Her Vengeance (Deluxe Limited Edition Blu-ray) Unboxing

Her Vengeance (血玫瑰) is a 1988 live-action theatrical Hong Kong film directed by Lam Nai-Choi, and produced by Chua Lam, with distribution by Golden Harvest. The film starred Pauline Wong, Lam Ching-Ying, Fanny Sit Chi-Lun, Elaine Jin Yan-Ling, Kelvin Wong Siu, Shing Fui-On, and Billy Chow Bei-Lei, with screenplay writer Shirley Woo Suet-Lai, and music composed by Philip Chan. The film was theatrically released in October 1988 for Hong Kong.

Background:

“One of the first – and most notorious – of Hong Kong’s famously Adults Only Category III films, Her Vengeance stars Pauline Wong (The Blue Jean Monster) as a young woman hunting down the vermin who brutally assaulted her: ears will be sliced off, acid will be thrown and funeral directors will be kept very busy indeed…

With essential support from the legendary Lam Ching-ying (Magic Cop) as a warrior in a wheelchair and directed by Lam Nai-choi, master of Asian extremity (The Story of Ricky; Erotic Ghost Story), Her Vengeance is a tale of retribution that could only have been made in Hong Kong. 88 Films are proud to present a cult classic – completely uncut – on Blu-ray for the first time.”

Plot Synopsis via 88 Films, July 2025.

1988 was the year that Hong Kong introduced the film rating system for its audience. Category I is for everyone, Category II is not suited for children (which was then divided up as IIA & IIB from 1995) and Category III is for adults only. During that timeframe we saw a few films receive the highest rating and one of those came from Lam Nai-Coi (藍乃才), known at the time for the bizarre fantasy action horror film The Seventh Curse which had a lot of gory and nude moments throughout, with his 1988 film Her Vengeance which became a hit with the audiences though he had to produce two versions to get a lower rating given the restrictions the Category III rating has.

Her Vengeance was a great revenge tale. I found it amusing that she travels to Hong Kong to get preparation on her revenge only for the people responsible to also coincidently be in the same place. But it does offer a lot of great action segments including an amazing final battle and excellent stunt work by Lam Ching-ying which was actually the first film that I’ve seen him in from the Hong Kong films that I had watched up to this point. He steals the scene whenever he’s around but Pauline Wong delivered a great performance too.

The infamous sexual violence scene was no doubt uncomfortable but what I found interesting was that the Category IIB version pretty much gets the point across without showing all of it, so if you feel that you want to watch the film without the scene, it doesn’t affect the rest of the film. I watched the Category III version so I saw all of the violence throughout, but I was made aware that the Category IIB version has its own differences but I’ve not checked if the violence (the revenge portions to be clear) were toned down or not.

I also liked the film’s sense of dread because revenge doesn’t always mean it’s going to be a happy conclusion and here it does exactly that. A lot happened that puts the stakes even higher and its ending is a case of a cautionary tale I suppose. While the subject matter is sensitive at the start of the film, I do think its worth giving Her Vengeance a watch and if I do rewatch the film I’ll definitely go with the Category IIB version to get a different experience.

UK distributor 88 Films picked up the UK home video rights for Her Vengeance, which made its UK debut on July 2025. Over in North America, it was released by US distributor Vinegar Syndrome and bundled with another Category III film Devil Fetus as a double pack.

Deluxe Limited Edition Contents:

88 Films have been changing up their special editions pretty much every year and Her Vengeance here is presented as a ‘deluxe limited edition’.

This deluxe limited edition release is presented with an o-card slipcase and rigid box showcasing newly illustrated artwork by Chris Barnes, a Scanavo case housing the disc, a premium artcard and a 40-page perfect bound book featuring three write-ups. The articles covered are ‘Remake/Remodel/Revenge: From Kiss of Death to Her Vengeance’ by C.J. Lines, ‘Her Vengeance’ by Fraser Elliott, and ‘Hong Kong Cinema: … and the Rape and Revenge Genre’ by Matthew Edwards.

The box art is clean with no ratings/information on all sides, with the o-card slipcase to cover the synopsis, information about the release and any ratings and specs. The artwork on the Scanavo case do include information and specs on the back but there’s no BBFC logos except from the main back cover. The deluxe limited edition Blu-ray release retailed for £29.99 SRP. A standard edition Blu-ray release will follow suit once this edition has officially sold out.

I pre-ordered my copy alongside Devil Fetus from 88 Films’ website.

Physical Contents:

• Rigid Box with brand-new artwork by Chris Barnes, and O-Card Slipcase
• Scanavo case packaging
• Premium Artcard
• 40-page illustrated book featuring new articles by C.J. Lines, Fraser Elliott & Matthew Edwards.

On-Disc Contents:

Distributor: 88 Films
Released: 28th July 2025

The deluxe limited edition release for Her Vengeance presents the film on a single Blu-ray disc, with the authoring and encoding done by Fidelity in Motion. The film’s presentation is based on a 2K restoration from the original negatives.

The Blu-ray features two versions of the film – the original Hong Kong Category III theatrical cut (01:22:31 runtime) presented in Cantonese audio with English subtitles, and the Hong Kong Category IIB theatrical cut (01:29:54 runtime) presented in Cantonese audio with English subtitles. Both versions are uncut and uncensored and there are slight differences between the two; the Category III version features the shocking sexual violence scene as well as the violence throughout the film, while the Category IIB version massively trims down that scene (while getting the point across) but features new alternative scenes throughout that extends the runtime.

The white subtitles, newly translated, are unlockable during playback and the Blu-ray disc is locked to players set to Region B.

Blu-ray Specs:

Languages	Cantonese
Audio	Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Video	1080p High Definition Native format 1.85:1 aspect ratio
Region	B
Subtitles	English
Locked Subtitles	No
Discs	1 BD-50

Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:

• Audio Commentary by Frank Djeng (Category III Version)
• Trailer (03:56 runtime)
• Stills Gallery (00:22 runtime)

Unboxing Photos:

Final Notes:

Her Vengeance is available to purchase on Blu-ray by 88 Films in the United Kingdom.

The deluxe limited edition Blu-ray release can be purchased across different retailers including 88 Films, Amazon UK, HMV, and Terracotta Distribution.

(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.)