Erotic Nightmare (1999)

Mr Lok (Wong) has been going without sex for a long time - his wife's heart problem rules it out. But by the time she gets the green light from her doctor, her life goes to hell. Her husband has been getting a series of sleazy realistic nightmares featuring nurses and schoolgirls. And unknown to her, Lok has made a ghastly pact with a shaven headed mystic who can provide dreams as if they're on pay-per-view TV. Not perturbed that this mysterious Mr Fong looks like a complete nasty bastard, Lok signs on for $1,000 worth of dreamtime escapades with Ball Ball, the starlet of his twilight picture shows.

And then things turn mighty bloody - it's gore not seen for a long time in the HK cinemas. In his enthusiasm, Lok didn't catch the fine print; He trades flings with ghoul gal Ball Ball (Heung) in exchange for "his most precious thing"... It's not a pretty movie, nor is it really a comedy, but the story plays out well and the horror comes on thick, sudden and surprisingly effectively. For once, the bad guy gets more dimension, with Pinky Cheung playing his abused wife with gusto. It's directed by Steve Cheng, who did the wonderful Horoscope 1: The Voice from Hell [play 'spot the set'], and based on the horror plot, I certainly recommend this flick.

But there are two sides to Erotic Nightmare. It's terrific cheap horror with a novel, sraightforward plot and developed characters. And it has Kei Heung's Ball Ball as the iffy side of Erotic Nightmare - the majority of her scenes are uniformed schoolgirl voyeurism - when the camera takes to the floor to look up skirts and angles round and into shirts. Sleaze galore in this film, and it's all part of Lok's desires - but it's too much a specific fetish to be for every sleazehounding audience member's tastes.

DVD information: The China Star disc is far from extravagant but remains a reasonable presentation for a low budget quickie. The picture is dark (like in the theatres) and a bit blurred - particularly with indoor sideways movements. The many fantasy sequences with Kei Heung are presented in the pasty, white look that is also true to the cinema presentation. There's no trailer but I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't one for this film. Six chapters divide up the movie. Chinese and English subtitles are provided as are Cantonese and Mandarin soundracks.

Credits:

Directed by Steve Cheng
Produced by Wong Jing
Starring Anthony Wong Chau-sang, Wan Tin-chiu, Pinky Cheung Man-chi and Kei Heung