CHIU Chun-keung is a famous producer of TV Dramas. However, he is very inactive in the film industry. The last movie he directed is "Sex Beyond the Grave" from 1984. All of a sudden, his new movie "Model from Hell" comes out with models Maggie Q and Simon YAM. Can this give CHIU new hope for his film career?

John (Gabriel HARRISON), a tobacco tycoon, and his assistant Dan (CHIANG Chi-kwong) are always looking for beautiful girls on the beach. John launches a model training company called "Creative Space" to find new girls. While John and Dan are more interested in getting laid, the staff do find their models spots in commercials. One day, an extraordinary model arrives called Anna (Maggie Q). Suddenly, Anna is getting all the plum jobs making enemies of the resident models Jean (CHEUK Pui-wan) and Janet (LEE Ping) who secretly take photograph of Anna in compromising positions with actor Leon. In vain, Anna visits their homes to demand the sexy photographs back. The next day, Jean and Janet meet a mysterious and horrible death...

"Model from Hell" is one of the most awful movies I have seen this year. The lack of interest shown in every part of the production results in what will surely be a major flop of a movie. In terms of the plot, it is not long enough to fill in 90 minutes. The first few minutes of the movie aims to show us the general behaviour of John and Dan. However, what we saw on the screen are some pointless beach scenes. The dialogue for John and Dan when they try and get the girls is unconvincing. There are a few too many silly jokes. For the remainder of the movie, there are also lots of optional scenes. The competition between Jean, Janet and Anna should have been more greatly emphasised to show fear on the faces of Jean and Janet instead there is just quarrels between the threesome.

More time should have been given over to Dan and John to show the struggle of being controlled by Anna. More time should be given to the relationship between the assistant of the company and Leon. In the movie, it looks like the assistant loves Leon but there is no indication of how Leon treats her.

The production is not to be taken seriously. It is funny to see the deaths of Jean and Janet by some impossible act. The visual effects on Anna are too cheap to convince audiences. Audiences will laugh in the theatre when they see how Anna's head gets changed for a plastic head..

In terms of performance, the dubbed voice of Simon YAM ruins the movie. Simon's role should be as a sex object for girls like Anna, Janet and Jean. However, his over-aged voice makes him look like in his 40s. Maggie Q doesn't got a chance to show her acting except for her unique facial expression. CHIANG Chi-kwong is supposed to have a funny role in the movie but his over-acting makes it hard to watch.

In short, "Model from Hell" is a bad examples of Hong Kong film in terms of acting, production and screenplay. It is a shame to spend time and money on such a poor production.

Written by Ryan Law, from Hong Kong Movie DataBase, on 24 March, 2000.