User Reviews

After serving six years in an American prison for murder, Li Chien Man (Ben Ng) returns to Hong Kong to stay with his brother, restaurateur Li Wai Man (Wan Choi Wong), and his sister-in-law Yin (Lily Chung). Li Chien Man wants to borrow money from his brother to start a business, but Yin doesn't approve. One day, Yin returns to her apartment while her husband is away on business and starts an argument with Li Chien Man, the altercation turning physical; Yin is accidentally knocked to the floor by her brother-in-law, hitting her head on a table on the way down. Li Chien Man goes to get some rubbing medicine for Yin's injury, but when he returns, he discovers that she has died. What to do? What. To. Do?

Li Chien Man's solution: get seriously stoned, knock back some booze to further numb the senses, and then reach for the power tools in order to dismember the body. Butchering over and done with, and it's down to the harbour to dump the pieces in the water. Of course, it's not long before the body parts are discovered, although identifying the victim proves difficult for the police, at least until Li Wai Man returns home and reports his wife missing. Realising the trouble he is in, Li Chien Man hotfoots it to the mainland to work at his parents' restaurant, and soon after meets and falls for pretty karaoke hostess Mei (Yuk-Mui Yeung). Happiness for the couple is not to be, however, for police officer Au (Bobbie Au-Yeung) is hot on Li Chien Man's tail.

O. C. T. B. Case - The Floating Body is a rather unusual Cat III in that it has a somewhat sympathetic killer, who doesn't mean to murder Yin and who is kind and helpful to Mei; it also introduces an atypical supernatural element towards the end in the form of Yin's ghost, who haunts Li Chien Man. The rest of the film, however, is business as usual, with the graphic dismemberment of Yin's body rivaling the genre's most infamous entries in terms of gore, and the police procedural drama allowing for flashbacks to flesh out the characters. Thankfully, the investigative work by Au is actually quite absorbing and, unlike so many films of this ilk, doesn't cause the film to drag. Although I generally prefer my Cat IIIs to feature more than the one extreme scene, O. C. T. B. Case - The Floating Body kept me entertained throughout, although I do admit that the way it ended left me a tad confused (something lost in translation perhaps).

6/10. Not the best the genre has to offer, but still worth watching, if only for the bloody Black & Decker in the bathroom showstopper.