The Untold Story (八仙飯店之人肉叉燒包, Bat sin fan dim: Yan yuk cha siu bau) is a 1993 live-action theatrical Hong Kong film directed by Herman Yau, produced by Danny Lee, and written by Law Kam-Fai & Sammy Lau. The film stars Danny Lee Sau-Yin, Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, Emily Kwan Bo-Wai, Lau Siu-Ming, Shing Fui-On, Eric Kei Ka-Fat, Lam King-Kong and Parkman Wong Pak-Man, with music composed by Jonathan Wong. It was theatrically released in May 1993 for Hong Kong and distributed by Newport Entertainment Company Limited and Golden Sun Film Company Limited.
Note: This post also contains images from the booklet that are not suitable for work.
Background:
“In 1978 in Hong Kong, a grisly murder takes place. Eight years later on a Macao beach, kids discover the severed hands of a fresh victim. A squadron of coarse, happy-go-lucky cops investigate and suspicion falls on Wong Chi Hang, the new owner of The Eight Immortals Restaurant famous for its delicious pork buns. The hands belong to the missing mother of the restaurant’s former owner who has disappeared along with the rest of his family. Staff at the restaurant continue to go missing but the police can’t find any hard evidence that Wong is responsible. When he can’t produce a bill of sale proving his purchase of the restaurant, Wong is arrested and the police try to torture him into a confession. Can they make him talk? And what was in those famous pork buns?”
Plot Synopsis via 88 Films, July 2023.
When people first talk about Hong Kong’s Category III rating, one film is often brought up in the discussion and that’s Herman Yau’s 1993 film The Untold Story, which was released five years after the rating had been introduced. So by that point many people had witnessed the likes of Lam Nai-choi’s Erotic Ghost Story and Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky, Jamie Luk Kin-ming’s Robotrix as well as John Woo’s Bullet in the Head, Michael Mak’s Sex and Zen, and Wong Jing’s Naked Killer.
The Untold Story is based on the real-life Eight Immortals Restaurant murders that occurred in Macau back in 1985 and what happened is graphic in detail, to which this film somehow manages to adapt on the big screen. The film was so notorious that it was rated Category III and for good reason, given the violence shown throughout. That said, if there is one positive thing to come out of this film is that it did give Anthony Wong, who portrayed the murderer in the film, an award for Best Actor at the 13th Hong Kong Film Awards.
Now the first time that I watched The Untold Story is through 88 Films’ Blu-ray release because the film’s graphic nature meant that back in the 90s it would have been met with tons of cuts or a potential rejection by the British Board of Film Classification, who had already censored a number of Category III titles to which Eastern Heroes, who was definitely interested in the film as well as Dr Lamb which was released prior, didn’t want to risk it.
I found the story to be really interesting, as it had me captivated from beginning to end, especially with the final third of the film where everything starts to unravel in itself. I do applaud Anthony Wong’s performance because this is clearly a role that takes some real guts to go through, not only with the death scenes but also the amount of assaults he would have had during the latter half in the film – if those were legit then that’s big props for his acting skills.
While I did enjoy Ebola Syndrome (which both Herman Yau and Anthony Wong worked on), one issue I had was how the police had barely any presence in its story, so for The Untold Story this is the exact opposite as they were present all the way through. As much as I liked their roles in the film, I will admit their characters portrayal felt way too comedic and not taking the situation as seriously as they should, though some scenes were pretty entertaining. Other than that, I did enjoy The Untold Story and if you’re someone who could manage some brutal scenes then give it a watch, because it definitely deserves its notoriety with the Category III scene.
As mentioned earlier, 88 Films licensed The Untold Story for its UK debut release and surprisingly it was rated by the BBFC without any cuts, so this does give some more hope for a number of other Category III films to be considered for the UK, as long as they’re not too extreme.
