Ebola Syndrome (1996) cult HK gore movie

[bloodkrishna]

Ebola Syndrome is one of the cultest and illest movie in Hong Kong movie history
[in HK, this movie is up there with cult films like Story of Ricky, Super Inframan...etc]

I wonder is this movie gain some attention or fame in USA or any other countries too?
anyone heard or watched this?

it's about A man called "Kai"
who is a gangster in HK, after he murder his boss and his wife
he ran far away to South Africa, working in a restaurant in China Town.

One day he follow his restaurant boss to some African tribe to buy pork meat,
he rape an African woman on the way,
and he got infected by Ebola virus because of that
but he is one of those very lucky guy that he have the antibody,
he won't die, but he start to spearding the disease

this movie is full of killing, rape, gore and sick jokes
like he uses a piece of pork in restaurant refrigerator to masturbate,
is one of the famous scene in this movie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Gxhd6z7a0Y
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edB1ZW-cgeE&feature=related
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[SkullBat308]

Love this flick, I'm a big fan of HK category III flicks 

[Trevor]

I wonder if any scenes were filmed here in SA?

[bloodkrishna]

I wonder if any scenes were filmed here in SA?

I'm not sure

the film have scenes filmed in China Town, wild countryside and tribe with Africans,
I'm not 100% sure those places is in SA,
but it clearly not in Hong Kong

[bloodkrishna]

Love this flick, I'm a big fan of HK category III flicks 

Yeah! We got some weird and quite extreme Cat. III flicks back in the days
but they don't make movies like this anymore

[Rev. Powell]

Yeah! We got some weird and quite extreme Cat. III flicks back in the days
but they don't make movies like this anymore

I'm seriously curious.  Any idea why not?  Did the trend just play itself out, or did it have something to do with the transfer of sovereignty to China?  Is there censorship pressure now? 

[bloodkrishna]

Yeah! We got some weird and quite extreme Cat. III flicks back in the days
but they don't make movies like this anymore

I'm seriously curious.  Any idea why not?  Did the trend just play itself out, or did it have something to do with the transfer of sovereignty to China?  Is there censorship pressure now? 

hmm.... good question
I guess HK movie don't as interesting/weird as before
is because of few reasons

firstly
well, back in the days HK movie business is better than now
people much more willing pay to go to Cinema to watch movies,
because of they don't get as much entertainment like we got now,
but most important is because of BT, streaming and all those internet methods to watch a movie for free

so because of the business aint that good as before
they don't make films too alternative, too extreme right now
Film markers make play it safe type movies
love comedy, kung fu flicks [Donnie Yan, but I don't like his films]
and for try hard to not losing money
HK movies now always mainly target on Mainland China Market

you know, HK is a small place,
box office performance is nowhere can match with CHINA
so the genre, nature of the movie is limited.

2nd,
some of the most interesting, creative, weird, extreme HK movies is made on early 80'
the era of "the New Wave of HK Movies"
early 80' have dozens new directors going to film business
All of them made some very "interesting" movies,
some of them do experimental stuff, mixing diff genres

some of them just made some most extreme stuff that no one in HK ever did
they made expolitation film

some interesting/cult films of new wave of HK movies era

The Butterfly Murders [1979, directed by Hark Tsui]
The Beasts [1980, directed by Dennis Yu]
Future Flash Kung Fu [1983, directed by Kirk Wong]
twinkle twinkle little star [1983, directed by Cheung Kwok Ming]

I'm not a expert in new wave of hk movies,
I only watched few flicks,
and some of those I very wanted to watch is out of print and too obscure
[like the first two films of Krik Wong, included above mention future flash kung fu,
which is a dystopian sci fi B movie, and this kind of movies DONT usually seens in HK]

[bloodkrishna]

and of course,
back in the earlier days in 60' 70',
We have some strange, gory kung fu films by Cheh Chang

I think many movie lovers knows him and his works well
The Five Deadly Venoms
One Armed Swordman
The Heroic Ones
The Kid with the Golden Arm
Five Elements Ninja [reviewed in badmovies.org, certified fun as hell B movie]
Crippled Avenger [which I heard of Inspired someone to made Crippled Masters]

[Jim H]

Yeah! We got some weird and quite extreme Cat. III flicks back in the days
but they don't make movies like this anymore

I'm seriously curious.  Any idea why not?  Did the trend just play itself out, or did it have something to do with the transfer of sovereignty to China?  Is there censorship pressure now? 

I think bloodkrishna's summary is very good - I'd have said similar things (though he most likely knows it better than me).  I will say there are very occasional glimpses of CATIII-style extreme movies in HK, but they're rare and there is nothing as out there as the crazy stuff from the 80s and 90s like Ebola Syndrome, The Untold Story, Dr. Lamb and so on.  I believe Wong Jing made a CATIII sex movie a year or two ago, and he had to import Japanese actresses as it was too difficult to find enough Chinese actresses who'd do nude scenes.  Wong Jing also made a IIB film a while back along the lines of the Naked Killer, which had lots of violence and nudity but was done in a way to pass without a CATIII...  I can't remember the name though.

