Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (Hong Kong, 1991)

I had to get at least one Hong Kong film on my list this year, and I’ve been meaning to watch Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky since it first came out. While a revenge story set in prison sounds more like an action movie, it’s appeared on enough lists of best horror films that I felt justified in including it. Also, I just wanted to watch the damn thing. So let’s get bloody.

Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky is currently available on Prime Video in the UK.

Synopsis

An opening title card tells us that this film takes place in the dystopian future of 2001, where rampant capitalism means even prisons are being run for profit. How are we expected to even imagine such horrors?

Ricky, a tall, shiny slab of beef with a luxurious mane and heroic eyebrows, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was convicted of manslaughter after a fight against a Triad that left him with several bullets in his chest, which he as left there as souvenirs.

As we soon discover, Ricky is no ordinary beefcake. Constant clashes with prisoners and authorities alike show us that he is possessed of superhuman strength. A flashback shows us his uncle teaching him how to beat up gravestones, revealing, in an odd turn of phrase, that Ricky has had these abilities since he was “seven and eight years old”. These abilities were enhanced when Ricky’s uncle taught him the ways of chi gong, which in this case involves martial arts, meditation, and dodgy visual effects.

Back in the present, Ricky’s first couple of murders have brought him to the attention of both the villainous deputy warden of the prison and the “Gang of Four” — the prisoners who rule over the four cell blocks. This leads to an escalating series of conflicts in which Ricky escapes from one death trap after another, like a gore-soaked Houdini, and fights all the main antagonists as if completing video game boss battles.

But why is Ricky really in prison? Does he has some kind of secret agenda? And how many people will he need to disembowel in order to achieve it?

General Thoughts

Watching the old Golden Harvest logo flash up at the start of a film takes me to my happy place. It is an instant connection to all the wonderful Hong Kong action films I grew up with. My enjoyment of a film is enhanced by at least 50% when it starts this way.

Maybe in keeping with the slightly futuristic tone of Riki-Oh, the prison is weirdly spotless. Well, until Ricky starts getting blood all over it, I suppose. There is also an awful lot of dangerous stuff just lying around for the prisoners to use, from carpentry tools to industrial mincing machines. The prison must be long overdue a health and safety inspection.

Riki-Oh is probably the goriest Hong Kong film I’ve seen. The special effects aren’t necessarily convincing, but you can’t fault their enthusiasm. Just the sheer quantity of fake blood is enough to impress. And there is some real inventiveness in the violence. Every time you think they’ve run out of ways to maim characters, an antagonist will do something like stuff a handful of razor blades in Ricky’s mouth and punch him in the face. This is poetry.

Verdict

Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky is absolutely fucking deranged. It has no interest in suspending your disbelief. You are either for it or against it, and you don’t want to be against it. This is the kind of film where people enter scenes by kicking doors open, at least until that becomes old hat and they kick their way through walls instead.

There isn’t so much a plot here as a series of things that happen, and that’s fine. We’re here to watch Ricky punch people into giblets, and all we need is some structure for that. There is a sense of escalation, and an ending that has become iconic for good reason, so what more do you want?

Similarly, it would miss the point to gripe about the acting. Yes, it’s awful, but it is the perfect kind of awful for this film. Every line delivery is either stilted or wildly melodramatic, but better acting would have worked against the joyful stupidity of the script. And, as I’ve mentioned, we’re just here for the violence.

I think I had more fun watching Riki-Oh than any other film this month. It may not be typical Halloween viewing, but Riki-Oh would make a perfect palate cleanser after some spookier or more serious fare. And who doesn’t want to watch a film in which the hero pauses, mid-fight, to tie the severed tendons in his arm into a quick knot?

The October Horror Movie Challenge

Please do join in and share your own thoughts with us about this or any other films as the month goes on. You can usually find us on Twitter, BlueSky, Reddit, Discord, or lurking in the dark corners of your home.

If you would like to play along at home, my provisional selections are:

We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (USA, 2021)
Tales That Witness Madness (UK, 1973)
When Evil Lurks (Argentina, 2023)
Under Paris (France, 2024)
In a Violent Nature (Canada, 2024)
Torso (Italy, 1973)
Titane (France, 2021)
Rorschach (USA, 2015)
The Coffee Table (Spain, 2024)
Dr Caligari (USA, 1989)
Bit (USA, 2020)
The Guard From Underground (Japan, 1992)
Oddity (Ireland, 2024)
Speak No Evil (Denmark/Netherlands, 2022)
Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (USA, 1982)
Grave Torture (Indonesia, 2024)
Bedlam (USA, 1946)
The Innsmouth School For Girls (USA, 2023)
Daddy’s Head (UK, 2024)
All You Need Is Death (Ireland, 2024)
Eight Eyes (USA/Serbia, 2021)
Poor Things (Ireland/UK/USA, 2023)
Seven Deaths in the Cat’s Eye (Italy, 1973)
Longlegs (USA, 2024)
Night of Fear (Australia, 1973)
Stopmotion (UK, 2024)
Terrifier (USA, 2016)
Azrael (USA, 2024)
Faust (Germany, 1926)
Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (Hong Kong, 1991)
I Saw the TV Glow (USA, 2024)

A Final Note

If you have been enticed here by these posts, please do look around at some of our other film reviews. We also have a podcast, called The Good Friends of Jackson Elias, which occasionally covers horror films. If this appeals, you might want to check out some of the following episodes.