Ebola Syndrome (1996)

Directed by Herman Yau

Starring Anthony Wong, Meng Lo

98 mins; MA15+; DVD

Rightfully proclaimed to be the 'sickest Hong Kong film of all time', Ebola Syndrome is truly a horror film that sends a gut-punch to prudery. At its core, Ebola is a comedy, its sick moments of pitch-black humour really quite fun. The film was, alongside The Untold Story and Dr Lamb, one of the movies that started the Category III craze. Cat III is merely a Hong Kong classification (after I, IIA and IIB), however it has become synonymous with the country's most depraved films.

Ebola begins in Hong Kong where our anti-hero Kai (Wong) is having sex with his boss' wife. When his boss walks in on them, Kai has the living crap beaten out of him. Never one to back down, Kai slaughters his boss and lover before attempting (and failing) to set fire to a young girl. Now a wanted criminal, Kai flees Hong Kong to South Africa and continues his deviancy while working in a restaurant in Johannesberg Chinatown. When he and his boss go to tribal areas to acquire cheap meat, Kai rapes a dying African woman, contracting Ebola from his victim. However, Kai is one of the few who can carry but not suffer the effects from the disease and proceeds to spread it to every man, woman and child he comes into contact with in a number of bizarre and downright-sickening ways.

There are no barriers for Ebola - sexual violence, postmortem mutilations, cannibalism and murder is all covered in Herman Yau's audacious picture. It's quite astounding Ebola scored an MA15+ classification while films like Last House on the Left and The Gore Gore Girls are rated R18+, or banned altogether. Kai is a man totally intolterent of bullying and it is through his paranoia and obsessive self-preservation that gives the film humour; its disturbing content derived purely from Kai's couldn't-give-a-damn attitude. The scary thing is how well Wong plays his character and the direction is pretty good; Ebola's sleaze and ultra-violence is the perfect cure for Hollywood's comparably-weak output. The Australian DVD, distributed by Hard Corps, has zip by way of special features but is one of the few legit releases of Ebola around, so beggars can't really be choosy. Strictly for fans of Hong Kong Cat III exploitation (which was a little too sadistic for me), Ebola is a sick, depraved exercise which has become a cult hit. If you think US horror cinema is becoming for pussies, look to the East. 6/10

War and Westerns

Asian