Rating: 
Summary: Ain't nobody's business if you do...
Review: Bear with me for a second while I try to explain about "Chinese Torture Chamber Story"....This movie, along with "Holy Weapon" and "Mad Monk" to name a few, fall into the category of "China looks like it's a different world". It has many elements that are foreign to our sensibilities (even though many Hong Kong movies aim to please Western audiences), a story line that is exploitive and sexually charged (but no moreso than, say, "Barbarella"), somewhat violent (but more on the level of "gross" than "visceral") and, ultimately very funny (if you don't take it too seriously). Confused? Don't worry, you're not alone. Set in the curtroom of a small town, Little Cabbage and her scholar lover are accused of murdering Little Cabbage's husband by slipping a powerful aphrodesiac into his medicine (the effect of the aphrodesic cannot be said here). They protest their innocence and are alternately tortured and questioned in front of a corrupt judicial tribunal to "tell the truth". The tortures are quite graphic and account for the more serious moments of the film... ... but it's not a serious movie. The nature of exploitation films is to make people believe that they're seeing something serious, but in actuality it's gross exaggerations and stereotypical characters mixed into a plot that can seamlessly show brutality, sex, fetishism, superpowers and kung-fu because they're all "integral" to the storyline. They turn out (mostly years after their initial release) to be dated pieces of celluloid tripe that draw cult followings... look at "Blackula" or "Cleopatra Jones" if you need an example of how this is done in America with moniority populations. "Chinese Torture Chamber Story" is no exception. One has only to look at this title to know that. C'mon, like the word "torture" *isn't* inflammatory. Please... Now for the confusing part: I like this film. I am one of those people who has seen this film and enjoyed it immensely. I'm sure if anyone knows anything about this film it's the famous in-flight coitus scene that can be found on the 'net for download. There are money shots that would kill people and a fabulous parody of "Ghost". In summary, I believe that many people will find this DVD offensive. Others will find it hysterical. Still others will find it at a friend's house, borrow it and never give it back. You decide which one you are for yourself. I'm the second and fourth types.
Rating:
Summary: Ain't nobody's business if you do...
Review: Bear with me for a second while I try to explain about "Chinese Torture Chamber Story".... This movie, along with "Holy Weapon" and "Mad Monk" to name a few, fall into the category of "China looks like it's a different world". It has many elements that are foreign to our sensibilities (even though many Hong Kong movies aim to please Western audiences), a story line that is exploitive and sexually charged (but no moreso than, say, "Barbarella"), somewhat violent (but more on the level of "gross" than "visceral") and, ultimately very funny (if you don't take it too seriously). Confused? Don't worry, you're not alone. Set in the curtroom of a small town, Little Cabbage and her scholar lover are accused of murdering Little Cabbage's husband by slipping a powerful aphrodesiac into his medicine (the effect of the aphrodesic cannot be said here). They protest their innocence and are alternately tortured and questioned in front of a corrupt judicial tribunal to "tell the truth". The tortures are quite graphic and account for the more serious moments of the film... ... but it's not a serious movie. The nature of exploitation films is to make people believe that they're seeing something serious, but in actuality it's gross exaggerations and stereotypical characters mixed into a plot that can seamlessly show brutality, sex, fetishism, superpowers and kung-fu because they're all "integral" to the storyline. They turn out (mostly years after their initial release) to be dated pieces of celluloid tripe that draw cult followings... look at "Blackula" or "Cleopatra Jones" if you need an example of how this is done in America with moniority populations. "Chinese Torture Chamber Story" is no exception. One has only to look at this title to know that. C'mon, like the word "torture" *isn't* inflammatory. Please... Now for the confusing part: I like this film. I am one of those people who has seen this film and enjoyed it immensely. I'm sure if anyone knows anything about this film it's the famous in-flight coitus scene that can be found on the 'net for download. There are money shots that would kill people and a fabulous parody of "Ghost". In summary, I believe that many people will find this DVD offensive. Others will find it hysterical. Still others will find it at a friend's house, borrow it and never give it back. You decide which one you are for yourself. I'm the second and fourth types.
Rating: 
Summary: Trust me SHOCKING would be the the least I could say ...
Review: I can not believe what this Hong Kong Chinese erotic movie depicts and it's rateed as five stars only because it's made for the most prurient and lacivious viewing audience. This is the Torture Chamber Story II and should not be confused with the first DVD of the same name which is a completely different story and which I have not seen. The movie is, oddly enough, exactly what it says in that it's a 'Torture Chamber Story'. Nothing in this movie is gratuitous, I'd say it's in your face violence, torture and cruelty and perversity fully depicted at it's best. The story is a series of flashbacks and starts with our young heroine, Lotus, being dragged into the torture chamber to be exceuted for the murder of the governor, Ma, by 1000 cuts and pieces of flesh being removed from her body before she dies. We meet Ma as he was coming down from the mountains and is portaryed as a young virile graduate of a Taoist monk and he is going into the city to apply for a job as the general of the army. He is portrayed as a kind and perhaps naive young fighter when he meets up with a group of townsfolk robbers, Lotus, her brother and his wife and her fiance. Ma makes friends with the group and gets them to swear that they will stop the thievery and change to the path of good. From that point we then meet the whole group again when Ma has become governor and gives jobs to the two young men at the governors mansion. Since this is a Chinese Movie with English subtitles you have to understand that there are more twists and turns in this plot than a small road in the mountains. What we do get in the movie is bloos, a lot of it because remember Lotus is getting cut up into 1000 oieces and the movie shows that, we get cannibalism since the bandit leader enjoys eating the hearts of his live vitims, we get a lot of blood since most of the soldiers get their heads and arms cut off. I think I counted at least 15 arms getting cut off in this movie and at least 7 heads. If that ain't bad enough, this movie also depicts tounges being cut out, at least 5, boiling wax poured into to ears .... OK why continue I think you get the picture .... The sex and eroticism, well, I think you may have guessed they don't hold back the slightest here either since Ma, our hero, is sexually dysfunctional since he was raped by a pervert as a little boy .... Oh, and lastly, you remember the 1000 cuts for Lotus, you think they show the executioner coming up with his knife to cut apiece of flesh while the camera pans away and we hear her scream, nooooo not in this movie, we get to actually see the cuts of fleah as if we were med students in an operating room .... Ok so I rated it five stars, not because I liked the movie, far from it, but if you ever wanted to see the most violent and perverse movie about torture, cruelty and perverse sex, then this is the movie for you .....
