''The Untold Story'' is a 1993 Hong Kong
crime
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...
-
horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...
directed by
Herman Yau
Herman Yau Lai-to (; born 13 July 1961) is a Hong Kong people, Hong Kong film director, screenwriter and cinematographer.
Filmography As director
* 1987: ''No Regret'' – Director
* 1991: ''Don't Fool Me'' – Director
* 1992: ''Best of the ...
and starring
Danny Lee and
Anthony Wong, with the former also serving as the film's producer.
The film is based on the "
Eight Immortals Restaurant murders" that took place on 4 August 1985 in the Hei Sha Wan section of Areia Preta,
Nossa Senhora de Fátima,
Portuguese Macau
Macau was under Portuguese Empire, Portuguese rule from the establishment of the first official Portuguese settlement in 1557 until its Handover of Macau, handover to China in 1999. It comprised the Municipality of Macau and the Municipality of ...
.
While the massacre involving a family of 10 did occur at the restaurant, the alleged
cannibalism
Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is also well document ...
is
sensationalism
In journalism and mass media, sensationalism is a type of editorial tactic. Events and topics in news stories are selected and worded to excite the greatest number of readers and viewers. This style of news reporting encourages biased or emoti ...
inferred from
the incomplete discovery of the victims' corpse, only finding limbs, and that there was a lack of telltale smell of decomposition despite the summer tropical heat.
The film was followed up by two unrelated
sequel
A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...
s with ''
The Untold Story 2'', featuring Wong returning in a supporting role, and ''The Untold Story 3'' with Lee returning in another role.
Plot
The story opens in 1978 with an argument in a small
Hong Kong
Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
apartment. Chan Chi-Leung brutally beats a gambler named Keung nearly to death for refusing to lend him money before burning him alive. He quickly flees the
Hong Kong police
The Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) is the primary law enforcement, investigative agency, and largest Hong Kong Disciplined Services, disciplined service under the Security Bureau (Hong Kong), Security Bureau of Hong Kong.
Pursuant to the one c ...
by burning his identification documents and changing his name to Wong Chi Hang.
The film then flashes forward to
Macau
Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...
in 1986, where a family discovers a bag of rotten limbs washed up on the beach. Police officers Bull, Robert, King Kong, and Bo arrive on the scene before being joined by their supervisor Inspector Lee. The cops examine the limbs and take them in for examination.
Wong Chi Hang is then shown to be working at the
Eight Immortals Restaurant where he receives and tears up a letter meant for Cheng Lam, the former owner of the restaurant. It is then shown that the restaurant is still in Cheng Lam's ownership and Wong is unable to procure it officially without the former's signature, who is mysteriously absent.
King Kong and Bo take one of the arms to a forensics analyst who identifies the arm as that of Chan Lai Chun, Cheng Lam's mother in law. Robert also receives a letter from Cheng Lam's older brother addressed to the Macau police department, saying that Cheng Lam has mysteriously disappeared.
Wong is later caught cheating at
Mahjong
Mahjong (English pronunciation: ; also transliterated as mah jongg, mah-jongg, and mahjongg) is a tile-based game that was developed in the 19th century in China and has spread throughout the world since the early 20th century. It is played ...
by a waiter who works in the restaurant. When confronted about it, Wong stabs him in the eye with a restaurant's reception check spindle and beats him to death with a large soup spoon before dismembering his corpse and turning it into pork buns. He then disposes of the bones by putting them in the dumpster.
Inspector Lee orders the other cops to investigate the restaurant after reading the letter. When interviewed, Wong tells Bull and Robert that Cheng Lam has gone away and sold the shop to him while Pearl tells Bo of the letters from the mainland the restaurant has received. Wong shoos the cops away after giving them free pork buns.
That night, Wong corners Pearl and brutally beats and tortures her before raping her and stabbing her vagina with chopsticks, killing her. He then dismembers her corpse as well.
Inspector Lee and his team later visit the restaurant, whereupon Wong acts suspiciously when questioned by Lee who then places 24 hour surveillance on Wong.