But yeah, HK film business is so down and TONS of the films are mainland co-productions.  A lot of the vibrancy and creativity found in the golden age of HK cinema appears to be gone forever.  What's also worrying is a lack of a new pool of directors for genre fare - there aren't any young upcoming directors doing action, horror, etc, at least none that I've heard of.  It's just the same oldtimers who are awesome still putting out a few good films (Dante Lam, Gordon Chan, Benny Chan, Andrew Lau, Herman Yau, and so forth).

The only recent mainstream CATIII releases (which were never common, but are extremely rare now) I can name are The Mad Detective and Exiled, both of which are by Jonnie To and both of which got the CATIII for one scene each.  Namely, Exiled had a triad handshake (cut to secure a IIB in some releases) and The Mad Detective has an incredibly painful looking scene where a man cuts off his own ear (which To says was too important to cut). 

Oh, and bloodkrishna - thanks for the suggestions.  I own the Butterfly Murders and The Beasts was on my list of HK films to see, but I added Future Flash Kung and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  I've seen the Chang Cheh films you name.  I love the One Armed Swordsman films in particular.   

[retrorussell]

Great movie, I own it.  Well-directed and acted.  Anthony Wong is incredible as Kai, a dumb-as-nails sleazeball with a deadly virus coursing through his veins.  This flick, to me, rates as a comedy far more than horror.

According to IMDB it was indeed partially filmed in South Africa.  In Johannesburg, Gauteng and some other unidentified parts.

[Rev. Powell]

so because of the business aint that good as before
they don't make films too alternative, too extreme right now
Film markers make play it safe type movies

That could never happen here! 

[bloodkrishna]

Yeah! We got some weird and quite extreme Cat. III flicks back in the days
but they don't make movies like this anymore

I'm seriously curious.  Any idea why not?  Did the trend just play itself out, or did it have something to do with the transfer of sovereignty to China?  Is there censorship pressure now? 

I think bloodkrishna's summary is very good - I'd have said similar things (though he most likely knows it better than me).  I will say there are very occasional glimpses of CATIII-style extreme movies in HK, but they're rare and there is nothing as out there as the crazy stuff from the 80s and 90s like Ebola Syndrome, The Untold Story, Dr. Lamb and so on.  I believe Wong Jing made a CATIII sex movie a year or two ago, and he had to import Japanese actresses as it was too difficult to find enough Chinese actresses who'd do nude scenes.  Wong Jing also made a IIB film a while back along the lines of the Naked Killer, which had lots of violence and nudity but was done in a way to pass without a CATIII...  I can't remember the name though.

But yeah, HK film business is so down and TONS of the films are mainland co-productions.  A lot of the vibrancy and creativity found in the golden age of HK cinema appears to be gone forever.  What's also worrying is a lack of a new pool of directors for genre fare - there aren't any young upcoming directors doing action, horror, etc, at least none that I've heard of.  It's just the same oldtimers who are awesome still putting out a few good films (Dante Lam, Gordon Chan, Benny Chan, Andrew Lau, Herman Yau, and so forth).

The only recent mainstream CATIII releases (which were never common, but are extremely rare now) I can name are The Mad Detective and Exiled, both of which are by Jonnie To and both of which got the CATIII for one scene each.  Namely, Exiled had a triad handshake (cut to secure a IIB in some releases) and The Mad Detective has an incredibly painful looking scene where a man cuts off his own ear (which To says was too important to cut). 

Oh, and bloodkrishna - thanks for the suggestions.  I own the Butterfly Murders and The Beasts was on my list of HK films to see, but I added Future Flash Kung and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  I've seen the Chang Cheh films you name.  I love the One Armed Swordsman films in particular.   

Yeah Wong Jing is a famous director in HK,
he make himself a name by tons of low budget films

here's some directors that making some unusual stuff in HK cinema history:

Tun Fei Mou-
born in China but he joined Shaw Brothers
he's a very rare example of Director making exploitation movie in HK

Lost Souls (1980)
about Chinese illegal immigration got capture by human trafficking organization

Hei tai yang 731 (1988) [I believe English title is Man Behind the Sun]
about Chinese people got capture, torture and killing by Japanese during WW II

Kuei Chih Hung-
best known for his huge amount of old horror flicks from Shaw Brothers

some of his Chinese horror flicks
Hex (1980)
Bewitched (1981)

he even have one woman in prison movie called The Bamboo House Of Dolls (1973)

Pang Ho Cheung-
I think he is the only New Hong Kong director to making some alternative stuff

some of his works:

You Shoot, I Shoot (2001)
black comedy about one professional killer looking for a director,
to shoot the killing he did, to make a snuff footage for his clients

Exodus (2007)
about a normal police accidently discover a secret organized crime
which is formed by married women only
their goal is to help women to kill their own husband if they did something wrong

Dream Home (2010)
one very rare example of modern HK exploitation film,
showing a mad woman who brutally murder some people

I like what Pang Ho Cheung did for HK movies business
he give us a different choice
although he is doing something diff,
he have passion in movie and doing what he like to do
I have my respect to him
but I think all of his work is about 7 to 8 out of 10
I wish he have some 10 out of 10 classic but until now he don't have
I just wish someday he will finally did it

and sadly, people in HK seems don't appreciate his works so much,
especially EXODUS, people criticize it for the non-sense,
[about husband killing married women organized crime]
I think movie watchers nowaday in HK is much close-minded then before
that's another reason our movies don't as interesting as before