AKA: Yi boh laai beng duk; Yibola bing du
Country and Year: Hong Kong (1996)
Director: Herman Yau
Starring: Anthony Wong, Lo Meng, Shing Fui-on

Review By: David Austin
Rating: 3 ½ out of 4 stars (very good)

Ebola Syndrome is so loathsome, so truly foul, yet so spirited and fun, that I can’t help but love it. To my mind, what’s not to like about a movie that features Anthony Wong running through the streets of Hong Kong spitting on people and yelling “Ebola!” Apparently though, at least judging by his reaction when CSB’s Charlie brought it up during a recent interview, Anthony Wong doesn’t feel the same way. In fact, in his commentary track included in this release, he talks about how little he enjoys doing this kind of film, and asks rhetorically why anyone would want to watch it. Nevertheless, even though Anthony would rather forget this one, we are extremely happy that it is finally available to a wider audience.

Ebola Syndrome is one of the bastard stepchildren of the Category III rating (the HK equivalent of NC-17). It doesn’t have the powerful performance of Anthony Wong in The Untold Story (aka Human Meat Roast Pork Buns), or Simon Yam in Dr. Lamb. Nor does it have the raw talent and gut-wrenching human suffering of Billy Tang’s ferocious Red to Kill or Run and Kill (two films whose genius I can acknowledge despite never wanting to see them again). All Ebola Syndrome has going for it is a complete lack of taste and a greasy eagerness to please by any means necessary, not uncommon attributes in the films of producer Wong Jing. However, Ebola Syndrome truly goes above and beyond in those two attributes.

Actually, “above” may convey the exact opposite impression of what Ebola Syndrome pulls off. To give you an idea of the depths to which Ebola Syndrome is willing to seek, only a quick plot summary is necessary. Anthony Wong, looking truly repellent in a sleazy ponytail, plays Kai, a dirtball who commits murder after being caught with another man’s wife. Fleeing Hong Kong, he winds up in Africa working for a slumming Lo Meng (Toad, from the Five Deadly Venoms) and his wife, who run a greasy spoon. Wong has the hots for Meng’s wife, but is reduced to masturbating with meat he then serves his unwitting customers. On a trip into the hinterland, Meng and Wong encounter an entire village stricken with Ebola, and Wong becomes a carrier. To give you an idea of how this film works, it is not enough that Kai simply catches the disease, he has to catch it by raping a dying African woman on the side of road.

Fortunately for Wong, and unfortunately for everyone he comes into contact with, Wong is only a carrier – he suffers no symptoms himself. After serving up passels of diseased (and otherwise befouled) meat to a selection of customers, Wong returns to Hong Kong. There he hooks up with a former lover, and is hunted by the police and the survivor of his previous massacre.

Yau presents this story as a parade of grotesques. Kai is a creature of pure id, scratching and twitching like Mifune in Yojimbo, he sleazes his way through the world snatching exactly what he wants, be it food, sex or money. Kai doesn’t just murder his lover – he cuts out her tongue with chicken shears. Meanwhile, infected civilians twitch like epileptics and froth at the mouth.

Of course, with scenes like this, it’s all about carry-out. Here director Yau goes to town, bringing a manic energy to this simple premise. My personal favorite creation was Wong’s “germ cam,” where we see the buzzing Ebola germs from the back of Wong’s throat as he interacts with unsuspecting citizens. Wong himself does not pull off a coup as in The Untold Story – where his sweaty everyman murderer won him Hong Kong’s top acting prize – but he chews the scenery with a vengeance, climaxing in the scene where he runs amok on the streets of Hong Kong.

Another interesting aspect of Ebola Syndrome is the extent to which the villain is the protagonist and the heroes are complete ciphers. Throughout the film, we follow the daughter of Kai’s lover, who has since become an air hostess, her boyfriend, and the police detectives in charge of investigating the Ebola outbreak, but at no time are they anything more than pretty-faced do-gooders. It is entirely Wong’s show, and, as with a car wreck, it is impossible to turn away.

Recommended? Yes, for those with strong stomachs and the right attitude, Ebola Syndrome is a boisterous good time.

If you like this, you might like: The Untold Story, Taxi Hunter, Dr. Lamb, Run and Kill, Red to Kill (though I hesitate to recommend the latter to any but the most jaded audiences)

DVD DETAILS

DVD Production Company: Discotek (www.discotekmedia.com)
Release Date: July 31, 2007
Run Time: 98 Mins
Extras: Liner Notes, Original Trailer

Discotek’s 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen Region 1 DVD is one hell of an improvement over the previous, atrocious, Hong Kong DVD. In a particularly nice touch that I hope more DVD companies pick up on, Discotek includes not only redone English subtitles, and commentary track subtitles, but the original garbled HK subtitles, a welcome touch for nostalgists.

Equally importantly, Discotek has gone above and beyond in assembling a lovely selection of extras. First, for those who thought the film didn’t go far enough, there is an assortment of deleted scenes, consisting of the more graphically violent material that was removed from the theatrical cut, ranging from tongues being snipped off, to heads popping off, to faces being peeled off. You may detect a theme here.

Moreover, despite Wong’s apparent hostility to the film, Discotek were able to get him and director Yau to participate in both a commentary track and an interview. Wong sits through the interview stone-faced and wearing sunglasses, but his camaraderie with Yau (still directing, his recent Lethal Ninja is a hoot) is apparent. The commentary track can be a little sparse, but the two banter amusingly, with Wong complaining how fat he looked during the filming and how much hair he has lost since, questioning whether the female actresses were students or actual hookers, and pointing out how scenes of people collapsing of Ebola and twitching on the sidewalks in Hong Kong were carried out without the knowledge of bystanders. Yau is a little more generous towards the film – in response to Wong’s question of “Why do Europeans like this?” he answers, “I don’t know, but it’s good to have someone like your movie.” Truer words …

© David Austin