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The Vault: Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (1991)


Prison exploitation films are renowned for their depictions of graphic violence. Ricky-Oh: The Story of Ricky is a kung-fu / gore film that takes graphic violence to a comical extreme. Far from being your typical boring gorefest, Ricky-Oh has a respectable 7.1 rating on IMDB, and an Avatar-beating 89% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The film was made in Hong Kong during Jackie Chan's heyday there. Ricky-Oh's star, Siu-Wong Fan, has nothing near Chan's skill, so the film makes up for this with a lot of super-powered fighters and cheesy effects.

The gore shots are generally only shown for less than a second. It was a good editing choice because the low production quality of the film precludes convincing visuals. It works better letting the viewers imagination fill in the details.

I just watched it last night, and haven't enjoyed a film as much as 'Ricky-Oh' for quite a while.

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