Raped by an Angel (1993)

Raped by an Angel (1993)
AKA: Naked Killer 2
Chinese Title: 香港奇案之強姦
Translation: Hong Kong Crime Stories: Rape

Starring: Chingmy Yau, Mark Cheng, Simon Yam, Ng Suet-Man, Nick Cheung, Kingdom Yuen King-Tan, Dennis Chan, Cindy Yip, Fan Oi-Kit, Linda Cheung
Director: Andrew Lau
Action Director: Nicky Li Chung-Chi

Raped by an Angel is one of the more infamous titles in the Hong Kong filmography, not the least of which because the film spawned several sequels whose subtitles were even more outlandish. In some international markets, it was released as Naked Killer 2, probably due to the casting similarities and Wong Jing’s involvement as producer. Unlike the its predecessor’s ultra-stylish, every-scene-is-a-painting tale of sexy hitwomen, this is more of an erotic thriller-cum-rape revenge flick. Director Andrew Lau makes it look stylish most of the time, albeit not quite the way Clarence Fok had done his film. But it is also very tasteless and sleazy in a way that many viewers will need to take a shower after it’s over.

The film opens with a bang. And by “bang,” I mean that it opens with a woman coming home, being stalked by a man wearing a Jason mask, and then getting brutally violated by the guy. Psyche! Turns out the man, Chuck (Mark Cheng, of War and Tai Chi 2), is actually just really into rape roleplay and his girlfriend, May (Linda Cheung, of Last Hero in China), is fortunately (for him) willing to let him indulge in that particular kink. Although she worries that rape roleplay will one day result in him wanting to do the real thing, he assures her that doing it with her is enough to keep things channeled.

That is, until he turns on the TV and sees Chingmy Yau (High Risk and Naked Killer) in sexy soldier fatigues firing automatic weapons in a swamp. Turns out that Yau, playing a woman named Yau Yuk-Nam, a law student who makes ends meet doing commercials. The faux-Girls ‘n Guns film was actually a commercial for milk. Go figure.

Anyway, Chuck is immediately smitten and tracks her down to a nightclub where she’s celebrating the filming of her latest commercial with her crew. Chuck tries to put the moves on her, but her response of pouring her drink down his pants leaves him high and dry…or low and wet. So, Chuck sets his sights on Chu (Ng Suet-Man, of Martial Arts Master Wong Fei-Hung), Yuk-Nam’s best friend. He moves into the apartment next door to Chu—but not before ending his relationship with May by handcuffing her and, instead of having rough sex with her, having one of his friends do that instead.

But Chuck’s plans for Chu are arguably even worse. He gets into her good graces by informing her that as a high-powered lawyer, he knows the real estate agency good enough that he can find a place for her to buy that is just as big as her current pad, but much cheaper. He also puts the moves on Chu, but she shuts him down. Eventually, he just says “Screw it” and does the same to her, albeit with her consent. After a grueling session of sexual and psychological abuse, he leaves the damaged Chu in her apartment for Yau to find.

And where has Yau been all this time. For her law classes, she has been trailing a well-known Triad, Tso Tat-Wah (Simon Yam, of Killer’s Romance and Cyprus Tigers), whose legitimate filmmaking business has kept the authorities from discovering any possible illegal activity on his part. The two sort of form an unconventional relationship after surviving both a Triad hit and an attack from his ex-girlfriend, Pauline (Fan Oi-Kit, of Seven Sexual Maniacs and China Girls).

When Yuk-Nam discovers what happened to her friend, she convinces Chu to call the police and report what Chuck did. Chuck is immediately arrested and is taken before a judge to answer for his crimes. Unfortunately for Chu, Chuck managed to leave behind a series of planted evidence and public interactions to suggest that Chu was his girlfriend and that she was trying to extort money from him and then cover her tracks. Ultimately, the jury acquits Chuck of rape. But Chu’s trauma is about to get worse, as Chuck cannot believe that someone would ever commit him of a crime that he actually did commit…

On one hand, Raped by an Angel is very sleazy, with a number of uncomfortable scenes of sexual assault. Those scenes are the source for much of the film’s nudity. But on the same token, the sleaze is the purpose of the movie, although one would hope that the filmmakers would separate the titillation from the assault. But as far as I can tell, overlapping the two was the entire point of the exercise. And the film ends in a memorable, politically-incorrect manner that will probably explode the head of most progressives.

The climax involves Chingmy Yau being chased around her apartment by Chuck, who has found a way to get Simon Yam’s character out of the picture. Despite Yau’s fighting back with bear traps and baseball bats(!), Chuck eventually manages to overpower her and have his way with her. Psyche! In fact, the final victim, who willingly gave her body to the case, was in fact Cindy, one of Yuk-Nam’s friends, who had only recently discovered that she had contracted HIV from a philandering boyfriend. Yes, you read that right.

There are quite a few sex scenes, only a few of which are consensual. We also get far too much of Mark Cheng’s naked body, including some random scene of him walking back and forth in his apartment with his willie flopping around. Thanks, Andrew Lau…we really needed that. There is also a scene that brought to mind the infamous sequence from Last Tango in Paris, except that it’s consensual and, instead of butter, whipped cream is used as a lubricant. In the nudity department, we get three pairs of bare breasts and one almost pair. Plus Kingdom Yuen (Wing Chun), playing Yuk-Nam’s raunchy friend, talking about a kung fu B.J. technique involving ice cubes in one’s mouth.

Despite Nicky Li Chung-Chi—member of the Sing Ga Ban and go-to choreographer for many of the late Benny Chan’s films—being credited as the action director, there is only one fight sequence and that’s an attempted Triad hit at a barbershop involving machetes and baseball bats. It’s nothing special, however.

People who pick this film up based on any of its infamous VHS or DVD covers will probably be disappointed. For reference, one shows Chingmy Yau and Ng Suet-Man in army shorts and midriffs (that expose underboob) holding machine guns (a reference to the commercial they’re in); Another one shows gun-toting Chingmy in a slutty black leather dress that opens down the middle all the way to belly button; and the DVD cover showed Simon Yam in a lawyer’s wig with Chingmy wearing a bra, panties, and lace stockings and kneeling before him. Yau doesn’t do any nudity and her sex scene is implied, not shown. But she does do a sexy dance in her underwear near the end, for all you Chingmy fanboys out there. Just don’t expect her to expose as much skin as her colleagues, tough.