Directed by Herman Yau, The Untold Story (Hong Kong - 1993) is a disturbing and ferocious extreme horror film based on the carnage that occurred on August 4, 1985 at the Chinese restaurant Eight Immortals in Macau, where an entire family was slaughtered inside their restaurant. The murders were committed by Macanese gambler Huang Zhiheng over gambling debts.
After strangling or fatally wounding each member with shards of glass, the killer cut up the bodies of the ten victims and disposed of them by throwing them into the sea or garbage bins.
Although it is almost true to fact, Herman Yau's film is a fictionalized version of the Zheng family murder as it focuses on the alleged cannibalism that occurred following the murders. As well as the brutality of the actions carried out by the psychopath, played here by Anthony Wong (a role that earned him the Best Actor award at the 13th Hong Kong Film Awards), The Untold Story seamlessly blends murder and anthropophagy while not skimping on explicit depictions of violence, including rape.
Nourished with sadism, the deep path of inhumanity taken by the protagonist will lead to a series of heinous acts of cruelty even against very young victims [WARNING: SPOILER ON THE MODUS OPERANDI OF THE MURDERER]: heads fractured against the wall or with the use of a ladle, a man burned alive, wooden chopsticks in a woman's private parts, a card stabbing pin stuck in an eye, decapitation, and then bodies dismembered, cut into pieces and destined for food consumption without the knowledge of the customers.[SPOILER END]. All accompanied by a good dose of splatter adorning every moment of the killer's madness.
The film's opening sequence deals with the 1973 murder carried out by Huang Zhiheng and then focuses on the events following the massacre of the Zheng family inside the restaurant (1985). Instead, in a long and shocking flashback, director Herman Yau reveals the horror to which the murderer subjected the restaurant owner along with his wife and their five children: a shocking barbarity reconstructed with meticulousness and coldness that leaves one dumbfounded.
The conclusion then portrays the psychopath in his final days, a period when there will be no shortage of violence and gruesome actions.
Interspersed with grotesque interludes useful to tone down the brutal implications of the story, Untold Story traces in a straightforward manner the shocking carnage that took place in the Chinese restaurant in 1985, highlighting those more morbid and perverse aspects of it that wedge it perfectly into the list of the best films in extreme cinema.
Plot:Â police investigate Wong Chi Hang, the new manager of the Eight Immortals restaurant whose former owners, however, have lost track of him. The discovery of human remains and the disappearance of the restaurant staff will lead the detective to suspect the man and frame him.
Also in the cast are Danny Lee, Emily Kwan, Siu-Ming Lau, Fui-On Shing, Eric Kei, King-Kong Lam, Julie Lee, and Parkman Wong.
The screenplay, on the other hand, was written by Kam-Fai Law and Wing-Kin Lau.
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The Untold Story will be available on DVD and Blu-ray starting October 13, 2020 through Unearthed Films.
The editions will have English subtitles and a rich special content section.
