Story of Ricky is an alternative prison break movie. Siu-Wong Fan plays Riki\Ricky (or Tarzan in the dubbed version), a super human prisoner who draws comparisons to Ken in Fist of the North Star in terms bone-breaking martial arts ability and 70s\80s action movie characters like John Rambo (one man fighting mobs).
The film is set in a dystopian future were prisoners are locked in a high tech maximum security prison with abusive tough guys as wardens. Riki is the man who fights them. That's all there is to the plot.
The film gained an infamous reputation on (bootleg) VHS in the 90s becoming one of the most sought after Category III films (the equivalent of UK 18 or USA NC-17). It was a huge talking point due to the insane levels of gore, much like Total Recall and Braindead around this time. The film take cues from the body horror of Cronenberg, the gore of splatter movies and its Manga source material. Infamous scenes include a bad guy being thrown into a mincing machine, a stomach being punched open and a hand being literally punched through with the fingers flying off. It's the sort of thing the teenage me loved. The special effects look corny, they looked bad in 1991 and look worse now, but there's something about non-CGI special effects that are well, special.
What lets the film down is some cheap production design. I know it is set in a prison, but the sets are empty corridors and the bosses office is just a desk with some sex films on a book shelf behind him; the low budget can't be disguised. There's also some bad acting and directing; big groups of extras told to point and laugh. If it was a longer production there might be people playing chess in the background, maybe a group sharing a joke etc. It's a minor complaint, but once you notice it it can't be unseen.
Most people watch this for the gore and ridiculous scenes. It is a low budget production and Ngai Choi Lam's second film after camp sci-fi horror, The Cat. I enjoyed it as a teenager, but it really is not a good film, but it sure is entertaining.
The film is set in a dystopian future were prisoners are locked in a high tech maximum security prison with abusive tough guys as wardens. Riki is the man who fights them. That's all there is to the plot.
The film gained an infamous reputation on (bootleg) VHS in the 90s becoming one of the most sought after Category III films (the equivalent of UK 18 or USA NC-17). It was a huge talking point due to the insane levels of gore, much like Total Recall and Braindead around this time. The film take cues from the body horror of Cronenberg, the gore of splatter movies and its Manga source material. Infamous scenes include a bad guy being thrown into a mincing machine, a stomach being punched open and a hand being literally punched through with the fingers flying off. It's the sort of thing the teenage me loved. The special effects look corny, they looked bad in 1991 and look worse now, but there's something about non-CGI special effects that are well, special.
What lets the film down is some cheap production design. I know it is set in a prison, but the sets are empty corridors and the bosses office is just a desk with some sex films on a book shelf behind him; the low budget can't be disguised. There's also some bad acting and directing; big groups of extras told to point and laugh. If it was a longer production there might be people playing chess in the background, maybe a group sharing a joke etc. It's a minor complaint, but once you notice it it can't be unseen.
Most people watch this for the gore and ridiculous scenes. It is a low budget production and Ngai Choi Lam's second film after camp sci-fi horror, The Cat. I enjoyed it as a teenager, but it really is not a good film, but it sure is entertaining.