About 88 Films:
88 Films, is an independent UK distributor for Asian Cinema, Italian Cinema, Horror, Cult Classics and Action. Their line-up of films in the Asian Cinema scene includes the works of Jackie Chan (Armour of God, Miracles), Sammo Hung (Dragons Forever, Heart of Dragon), Nam Nai Choi (Erotic Ghost Story, Robotrix), Lau Kar-leung (The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter, Martial Club), Chen Chi-Hwa (Half a Loaf of Kung Fu, Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin), Wong Jing (Casino Tycoon, God of Gamblers) and also many individual films from John Woo, Tsui Hark, Vincent Kok, Yuen Woo-ping and more. The distributor recently expanded to the US with ten Shaw Bros films such as The Chinese Boxer and Human Lanterns but also other works including US exclusive releases of In the Line of Duty I-IV series and Police Story 3: Supercop.
Their second half of 2023 and onwards line-up for Asian Cinema will include the Fight Back to School trilogy, The Last Blood (Hard Boiled II), Long Arm of the Law Parts I & II, Postman Fights Back, Twin Dragons, and a re-release of Battle Creek Brawl.
Deluxe Collector’s Edition Contents:
Despite going for a first print edition style release with Ebola Syndrome, 88 Films has gone back to their deluxe collector’s edition format for The Untold Story!
The rigid box features artwork illustrated by R.P. “KUNG FU BOB” O’Brien with an Amaray case that houses the Blu-ray disc plus the option to switch the sleeve between the new artwork and the classic Hong Kong poster artwork. Also included is an 40-page perfect bound book and a double-sided poster. The book includes two essays “The Untold Story: Cannibalising and Exploiting Real Life Crime” written by Zoe Rose Smith and “Untold Stories, Ebola Syndromes, and Sleep Curses: A Herman Yau & Anthony Wong Retrospective” written by Paul Bramhall. Also included in the booklet is a mini filmography of the duo’s collaborations in Hong Kong cinema.
The SRP is £34.99 and has an unspecified print run which for their previous Category III release was 2000 units. This edition just got released but expect it to sell out within the first few months of its release. A standard edition Blu-ray is expected to be released sometime later, maybe with a first print slipcase, but without the other physical items.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with new artwork by R.P. “KUNG FU BOB” O’Brien and Amaray packaging
- 40-page Perfect-bound Book written by Zoe Rose Smith and Paul Bramhall.
- Double-sided Fold-out Poster
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: 88 Films
Released: 3rd July 2023
88 Films’ Blu-ray release for The Untold Story presents the film in its original uncut and uncensored glory in high definition. The audio options available is the main Cantonese language with newly translated English subtitles, as well as an isolated score. The Blu-ray disc is accessible to Region A & B, and the white subtitles are unlockable during playback.
Also included with the film are a couple commentaries, two featurettes and two trailers. The first featurette is Anthony Wong attending Hong Kong Superstars event in the United Kingdom around October 1999 where he talks about Beast Cops and his involvement with The Untold Story. The second featurette is an interview with Rick Baker, the CEO for the home video distributor Eastern Heroes, who goes over how he discovered the Category III line-up, his experiences dealing with the BBFC and the surprise boom of the rating impacting people’s attention in the UK.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | Cantonese |
| Audio | Cantonese Linear PCM 2.0 Mono Isolated Score Linear PCM 2.0 Mono Audio Commentaries Dolby Digital 2.0 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 1.85:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | A B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | 1 BD-50 |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
- Audio Commentary with Hong Kong Film Expert Frank Djeng
- Audio Commentary with Actor Anthony Wong
- Audio Commentary with Director Herman Yau
- Hong Kong Superstars – Anthony Wong’s UK Visit (12:42 runtime)
- Cantonese Carnage – Interview with Rick Baker (13:38 runtime)
- Hong Kong Trailer
- English Trailer
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
The Untold Story is available to own on Blu-ray from 88 Films for the United Kingdom & Ireland. The deluxe collector’s edition release can be purchased through 88 Films’ official website, Amazon UK and Terracotta store.
(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)
The Normanic Vault 
Leave a comment