Prepare to have your tits ripped off by the ferocious Dr. Lamb, a 30-year-old Hong Kong slapstick horror movie by directors Danny Lee and Billy Hin-Shing Tang and written by Kam-Fai Law. Based on the true story of a 1982 killing spree, the story centers around Lam Gor-Yu (Simon Yam), a cabbie who drives around in the rain looking for women to carve up. Lam grew up constantly trying to see his sister and stepmother (Si-Man Hui) naked and was severely beaten for it. Lam’s father (Siu-Ming Lau) just chalked it up as a growing boy’s curiosity and defends his son’s actions through adulthood.
“…a cabbie who drives around in the rain looking for women to carve up.”
Meanwhile, Inspector Lee (Danny Lee) is tipped off by a photo processing shop over some sinister images of lifeless nude women that had been turned in for development. The police set up a sting for the customer and end up arresting Lam. This kicks off several hours of the police beating Lam, who by this time knows how to take a punch, no matter how brutal. After wearing themselves out, the police bring in Lam’s family to pressure him to talk. Lam’s father defends his son endlessly until some extremely vile photos are presented that make him realize what kind of creature his son is. Lam then sits down with the police to confess a string of murder mutilations that climax with an unspeakable act that was caught on tape.
The early 1990s were weird for cinema. That was when you could still write John Wayne Gacy in jail to buy one of his clown paintings. It was when the corpse f*****g art of Buttgereit’s Nekromantik movies distributed by Film Threat was rampaging the strange cinema sector. At that same time, Hong Kong cinema was red hot with its ultra-stylized bullet operas. Dr. Lamb fits right into that whole pulsating scene. The film is essentially Scorsese’s Taxi Driver meets Lustig’s Maniac. The scenes of Yam in his taxi at night looking for prey are homages to De Niro’s rides through alienation. The famous Hong Kong slick presentation is used to the hilt in these sequences. They are framed by a jazzy score that washes over the endless streets with the cold eyes of the driver in the rearview mirror framed by neon.
"…Lee and Tang direct their feature with the same tone as a Jim Carrey comedy."
