Detectives investigate a restaurant famous for pork buns when severed hands wash up on the beach.
Hong Kong 1978, two men are arguing over a Mahjong game gone wrong. The spat escalates, causing one man to kill the other and he sets fire to the shop. Cut to 1986, a couple of young boys playing on the coast of Macau discover severed limbs under the sand. This discovery brings in a group of local police inspectors to investigate. The three male detectives are useless and too afraid to look at the grisly sight so they force their female officer Bo (Emily Kwan) since she’s a woman and the lowest ranking officer. Their boss, inspector Lee (Danny Lee, who also co-directed) arrives and orders the men to pick up all the rotting extremities.
Wong (Anthony Chau-Sang Wong) is chopping up a pig and seems to relish cutting through the pink flesh and guts. He runs a small but busy restaurant and hires a sous-chef after a very brief interview. Later that night, the sous chef observes Wong cheat during a round of Mahjong against some fellow restauranteurs. After telling his boss what he witnessed, Wong is outraged and declares “they’re fools who don’t deserve to win because I’m too smart.”
Back at the police station, Inspector Lee brings his Bo, much to the ire of his fellow officers. After he exits the room, the male detectives harass Bo about not being as well-endowed as their boss’ mistress. The screenplay discussing misogyny towards a woman in a professional environment is very relevant, unfortunately. After some more comical banter, the discarded limbs are run through fingerprint analysis. They are identified as a missing 60-year-old woman. While going over the evidence a letter arrives from mainland China written by a concerned family member of another missing woman. The letter states their sister a restaurant owner of The Eight Immortals, has been missing for years and they’re looking for answers.
The film’s color scheme is cleverly modeled after the Mahjong pieces and board. The use of bright greens, brilliant reds, and cool blues create an unsettling sense of impending danger and a dreamlike atmosphere. Even the help wanted signs posted on his restaurant look like they were dipped in the blood of former employees.
Most of the cast, especially the cops, are satirically written and serve as comic relief to offset the extreme violence on screen. Lead actor Anthony Chau Sang-Wong is an acclaimed star who’s worked on some of Hong Kong’s biggest films over the last thirty years. Sporting a buzz cut, he wears large, bold aviator prescription glasses that would be considered stylish today. The glasses are ideal to frame his maniacal wide-eyed stare while he grits his teeth at any implication of the slightest infraction. His character is devious but not brilliant. He makes a lot of mistakes and lets his anger get the best of him. He cheats at gambling but thinks he’s smarter and thus deserves to be rewarded.
There’s plenty of interesting social commentary but the script is more concerned with pushing the boundaries of violence onscreen. I certainly couldn’t rewatch this due to a particularly brutal depiction of rape and a scene involving violence against children. Nonetheless, it’s a mostly well-made film that will certainly satisfy bloodthirsty viewers.
Now available on Blu-ray and DVD
