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Issue #156 HOME E-mail: mail@dighkmovies.com BACK ISSUES April 21st, 2003

Sex and Zen II
(1996; Golden Harvest/Jing's Production/Golden Movies International)

RATING 10
A Masterpiece
9
Excellent
8
Highly Recommended
7
Very Good
6
Recommended
5
Marginal Recommendation
4
Not Recommended
3
Poor
2
Definitely Not Recommended
1
Dreadful

Cantonese: Yuk po tuen yi ji yuk nui sam ging
Mandarin: Yu pui tsuen er zhi yu nu xin jing
English: The Carnal Prayer Mat II: Virgin Sutra of the Heart

Wong Jing produced this outrageous period sex fantasy, which won't disappoint fans of the Mak Brothers' 1991 cult favourite. While not a direct continuation of that film, this lower budget production is certainly in the same vein. In her last Category III role to date, Loletta Lee Lai-chun stars as Yiau, a chaste girl appalled by the non-stop sexual antics of her incredibly horny father (Elvis Tsui Kam-kong, the only cast member to return from part one), who practices the "Iron Dick" stance and uses his penis to smash watermelons and punch holes in boards. While Yiau is away attending school disguised as a boy (a send-up of Tsui Hark's THE LOVERS), the beautiful, supernaturally gifted "Mirage Lady" (Shu Qi, in her HK film debut) appears in the province. Pursued by demon fighter Ironman (Ben Ng Ngai-cheung), she engages a Taoist to change her form and adopts the name "Siu-tsui". She then marries into Yiau's family, quickly becoming the father's favourite sexual plaything. With him distracted, she is able to sleep with and eliminate almost every female member of the household, drawing life from their sexual outpourings. Siu-tsui eventually transforms into an incredible yin yang hybrid with a giant penis and a male/female voice. During the inevitable sexual encounter that follows, Yiau and the creature fight to bring each other to orgasm first because, as prophesied in the sacred text "The Secret of Virginity," the loser will be drained of all sexual energy and lifeforce!

As in his wacky THE ETERNAL EVIL OF ASIA (issue #118), director Cash Chin Man-kei thumbs his nose at good taste by offering up spectacles like an ejaculation contest, a chastity belt that inflicts serious injury upon any man who tries to gain entry, a pleasure chair shaped like a scorpion, and super aphrodisiac poison that can cause a man's sai lo to explode! The sex is spirited, and Lee and Shu are certainly easy on the eyes, though neither probably looks back on this picture with much pride (both are looped by other actresses). Christine Hung Hiu-wan (THE FRUIT IS SWELLING, SEX AND ZEN III) appears as one of Elvis Tsui's wives and Wong Yat-fei gives his usual subtle performance as "The Happy Taoist," who performs an organ swap even more ridiculous than the horse penis transplant from part one!

Additional Stills (nudity): Loletta Lee, Shu Qi.


ZOOM
Cover art courtesy Mei Ah.

ZOOM
Shu Qi. Image courtesy Mei Ah.

ZOOM
Elvis Tsui and Loletta Lee. Image courtesy Mei Ah.
DVD SPECS
Mei Ah #DVD-539 (Hong Kong label)

Dolby Digital 5.1 & 2.0

Cantonese and Mandarin Language Tracks (both post-synced)

8 Chapters Illustrated in the Menu With (Tiny) Clips

Enhanced for 16:9 Displays

Letterboxed (1.78:1)

Coded for ALL Regions

NTSC Format

88 Minutes

Contains frequent nudity and sexual content, sexual violence, moderate violence, mild horror, and crude content


DVD menu courtesy Mei Ah.


FILM BOARD RATINGS AND CONSUMER ADVICE
British Columbia: ADULT (Frequent Nudity and Suggestive Scenes and Some Violence)
Great Britain: 18 [Passed With Cuts totalling 3:19]
Hong Kong: III
Ontario: R (Sexual Violence)


PRESENTATION
Mei Ah has recently pledged to upgrade their product and this release is a step in the right direction. Seeing as how their previous C-III DVDs were just ports of the old laserdisc transfers, it is nice that the company went to the expense of a new 16:9 master. The transfer offers a good replication of the original cinematography but Chin's ample use of smoke for atmosphere does induce occasional artifacting. The packaging lists the audio as 5.0 but the disc actually offers a 5.1 re-mix that adds a little more dimension and presence to a very basic soundscape clearly derived from the print's optical track (the original mono mixes are also included for both languages in 2.0). The English translation remains the same, though, so we get plenty of dialogue along the lines of "My dick has been smashed by your cutter...my happiness has been destroyed by you" (then again, even David Mamet might have been hard-pressed to get that one across intelligently!). The element only features minor wear but the original end credits have been replaced with their video burned equivalent. There are no extras.


SEX AND ZEN II
is available at Poker Industries.


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