day for him to be able to meet all of these expectations and, by trying to do too much, he ends up failing to do any of them.

And whoever it is that is organising the game in which he finds himself knows this as becomes apparent in the way that the tasks set for Chit repeatedly echo the humiliations and traumas he faced as a child. Someone has spent a huge amount of time building a very detailed picture of Chit merely so that he can be tormented for the entertainment of an unseen, online audience.

13: Game of Death is a shocking and smart horror/thriller with a darkly comic streak and a lot to say. Not only does writer/director, Chukiat Sakveerakul have plenty of visceral observations to make about materialism, the increasingly debased nature of reality type entertainment and and the connection between the two, but the film also reflects on the rapidly shrinking nature of the private space.

No matter where Chit goes, no matter what he does, his every move and action is being watched, recorded and transmitted. And in many ways, this is the most frightening aspect of this film.