Despite The Rapist Beckons' salacious title and early appearance from Category III favorite Lily Chung (star of genre classics like Daughter of Darkness and Red to Kill), it's actually more of a straight-forward thriller, rather than the over-the-top exploitation fare you might be expecting. But if you're not dead-set on just seeing an orgy of boobs and blood, the film is actually quite well-crafted, at least in its' own low-budget way.

In the movie, Lily plays a character named (shockingly) Lily, who is thrown out on the street after she begins acting erratically following a sexual assault. While sleeping in an alley, she is saved from being robbed by a kindly kung fu instructor, Po Wah (Ridley Tsui). He reluctantly takes her in, but the pair soon find themselves developing feeling for each other, and Lily looks to be set to leave her past behind her. However, after being attacked by Po Wah's fellow teacher and best friend, Ben (Karel Wong), Lily's rage boils over, and she begins to hatch a plan take back her life.

This sort of plot is the perfect bed for an exploitation flick, as evidenced by female revenge films like I Spit on Your Grave and Her Vengeance. The Rapist Beckons takes a different approach. There are several unsettling rape scenes, but they are not the focal point of the picture, nor is the violence that follows Lily's turn of heart. Don't get me wrong; The Rapist Beckons still fully earns its' Category III rating. It's definitely not a picture that you're going to sit down with the wife and kids to watch.

Cheung Gung-Nin decides to allow the performances, not squibs and nudity, control the flow of the picture. In the hands of a lesser director, this might have resulted in a boring, plodding mess, but Cheung shows a deft hand in showing just enough of the rough stuff to give the viewer a jolt, while still allowing his actors to actually create well-rounded characters. It's a shame that this has been Cheung's only outing as a director (he primarily makes his living as a cinematographer) because he clearly shows here that he has at least the basics down, and was able to turn something that might had just been yet another early 90's Category III film into something that's a little special.

RATING: 7