Rating:
Summary: Gorier than "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and a better story
Review: I really appreciate the effort to tell a good story. "A Chinese Torture Chamber Story" is every bit a story as "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon", with some extremely nifty party ideas. I look forward to number 2, which I have on order.
Rating:
Summary: Gorier than "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and a better story
Review: I really appreciate the effort to tell a good story. "A Chinese Torture Chamber Story" is every bit a story as "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon", with some extremely nifty party ideas. I look forward to number 2, which I have on order.
Rating:
Summary: Not enough for the really sick-minded
Review: I was a bit disappointed...There's neither tearing of flesh, lots of blood, dismemberment, cannablism, nor the removal of tongues. There is a Little Cabbage and she does get tortured, but not with the gore I expected. And though the sex is often and entertaining, it's not shown with the explicitness that I had come to hope for. Aside from my expectations, the movie was quite entertaining. There are moments when the torture turns your gut with pity and horror (especially for the rat), and the rest of the movie is mostly light-hearted in a gutter sort of way. I recommend the film for those who would like their boundaries of taste tested for the first time.
Rating:
Summary: Brutal, without a sympathetic character anywhere to be found
Review: If you watched the first movie and are hoping for more of the same with the second installment to this unique series, think again. Where the first movie is cute, this movie is brutal. Where the first movie is slick, this movie is crude. Where the first movie hints at the violence, this movie puts it right in front of your face. I recommend this movie for those hard to reach scratches. It's nails are long, sharp and willing. Use with caution.
Rating:
Summary: Pleasantly surprised
Review: In reading some of the reviews below, some seem to be for another movie - presumably Part I with the same title (but I can't be sure since I haven't seen Part I). The December 6, 2001, does a excellent job of reviewing the plot of ASIN: B00005IAQQ and I'm not going to re-review what s/he did. Rather, I'll focus on what s/he didn't touch upon: The topic is unquestionably prurient, a la Dolcett, et al. If you can't handle that, do yourself a favor and run, don't walk, away. Some of the story is traditional Chinese theatre: simplistic dialogue which falls easily into the "silly" column. That being said, the overall "arc" of the movie isn't silly. In a very limited way, I could see some Shakespearean influence to the plot: he dies loving her, she dies avenging him, everybody dies. The scenery is almost perfect for the genre. The torture/blood-FX are (in Hollywood standards) outright horrible, pathetic, deplorable, break-out-the-thesaurus bad - which is really too bad since I got the impression the movie was trying to be a well-made torture/soft-porn flick. The sex is the typical, late-night cable, TV-MA fodder plus some S&M. The digital video is *very* good: wide-screen, stable, crystal clear. In fact, I saw a few analog boo-boos but the conversion to digital is top-notch. Utilization of the traditional DVD capabilities (menus, etc) is par. The box says "CC" but I couldn't find it - however there are English subtitles (picky, I know, but! If it says CC, I want captions. If it says subtitled, I want subtitles. If it says both, darn it! I want both!) Speaking of subtitles: eww... get an interpreteur! There are many grammatical errors, a nonsensical sentence or two, etc. Additionally, don't put the remote away as you'll be freezing the image to read some of the subtitles... they are *that* fast. Anyway, thumbs up. Why? For the genre, the movie is well made. Splasher flicks don't have to be pathetic. Porno movies (which this ain't) don't have to be artistically and intellectually void. Just because you choose to make a film which caters to the basest of our species aspects, doesn't mean you have to do it in a moronic, low-class sort of way. If you don't understand that last sentence, this movie isn't for you.
Rating:
Summary: Category 3 Winner!!
Review: One of the best Chinese flicks I've seen for ages. The story is about two would-be robbers who befriend the governor's head torturer. He pretends to be their buddy but he defiles their women and double-crosses just about everybody. All this is interrupted by scenes of torture and sex. A bit of kung fu and swordplay action worthy of 'Shogun Assassin' in the flying limbs and decapitation stakes. The first 30 minutes or so are a little slow but it's worth sticking around because it really picks up. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Crazy Sex Ghost Shenanigans!!!!
Review: Somewhere beyond normal CAT III hong kong super sex action lies CHINESE TORTURE CHAMBER. It is AMAZING!!!! Kung Fu, Sex, Torture, and SHENANIGANS!!! Think somewhere between CHINESE GHOST STORY and SEX & ZEN is this and it is amazing.
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