In actuality, all attempts at portraying the life of prostitutes wanting life outside of prostitution are flimsy excuses for Wong Jing and director Aman Cheung to feature the usual softcore sex and excess. But it's a step up from the strangely boring yet arguably on paper more crazier Sex & Zen II. As the film progresses more towards another installment of the A Chinese Torture Chamber Story series, the combo on display makes for fine, crazy viewing. Take poor subtitling, advanced sexual techniques taught by Lo Meng's character, grim torture, heck...even some inventive shots and you'll get what is truly expected yet also wildly funny in its expected ways. A verdict coming only from those of us who wants to embrace this type of "cinema". Jane Cheung, Karen Yeung, Dung Yi and Elvis Tsui stars.

As part of the gunplay ending is shown during the opening credits, it's clear Patrick Kong (A Man From Holland) is desperate to make the audiences stay. Fine...if you offered up quality during the very short running time and although the choice to throw us at breakneck speed into the plot about a prostitution ring, it's not only almost totally incoherent but devoid of entertainment that would make one want to sit through this Category III effort. Recognizable faces such as Ben Ng and William Ho only turn up to "act" and even Pauline Chan keeps her clothes on. Instead giving Chan the chance to come off as an action heroine, the stunt doubling is horrendous and Chan totally unappealing in that role. Multiple sex scenes lacking steam but not stock porn score register little and the moments that manage to do doesn't make the whole package worth it. Of note is a torture scene where a prostitute have maggots poured over her and cut material involves even more animals. Not nice but noticeable. One sex scene with Sharon Kwok has her under the influence of aphrodisiac presumably, basically raping men and women, making the film turn wacky all of a sudden! As quickly as it all starts, Sex For Sale also abruptly closes without us caring if that huge explosion at the end at all made sense.

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Choi (Elvis Tsui) finds what he thinks is an illegal immigrant on the steps of his bar. In fact the girl Fong (referred to as Shit Fong in the subtitles and played by Nomoto Miho) is half human, half snake and has been hunted out of her underground lair after her laid eggs were destroyed. Shacking up with Choi who killed his wife in a drunk driving accident cements a connection but Fong primarily needs to be impregnated so the indecisive Choi isn't a good candidate. She turns to his cousin Marco (Vincent Wan) instead who along with scientist Grace (Carrie Ng) is looking for funding for a revolutionary insecticide after experimenting on snakes and spiders. Grace detects something is odd with Fong while Marco has debts with the triads to take care of...

From the usually empty wallets at My Way Film Company, Sex Medusa doesn't change any of that and the rough video image transferred to film on dvd borderline detracts. But the mish mash of storylines and moods reveals amusing charm at points. It takes a while before director Law realizes he needs to get the film (running a way too long 90+ minutes) out of talky territory and into a teasing supernatural one instead. Cue cheap CGI sights related to the snake Fong is including a view from behind a screen of her pregnancy in motion, snakes crawling in her hair and her particular way of devouring chickens. Oddly enough, timid Choi (who is also deadly afraid of cats... a notion called back later in the flick) makes little fuss over this as it's all about new female company in his life. A thread that scores unexpectedly high because at its core, the film is a little tragedy as well where ultimately the most evil out of human and snake may be the former. Oh it's not depth that is actually good but credit director Law for the 20 minutes of momentum he has when combining wild cheese and the sensitive. Anyone would and should recommend Phantom Of Snake for a more kooky, low budget look at the snakes in human form but Sex Medusa deserves space. Beware of images of real animal cruelty towards snakes and spiders.

Far from any sexy storytelling or actual storytelling for that matter, our three directors (including Sun Valley's He Ping) take us on wacky, short story adventures of the useless and crap kind. An utterly incomprehensible opening tale involving spying on a husband's cheating wife, musings on sex, the re-creation of said cheating and a voice over onslaught, it's comedic arthouse and really annoying. Not surprisingly Chu Yen-Ping directs the somewhat amusing middle segment ripping off Weekend At Bernie's but at least comedy is straight and simple. Finally, Sexy Story turns self aware as an interviewee in a news report in the film suggests the short story structure is lazy and lacking in quality. Leading to a short story that is lazy and lacking in quality as two women terrorize a timid salesman and seems to be after his sperm. Even if made as an intentional joke, it's still an annoying cap to a dumb piece of crap.

