As a director, Johnny Wang Lung-Wei only has nine films to his credit -- a mere drop compared to many other Hong Kong directors who could crank out that number of releases in a year or two -- but his filmography has still become well-known among Hong Kong movie fans for his liberal employment of sex and violence, and his final effort as a director, 1992's Escape from Brothel, is no exception. Taken on its' base elements, this could very well be just another Hong Kong action/drama, but Wang's over the top style manages to seperate this picture from the pack.

To begin with, it should be noted that this review is based on the "international" cut of the film, which is the one included on the Videoasia DVD put out under their "Wu Tang Soliders of Darkness" label. What this movie has to do with the rap group Wu-Tang Clan is anyone's guess, but welcome to the wild and wooly world of suspect DVDs of Hong Kong films. At any rate, even in an edited form, Escape from Brothel still comes off as a movie that pulls no punches when it comes to the naughtier side of the jade screen.

The titular brothel has two working girls, Hung (Pauline Chan) and Ann (Rena Murakami). Hung is an illegal immigrant from the Mainland who left her boyfriend, Sam (Alex Fong) behind. Longing to reunite with Hung, Sam agrees to commit a robbery for the crooked businessman Ho (Yau Gwok-Keung) in return for safe passage to Hong Kong. During the robbery, a tourist is killed, which causes Ho to send his henchman Billy (Billy Chow) after Sam to "clean up" the loose ends.

This plot is fairly standard stuff, especially at this point of time in Hong Kong cinema, where producers were cranking out these types of cheap (some would say pandering) action pictures seemingly daily. So Johnny Wang Lung-Wei looks to liven things up with plenty of T and A, and more than its' fair share of spurting claret. Let's put it this way: within the first two minutes, the audience is treated to seeing both of the lead actresses nude.

Of course, this movie has become famous (or, rather, infamous) for a scene where Sophia Crawford fights in the buff -- a scene which is unfortunately absent from the international cut. But if you're bound and determined to see nudity and plenty of it, there's no shortage of bare boobage here. As for the violence quotient, every time Billy Chow -- long one of the best villainous character actors in Hong Kong cinema comes on the screen -- you know someone's going to meet their end in a not very pleasant way.

Is Escape from Brothel something that could be considered great cinema? No. Is it a picture that's for everyone? No. But for its' intended audience (i.e., cats who can dig on some Category III sleaze) Escape from Brothel does its' job, and it does it very well. Even though it doesn't do anything extraordinarily well, and in fact many aspects (most notably the acting) are suspect at best, Escape from Brothel still manages to deliver lots of interest and excitement and never leaves the viewer feeling bored.

RATING: 7

Note: Here is a bit of a couple of scenes that were cut even on the "unedited" version via the Ocean Shores company. Thanks to So Good Reviews and Bullets Over Chinatown for the link. It probably doesn't need to be said, but this is the definition of NSFW.