The Criminals, Part II - Homicides (1976)

The Criminals, Part II – Homicides (1976)
Original Title: 香港奇案之二《兇殺》
Translation: Hong Kong Strange Cases 2: Homicide

 

Although we mainly know the Shaw Brothers studio for their extensive kung fu movie output, the truth is that they dabbled in practically all genres, from comedy to drama, from period drama to sexploitation, from to horror to musicals. Hell, they even made a few detours into science fiction at one point. The Criminals series, of which there are five entries, represent their attempts to make true crime movies. They are sordid and sleazy affairs, mainly taking stories from the newspapers, dramatizing them, playing up (or inventing?) the exploitation elements, and then presenting them in anthology form.

The first story is “The Deaf-Mute Killer,” written by Szeto On and directed by Kuei Chih-Hung (The Boxer’s Omen and Bewitched). Ah Cai (Hon Kwok-Choi), of Call Me Dragon and The Cub Tiger from Kwangtung, is a mute (despite the title, it is implied he can hear) living in a small rural community, problem in the New Territories. He works on a farm shoveling pig poop (it would seem), but his tribulations extend beyond his disabilities. The locals treat him like crap, the kids constantly tease him, and the man can’t even go to the local Peking Opera production without being pushed around. The only person who shows him any sympathy is Ah Lan (Mak Wah-Mei, of Killers on Wheels and To Kill a Jaguar), a young widow.

But Ah Lan has problems of her own. Most of them stem from her living with her mother-in-law, who constantly berates her for no reason at all. There is a reason, but it’s of the intangible “you’re a jinx whose bad juju killed my son” variety. Not a lot you can do about that. Even worse is that her brother-in-law, Chang Huo-Chuan (Yeung Chak-Lam, of The Golden Seal and Five Fingers of Death), has started putting the moves on her. Although she rebuffs his advances, he’s not about to let some put-upon widow tell him what he can do with her body. One night, he rapes her and puts the blames on Ah Cai.

A torch-wielding mob comes for Ah Cai and almost succeeds in drowning him, but he escapes and flees to the nearest town. He manages to find work at the local general store, but Chang shows up and starts spreading those rape rumors about him. Rinse and repeat until Ah Cai finally snaps…

The second story is “Mama-san,” written by Ni Kuang and directed by Hua Shan, of Super Infra-Man fame. This story is set in the big city and revolves around a fellow named Xiao Hua-Tou (Kang Kai, of On the Verge of Death and Crazy Sex). Xiao works as a gambling agent, but has gambling problems of his own. He owes enough money that somebody is going to start knocking on his door soon if doesn’t start making real money, if you catch my drift. His friend, Xiao Pi San (Keung Hon, of Heroes of the Underground and Big Brother Cheng), suggests that he sell his girlfriend, Fang Li (Mi Lan, of Amsterdam Connection and Killer Clans), to the local brothel. Said establishment is run by a hard-ass madam named Blue Pearl (Zheng Lou-Si, of Bruce’s Fingers and Lady Exterminator), although everyone just calls her “Big Sis.”

Somehow, Xiao Hua-Tou manages to convince Fang Li to go along with the hustle, even if it results in her getting banged into the racket by one of Big Sis’s enforcers, Brother Chang (Ng Hong-Sang, of Black Magic and The Snake Prince). I guess it’s because he was able to convince Fang Li on the grounds that a) he would be her first client, and b) he would spring her from the hotel she’s tied down to on his first visit. So now he has his girlfriend and Blue Pearl’s money, but Big Sis’ is not the one to be bamboozled that easily…

The next story is “Informer,” once more written by Szeto On and directed by Kuei Chih-Hung. This one involves a police informer, Lin Wen-Fu (Kang Kai, in a different role), who is having problems with a loan shark, Ah Fa (Chan Shen, of Five Fingers of Death and Night of the Devil’s Bride). Ah Fa gives Lin a week to come up with the money he owes, or he forfeits his life. Standard loan shark procedure. With the help of his friend, Xiao Ding (Hon Kwok-Choi, also in a different role), Lin elaborates a “can’t miss” plan to make some quick money: jump a cop, steal his gun (a very serious issue in Hong Kong), pin the crime on some sucker, and then turn him in for the reward money.

Although they successfully get their gun, Lin kicks the policeman a little too hard, causing him to crack his head open on the concrete. If you read enough stories about people getting punched and hitting their heads on the way down, you can imagine how this will end. Now that the stakes are raised though, poor Xiao Ding will be in extra danger once Lin tells the investigating detective (Shih Chung-Tien, of Shanghai Lil and the Sun Luck Kid and The Iron Monkey) and Xiao was the culprit…

Finally, there’s “Nude in the Box,” written by Ni Kuang and directed by Sun Chung (The Avenging Eagle and A Fistful of Talons). On some corner in Hong Kong, street vendors are getting ready for a new day of commerce when a woman notices a rather heavy TV box lying on the sidewalk. On further inspection, she finds the naked body of a dead woman inside. Three months later, a suspect has been apprehended and taken in for trial. That would be Szeto Bing Cheung (Lin Wei-Tu, of Illicit Desire and The Flying Guillotine), a young family man who works at the ice cream factory/outlet store thingie near a tram station. The evidence is largely circumstantial, backed by new scientific methods that place the victim at the factory the night of the murder. But did Mr. Szeto really commit the murder?

The general rule for anthology films is that there is one really good story and one weak story, with the others ranging from “decent” to “pretty good.” I would say the weak link is “Informer,” mainly it feels too similar, thematically, to the preceding story and there is no real suspense to the narrative. That said, Kuei Chih-Hung does manage some nice visuals on occasion, especially at the end when one character is leaving a darkened train station and is bombarded with the glares of dozens of police search lights. “Mama-san” had the same premise of someone doing something really stupid to pay off debts, but manages to generate genuine suspense by not making it clear which of the protagonists is going to die. Beyond that, it sets itself apart from the rest by having copious amounts of nudity—these are sex workers, we’re talking about here. There are also some brawls and choreographed beatings, staged by Yuen Woo-Ping, who hadn’t quite hit his stride in 1976.

“The Deaf-Mute Killer” is a particularly tragic tale of an innocent man pushed way too far by a vile and wicked one. When Ah Cai finally goes off the deep end, he does so on the person who deserved it the most. And considering the events that led up to the murder, the police response was arguably disproportionate to what could be considered “justifiable homicide.” The story is filmed in black and white, which matches with the rural setting of the tale. Once more, Kuei Chih-Hung does sneak in some neat visuals, like the torch-bearing locals moving about in the dark like a choreographed formation, set to Peking Opera percussion music.

Sun Chung ends up walking away with the movie with the final story, even if it feels like your typical episode of Law & Order for most of its running time. The story focuses on the prosecution and their case, complete with cuts to dramatizations of the crime as they describe it. It successfully convinces the audience that their version the chain events leading up the murder is what really happened. And then, at the very end, Sun shows the defense attorney giving his final arguments…and suddenly you do not know what to think. It almost feels like an inversion of 12 Angry Men and you just feel…bad at the very end. Bravo, Sun Chung! Bravo!