Splatter is often equated with horror, but that’s not really true. Because even if the red lifeblood is spilled in particularly lavish quantities in splatter films, whether it’s a bitter orgy of violence or a funny, entertaining butchery, it doesn’t necessarily mean that a genre can be assigned right away. One of the most famous examples that underscores this is “Story Of Ricky” by director Ngai Choi Lam (“The Seventh Curse”)
The martial arts action game from 1991 lives up to its celebrated and extremely brutal manga template and has always been admired by fans and the trade press, not least for its wonderfully creative, completely escalating violent peaks, which you hardly ever see in this form both before and after got to see, celebrated. But in the end, what had to follow followed: The unabridged version of “Story Of Ricky” not only ended up on the index in Germany, but was also confiscated. Anyone who wanted to see the film in its entirety had a really, really difficult time in Germany for a long time. But these problems are now a thing of the past.
After 23 years, “Story Of Ricky” has finally been removed from the index. This means that after a few strictly limited collector’s editions that have already been released in Austria in recent years, there will soon be an official German uncut evaluation of the film in home cinemas. Nameless Media has already secured the rights for this.
The action splatter film, also known internationally as “Riki-Oh”, is based on the manga of the same name by Masahiko Takajo and Tetsuya Saruwatari and is not only represented in our lists of the best manga adaptations of all time and the best splatter films of all time, but also belongs to it to the exclusive group of so-called CAT III films. In the 80s and 90s in particular, films from Hong Kong that were particularly hard and even banned in many countries received this classification, such as the war exploitation film “Men Behind The Sun” or John Woo’s “Bullet In The Head”.
Whether it’s the story of Ricky (Siu-Wong Fan, “Ip Man”), who was innocently convicted of the murder of his girlfriend, who still wants to serve out his sentence until he finally brutally defends himself against the corrupt authorities in the prison, but also actually index material is? Fans have been debating this for many years. The fact is that there are hardly any action films that offer such blood-soaked entertainment.
At the same time, all of this is so exaggerated that reality and fiction never threaten to become blurred. Either way: Just the scene in which Ricky punches into the body of one of his adversaries and he then tries to strangle the title hero with his own intestines is splatter cinema for eternity.
If you want to put the upcoming German release of “Story Of Ricky” on your shelves, you’ll have to wait a while and then you should also expect that the film will be released as a limited edition, which collectors will clamor for. Anyone who has ever tried to purchase an exclusive release from Nameless Media knows what we’re talking about: you have to be really fast here and also have the necessary luck in order not to end up empty-handed. But there are alternatives – right now:
» “Story Of Ricky”: Uncut Blu-ray on Amazon*
While you can certainly still find a few copies of the Austrian editions that have already been released on the secondary market, all those who prefer to watch films in the original sound will find what they are looking for on Amazon. Here you can get the outstanding British Blu-ray from 88 Films with great picture and sound quality and a stylish cover for a relatively slim 15 euros (Chinese & English).
*The link to the Amazon offer is a so-called affiliate link. If you make a purchase through this link, we will receive a commission.