A Chinese teenage ghost story with as much complexity and depth that you would expect from the age group it features and for what crowd it's aimed for (again, teenagers). Despite, Lo Kim-Wah (Sunshine Cops) and producer Wong Jing seems persistent to make a dramatic mark here as attempts are made to inject pathos and somber moods into the fluffy romance. An admirable choice but one that can not escape the limited character drama that an effort like this works with. The instincts are correct however but should've been put to use in a story of more mature nature. Then perhaps the adult crowd would've reacted as well.

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One starring vehicle was all Chen Wo-Fu logged before his suicide at 24 and while The Shadow Boxer makes it clear we weren't dealing with a fully grown star, there was charisma in the real life Tai Chi champion. As part of the very proper martial arts values and morals of the film, there is occasional dramatic strength Chen is part of (dealing with tolerance within the Tai Chi style taught to him) but director Pau Hsieh-Li (co-director of Boxer From Shantung) merely churns out Shaw Brother's standards here. Attentive viewers may even draw parallels to the similar structure between this film and The Big Boss (Chen even had a passing resemblance to Bruce Lee). Yuen Woo-Ping co-directed the largely unspectacular action.

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a.k.a. The Spiritual Boxer Part II, a sequel in name only to Lau Kar Leung's groundbreaking directorial debut. It set the stage for the kung-fu comedy while also blending in elements of spirit boxing but ultimately in itself was an uneven effort. By 1979, when The Shadow Boxing came out, Snake In The Eagle's Shadow had firmly ignited the combination of comedy and martial arts and Lau Kar Leung's answer to all that definitely resonates better in movies like Mad Monkey Kung Fu and My Young Auntie. However, the hopping vampires makes their big entrance in Hong Kong cinema here in this a middle effort from Lau. It still means decently entertaining and Lau brings in familiar faces and elements from The Spiritual Boxer to an ever so slightly better comedic effect (such as the female sidekick, this time played by Wong Hang-Sau, who serves up the film's best comedy sequence when she's first familiarizing herself in the role as a corpse herder). As the drunken master, Lau Kar Wing's more substantial presence, compared to Chiang Yang's similar and disappointingly minor role in the The Spiritual Boxer, is welcome. Gordon Lau is also fun as the human masquerading as a vampire and most of Lau's regular players such as Lee Hoi Sang and Wilson Tong appear as well.

Lau's action directing, while accomplished obviously, never truly ignites and Wang Yu's Vampire Fist technique is more of a neat idea on paper rather than an exciting on screen fighting style. The Shadow Boxing and The Spiritual Boxer should be among your low priorities while exploring Lau Kar Leung's tremendous filmography as director and even he is allowed low-points.

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Undercover cop Hsiong (Waise Lee) has a tendency to often have his cover blown and ultimately it catches up to him as he dies in a high pursuit car chase, leaving colleagues behind and newly befriended hostess Witty (Carina Lau) behind. Then there's the problem of a case of 10 million dollars gone missing before his death too and as a ghost, Hsiong tries to put together the puzzle while also learning how to contact the human world...

Very low budget (not even special effects are used when Waise Lee walks around as a ghost or trying to interact with stuff) but a well-stuffed package nonetheless, matters are actually close to light-hearted and darkness doesn't come as much out of left field as you think. Albert Lai (A Serious Shock! Yes Madam!) directs a bit on the sloppy side though, showing little logical progress in the growing affection between Hsiong and Witty and any other plot development just gets dumped on us quite sloppily. But nonetheless, by bringing in literally the angle from Ghost (and tons of other flicks) and with engaging leads, Shadow Cop is easy stuff to like for the moment. Also with Ben Lam and Kenneth Tsang.

Not always a very snappy or visually distinctive director at the likes of Golden Harvest, Lo Wei's Shaw Brothers career at least benefited from the production facilities greatly but The Shadow Whip is also a fine exercise in short, to the point genre excess. Cheng Pei-Pei's Miss Yun tries to untangle why her Uncle (Tien Feng) is the target of bandits and swordsmen and as these things go, there's more to this desire for bloodshed than meets the eye. Storytelling is precise and not cluttered either. All aided by beautifully snowy landscapes combined with the expertly crafted and lit sets on the Shaw Brothers lot, a practically clothed and iconic Cheng Pei-Pei (ear flaps become fetching via this woman), large scale action (the intense fight scenes using the whip are very dynamic), a running time of 80 minutes and there's a very positive outcome from Lo Wei's work here. Co-starring Yueh Hua and Ku Feng.