One of the models for the American hit movie Kill Bill, Her Vengeance is a low budget film noir that has the terrible beauty of classic Hong Kong cinema written all over it. The plot is a nihilistic nightmare, with violence blurring the line between good and evil. The sadly underrated actress Pauline Wong is convincing in her performance as an innocent woman whose health and sense of security are destroyed by a group of thugs. Her expressive face registers both her innocent disbelief in the unfairness of her fate and her grim determination to exact revenge on her tormenters. Unlike the heroine in Kill Bill, she portrays an ordinary woman caught in the throes of overwhelming emotions, to which she responds with an animalistic fury, using not ninja blades, but knives, acid and pieces of glass. Lam Ching Ying has an off-beat role as her wheel-chair bound brother-in-law who has run out on her sister in Macau and has subsequently opened a bar in Hong Kong, where he passes his days pining for his former life.

The real star of the piece is the atmospheric cinematography, which for me recalled the glory days of Billy Tang's Dr. Lamb and Red to Kill. Much of the film takes place at night, with neon lights the sole accompaniment to rain and an eerie blue mist. Hong Kong is portrayed as a threatening city where no one is safe, even behind barred windows.

One of the themes of Her Vengeance is the ability of violence to destroy the normal web of interpersonal relationships. The most satisfying human connection in the movie occurs in its final reel, as Wong and Lam decide to join forces and settle down to prepare a trap for the thugs that results in the movie's bloody finale. The film's final shot depicts a single person walking alone into the night and an uncertain future. There are no heroics in this movie, and unlike Kill Bill, there is really no one to root for. In Her Vengeance, violence leaves only bloodied victims in its wake and no victors.