The story of Ricky DVD Review

Ricky (Fan Siu-wong), has been imprisoned for the revenge killing of a gang who had murdered his girlfriend. He’s sent to a privatised prison which is run by the assistant warden, Cyclops (played by Fan Siu-wong's father, Fan Mui-sang) and the warden himself (William Ho Kar-kui). "The gang of four" enforce the rules of the corrupt and sadistic Warden and his assistant, 4 larger than life characters who control their own cellblocks by terrorising the inmates. Ricky sets out take on these unscrupulous swine after witnessing one inmate having his nose removed with a wood plane and discovering that the Warden and his cronies are cultivating opium poppies, a sore point with Ricky as it was opium dealers that killed his girlfriend.

The story of Ricky is a carnival of extreme gore and violence, with a bizarre cast of comic book style performers. Siu-Wong Fan is an imposing figure as Ricky, bringing the Manga character to life, flexing his impressive muscles at every opportunity. I was so very relieved to discover that Huang Chan was played by a woman (Yukari Ôshima), as I thought he was cute... but he’s a she, so everything is fine. The fight sequences are great fun, definitely not for martial arts purists, but for the rest of us they are exciting, funny and just plain weird. The gore is wonderful, not exactly super-realistic, but the cheesy effects suit the film perfectly. In one scene, one of the gang of four who is fighting Ricky, rips open his stomach with a knife, pulls out his intestines and tries to strangle Ricky with them. Brilliant! As you may have surmised, this is not a particularly serious film, it’s a pastiche, a black comedy and a hyper violent bizarro-fest. When The Story of Ricky reaches it's freakish climax, you're left thinking; what was that? What strange pharmo-psychedelia do they enjoy in Hong Kong? Essential viewing. S.J.T.

The Story of Ricky. 1991

Directed by Ngai Kai Lam