Daughter of Darkness (1993)

Pretty Good

Nice effects though.

Absolutely brilliant

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

This is another Category III (CAT III) movie, starring Anthony Wong, so this is gonna be great !The movie starts with Anthony Wong (cheers from the audience !) investigating a murder of an entire family, the only member of the family who is still alive is the young Wei Fong (played by Lily Chung, a CAT III hottie), after some evidences, Wei Fong decides to confess a sad story of abuse and violence....from her family.Daughter of Darkness starts as a comedy, with the officer Lui (Anthony Wong) investigating the murder, making you to "forget" about the mean spirited and sad atmosphere that you was expecting. But after that Wei Fong decides to confess, the movie continues with THAT mean spirited and sad atmosphere that you was expecting ! Besides "The Untold Story", this is one of the ESSENTIAL CAT III movies, that every CAT III fan should check. The music is great for set up the "mood" of the scenes (especially of the "sad" ones). The performance of Anthony Wong was awesome, just like the one of Lily Chung. There are enough sex scenes to entertain the male audience.

One year prior to her excellent turn as Ming Ming in 'Bloody' Billy Tang's top Cat II shocker Red To Kill, Lily Chung played another hapless victim of violence and sexual abuse in Daughter of Darkness (also directed by Tang).Chung plays Wei, a beautiful young woman who is tortured (mentally and physically) by her own family, until, one night, she finally snaps and sees to it that they will never harm her again.After a gruesome opening scene, in which Wei reports the slaughter of her family to the cops, and the bloodbath is examined by a sleazy cop (ably played by Anthony Wong), the movie gives way to a series of lame comedic moments, which serve to belie the shocking nature of the movie as a whole.However, once Wong's cop begins to unravel the truth about the grisly murders, the tone of the film shifts into much darker territory. Wei tells of her abuse and, in flashbacks, we see how, after being downtrodden by her mother and siblings, and repeatedly raped by her father, she savagely dispatches of her uncaring family.Packed to the rafters with scenes of nudity (Chung isn't shy about stripping off), perversion, voyeurism, violence, and general sleaziness, Daughter of Darkness is a very good example of Cat III excess.I see Daughter of Darkness as something of a practice run for Chung and Tang, whose next film together, Red to Kill, is the perfect Cat III experience. Daughter of Darkness isn't perfect, but fans of the genre will find much to enjoy in this ultimately dark and depressing slice of extreme cinema.*** The Universe release, which I viewed, is the most complete official version of the film available on DVD, however it is shorn of some moments of violence which were in the original theatrical release. ***

DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS is a pretty sleazy Cat III "shocker" with themes of violence, rape, murder, incest, voyeurism, among other assorted nastiness, but before ya get too excited, this one is pretty mediocre. Lily Chung (who was Ming-Ming in the far superior RED TO KILL) plays another tortured soul (the type of role she seems to do so well...) who is the "black sheep" of her family. There doesn't appear to be any real rhyme or reason, but her mother, father, sister, and brother all hate her and treat her like complete garbage. Eventually she gets tired of the constant abuse (and the abuse takes many disturbing shapes) and flips the f'ck out. The rest is pretty typical Cat III history.DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS isn't bad, but it isn't nearly as much of a stand-out HK "shocker" as THE UNTOLD STORY, RED TO KILL, or THE EBOLA SYNDROME, for example. Anthony Wong has another great performance - and even though he is a cop in this one, he is still a twisted, perverse, filthy f!cking scum-bag (and that's why we love ya Tony!!!). One of the big problems is that DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS starts as almost a straight-up comedy, then switches mid-film into a typical Cat III sleaze-fest when Chung begins to tell her story of abuse to the cops. I don't much mind the comedic aspects that tend to go along with even the most shocking of these types of films, but DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS switched from comedy to serious drama in a blink, and made for a disjointed feel. Regardless, still a decent entry and worth a look for all you pervert douche-bags out there (like me...) ; ) 7/10

Daughter of Darkness (1993) was one of the more brutal titles from Hong Kong to be released under the Category III rating. Originally, films received a Category III rating if they showed excessive nudity, strong sexual themes (even if they didn't show any sex or nudity), gay themes or violence. No one under the age of eighteen was allowed to view Category III films. But due to it's huge popularity, the rating became a whole new genre.The movie is a police procedural film told in a non-linear structure. A young woman (Lily Cheung)is found in her home, a survivor of a family massacre. Someone has butchered the mother, father (William Ho), brother and sister of the lone surviving victim. A suspect is caught and brutally interrogated by the police. But a slovenly officer (Anthony Wong) is on the case and not everything is what it seems to be.A vile and disturbing ride for all involved. Many of these police procedural films were based upon actual crimes. If you enjoy Category III films then this one has your name written all over it!Highly recommended.