Yam walks down the same path as Travis Bickle overall, but his arc is perversely altered by the hardcore murder influence of the Lustig movie. Yam is not a vigilante killing for justice to achieve personal meaning. He is a broken creature that only knows joy when he is chopping women into pieces. The alarming level of breast dismemberment on display goes even further than the razor through the nipple in New York Ripper. How this cult flick kept its light under a bushel back in 1992 is a mystery, as this is exactly the kind of film I used to haunt Kim’s Video in New York for to wash down with some Crazy Horse malt liquor. It would have been a fuzzy-wuzzy bootleg, though, with nowhere near the sharp color and crisp picture on this striking new print.
“…ready and willing to wreck havoc on your system.”
What makes Dr. Lamb truly weird is Lee and Tang direct their feature with the same tone as a Jim Carrey comedy. Everyone actor is sailing through the zany zone with exaggerated facial reactions and gestures. There is loads of physical comedy, with the police beatings having a Three Stooges-like impact. There is also a hilarious yet ghastly bit with a slippery cut-off boob from evidence flopping around the police station from cop to cop. The memory of Yam’s first sexual experience has the absolutely funniest portrayal of a prostitute I can remember. The actress, who I have tried in vain to identify, chews her gum faster than a baseball pitcher full of dugout amphetamines.
The contrast between the wackiness of the executions and the grimness of the historical material is unsettling. Lulling the viewer to ease with the light comedic air makes the impact of the dark, wet unthinkable all the more excruciating. There is this false sympathy Lee and Tang create for Yam’s character that they then use against the viewer by the climax. You punish yourself for being gullible enough to mistake the killer for a human being. This makes Dr. Lamb a unique viewing experience. Imagine flipping channels between Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer and Dumb and Dumber while getting so high you think it’s one movie. Like an infectious disease that was mandatory during freshmen year, this is ready and willing to wreak havoc on your system.
"…Lee and Tang direct their feature with the same tone as a Jim Carrey comedy."
