Spike Drink Gang (1995)
Reviewed by: STSH on 2001-05-27
Summary: Silly but occasionally enjoyable
The script is muddled and dumb, as are most of the characters. The cops are barely above Keystone, the boss of the villains if just a little higher, and the villain's two henchmen make the assassins in Pulp Fiction look like the world's greatest hitmen. And what sort of oddball chose the character's names ? Their names are either no-brainers (Tsui Kam Kong is called Tsui the butcher, his wife is Mrs Tsui, and Lee Siu-Kei is called Sgt Kei) or off the planet (one of the villain's henchmen is called Underwear !).

As with many HK exploitation films, the Cat III rating is overkill. There is the briefest of brief frontal flashes during a sex scene, provided by obscure actress Yiu Man. The lovely Chin Kwan is vastly under-utilized, appearing only in a couple of scenes, and being fully but very discreetly nude during an attempted rape scene. The level of violence is moderate, and the subject matter is hardly startling. A rating of Cat IIb would more than cover this film.

I have a sneaking suspicion that Yung Hung and Tsui KK were hired to boost the idea that this is a film with lots of sex and nudity, and make people believe the Cat III rating. But all Yung Hung does is the slightest little bit of her miniscule cleavage. Never a great actress, she pretty much sleepwalks through this film. On the other hand, Tsui KK overacts and gesticulates so wildly that he appears to be in a different film. As in many films which feature him, Tsui is the only person who is really watchable and entertaining here. The big "God of Pigs" is angst-ridden at gossip by his customers that his wife was raped, and flies into wild rages with a meat cleaver, and even captures another rascal he wrongly believes is responsible, torturing him by degrees in a hilarious scene.

Fans of The Venoms probably won't rush to see Lo Meng's performance. He's mean and growly enough. Well, most of the time, although the degree to which his nearly-unprincipled and glamorous girl can calm down his rages with seduction is a bit hard to believe. Anyway, Lo gets into some fair fighting at the end, mainly with the slightly-less-dimwitted-than-the-other-cops Chan Kwok Bong, but nothing great.

The best scenes in this muddle are all which contain Tsui KK, the climactic chase and fighting, and the sex scene between Lo Meng and Yiu Man. And the antics of Shun and Underwear provide a little low-level comic relief. In short, it was a recipe with a number of high quality ingredients which were wasted by poor preparation. That is, badly scripted and directed. This film does not totally suck, as the other reviewer suggest, but I can't recommend anyone to rush out and get it.
Reviewer Score: 3