Written by: Michael Den Boer on April 2nd, 2004
Theatrical Release Date: Hong Kong 1992
Director: Fok Yiu Leung
Writer: Wong Jing
Cast: Chingmy Yau, Simon Yam, Carrie Ng, Kelly Yiu
DVD Released:
July 22nd, 2003Approximate Running Time: 90 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Rating: R
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Cantonese, Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Subtitles: English, Chinese
DVD Release: Fox
Region Coding: Region 1 NTSC
Retail Price: $9.99
Synopsis: From the opening moments of Naked Killer’s stylized violence is evident. Naked killer contains a fair amount of nudity and bloodshed. The movie opens with hit women Princess (Carrie Ng) who viciously disposes of a triad member in his own apartment. Detective Tinam (Simon Yam) believes this and the other similar killings were committed by a woman. Tinam meets Kitty (Chingmy Yau) while getting his hair cut. It is during this first meeting that Tinam sees Kitty’s violent streak and she stab’s the barber in the crouch with scissors. Instead of arresting Kitty, Tinam lets her go and this sets up the cat and mouse game between the two.
After kitty’s father is killed by her step mother’s lover. Kitty seeks him out at his office to exact her revenge she guns down several henchmen as she makes her way to the man who killed her father. With the help of Sister Cindy (Wai Yiu) she escapes the henchmen and the police as they with Cindy’s deadly martial arts dispose of anyone who crosses their path. Kitty takes on the new identity Vivian Shang and Cindy trains her to become an assassin. Tinam continues to search for Kitty and assassins Princess and Baby (Madoka Suguwara) two of Cindy’s former pupils turn on their former teacher and take a contract out on her life.
Fok Yiu Leung eye for style and disregard for narrative structure delivers a satisfying film full of stunning visuals and delirious dialog .The Fox DVD is cut by about 6 minutes. Tai Seng Entertainment released a longer version of Naked Killer clocking in at about 97 minutes. So what does these extra minutes add up to: More T&A, Violence and very little that adds to the story, also the Fox DVD has better A/V then the Tai Seng DVD.
The DVD:
The 1:85:1 anamorphic widescreen is a very good. The picture is slightly soft and like many HK release there is some noticeable grain. There is no artifacts and no noticeable edge enhancement. Naked killer never looked as good on home video format. Dolby Digital 5.1 audio mixes in Cantonese and dubbed English are nearly identical. The subtitles are easy to follow and read and the rear channels don’t get much of a workout except during a few of the fight scenes.
There are interviews with Wong Jing, Simon Yam and Clarence Fok that focus sometimes more on other subjects other then Naked Killer. There are two trailers for Naked Killer as well as four other trailers from Fox’s HK series. The photo gallery and the Hong Kong Beauty star photo gallery are scored. Finally there is another gallery of promotional materials, production notes, and bios. Naked Killer may never win any awards for acting. Still it is a thrill ride full of breathtaking action, brutal violence and beautiful woman who will kill you as quick as they turn you on.