Escape from Coral Cove (1986)
Reviewed by: STSH on 2001-02-18
Summary: Not bad, and unusual
Well, unusual for HK. A competently-made and very well-photographed thriller/horror film with almost no special effects, fairly low on blood'n'gore but nevertheless delivers a few shocks (if rather mild ones). Also, this is the only HK film I've seen with such lovely (or, for that matter, any !) underwater photography.

Interesting for the intro of two well-known actors, Alex Fong and Elsie Chan. Alex displays a commanding presence, and must have shown potential even then. And Elsie took every opportunity to flash her excellent cleavage in a very flattering swimsuit.

But there's no nudity here, so the credit of "naked woman" at the bottom of the cast list is a puzzle. If there was a naked woman anywhere there, she must have been well-covered.

The subtitles were nice and large but, unfortunately, they mostly feel out of the bottom of the frame.

The story is unremarkable, following the conventional normal-life-gradually-gets-creepy formula, with several nods to JAWS. The ending is clearly telegraphed at least twenty minutes before, so the end is almost a groan, and a bit hard to swallow.

Overall, pretty good and undemanding.
Reviewer Score: 6