Wong is caught trying to dispose of evidence linking him to Cheng Lam by Robert and Bo and is detained by the team while trying to cross the border to China.
Inspector Lee pieces the whole case together, summating that Wong murdered Cheng Lam and his family before stealing his restaurant. Wong denies this and Lee has Robert and Bull beat Wong to make him confess. Wong breaks free during his torture and shows his wounds to the press, claiming
police brutality
Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or Public order policing, a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, b ...
.
Not wanting to have a lawsuit on their hands, Lee throws Wong into prison, where he shares the same block as Cheng Poon, Cheng Lam's younger brother. He is then savagely beaten by Poon and his gang to the point of internal bleeding. In order to escape, Wong attempts suicide by slashing his wrist and biting it, leading to him being rushed to the hospital.
Lee and Robert are approached by a pair of Hong Kong police detectives who reveal Wong's real name and origin as a Hong Kong gambler named Chan Chi Leung and that they have enough evidence to charge him for the murder of Keung, whom he burned to death many years ago. The detectives offer Lee a plan B, which is to extradite Wong to Hong Kong if they cannot find evidence to charge Wong. Lee refuses.
Wong briefly escapes from the hospital by taking a nurse hostage and overpowering King Kong. But he is stopped by Bull and is beaten up once again.
Lee then organizes endless torture for Wong until he confesses, injecting him with drugs, inducing insomnia, causing blisters on his skin and beating him frequently. After days of torture, Wong finally confesses.
It all started when Wong was just a cook in Cheng Lam's restaurant. After Wong cheated at Mahjong, Cheng owed him a debt of 183,300 dollars which he refused to pay. Wong then took Cheng's wife and 5 children hostage. He first cut the throat of Cheng's son before stabbing his wife and Cheng himself. He then butchered the remaining children alive. Later on, he lured Cheng's mother-in-law into the restaurant, where he killed her as well. After the murders, Wong began to dispose of the bodies by dismembering them before disposing the other body parts in the ocean and in the dumpster. He then later confessed that he turned his victims into pork buns during the process.
After confessing, Wong is sent back to prison, where after one final confrontation with Lee and Bull, he commits suicide by slashing his wrists. The narration notes that while there was indeed enough evidence to charge Wong for the murders, it never happened due to his death.
Cast and roles
Reception
Category III rating
In
Hong Kong
Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
, due to its explicit and disturbing depictions of sex, violence and gore involving the Wong Chi-hang character, ''The Untold Story'' was awarded a
Category III rating (Persons Aged 18 and Above Only), the equivalent of the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
'
NC-17
The Motion Picture Association film rating system is used in the United States and its territories to rate a motion picture's suitability for certain audiences based on its content. The system and the ratings applied to individual motion picture ...
or
X-ratings.
Box office
Despite its restrictive Category III rating, the managed to grossed an exceptional
HK$15,763,018 at the Hong Kong box office during its theatrical run from 13 May to 2 June 1993.
Awards
''The Untold Story'' won its only nomination, with
Anthony Wong winning his first award for
Best Actor at the
13th Hong Kong Film Awards
The 13th Hong Kong Awards ceremony, honored the best 1993 in film, films of 1993 and took place on 22 April 1994 at Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Wan Chai, Hong Kong. The ceremony was hosted by Lydia Shum and John Sham, during the ceremon ...
.
See also
*
Cannibalism in popular culture
Cannibalism, the act of eating human flesh, is a recurring theme in popular culture, especially within the horror genre, and has been featured in a range of media that includes film, television, literature, music and video games. Cannibalism has ...
*
Eight Immortals Restaurant murders
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Untold Story, The
1993 films
1993 crime thriller films
1993 horror films
Crime horror films
Hong Kong horror thriller films
Hong Kong crime thriller films
Crime films based on actual events
Hong Kong splatter films
Hong Kong serial killer films
Police detective films
Films about cannibalism
Films about child death
1990s Cantonese-language films
Films directed by Herman Yau
Films set in Macau
Films set in 1978
Films set in 1986
1990s exploitation films
1990s Hong Kong films
Hong Kong exploitation films
Films set in restaurants