Hot off the heels of the success of The Untold Story, Herman Yau and Anthony Wong teamed up for their first Wong Jing production, Ebola Syndrome. Outdoing The Untold Story in near every aspect, including violence, gore, language, nudity, and all around political incorrectness, Ebola Syndrome has become something of a legend in cult film circles. It is one of the few HK films to exhibit true Category III excess in every single sequence, the degree to which really must be seen to be believed.

The basic setup of the Ebola Syndrome revolves around a globe trotting killer, on the run in Africa following a triple murder in Hong Kong, who becomes infected with the Ebola virus after raping an infected Zulu woman. A statistical anomaly, this killer becomes carrier for the virus rather than liquified victim (quite possibly because of his poor personal hygiene), and goes about spreading the fun. And boy does he ever. Every method of spreading the disease is fully explored, from the wanton transfer of bodily fluids (blood, sweat, semen, bile and spit) to unwitting cannibalism via mystery meats. Now, for most sane people the tale of a psycho killer rapist who spreads an organ melting vius would probably not be something you’d want to run out and see. But, check this out: the film’s actually a gonzo comedy.

Now, I’m not entirely sure everything in this film was meant to be as funny as it was, but the gleeful artlessness of it all had me in tears. The film is so tactless, so completely vile, vulgar, and sophomoric you can’t help but laugh. It completely won me over. Anthony Wong’s constant mugging (both his scheming and coital faces are priceless), the amateurish camera work, the inept editing, the over the top death sequences, the obnoxious and wholly offensive racist dialog…Todd Solondz only wishes he could make trash this entertaining. Heck, the film even has a food masturbation sequence that puts American Pie’s to shame. Some have stated that Herman Yau set about Ebola Syndrome with the intention of parodying other Category III films of the time, and that seems a perfectly plausible explanation. If it is true, Ebola Syndrome succeeds in spades. If not, it’s still a most brilliant disaster.

The film is not without its genuine faults, however (yes, I know this an odd sentence given my previous paragraph). Like many a Hong Kong film (and many an American comedy) the film runs out of steam a bit before the actual end. Oddly enough the film’s climax, which features the most mayhem per minute of the film, with flaming persons, mass vomitus, gunshots, and more, somehow seems strangely drained of energy. Still, this drop in narrative pressure comes late enough in the game that it doesn’t savage any of the film before it.

In closing, Ebola Syndrome deserves a place in the collection of any self respecting cult cinema enthusiast. The film is perverse, stupid, shocking, and relentlessly funny. A perfect midnight movie.

The DVD
Discotek presents Ebola Syndrome in all its original uncut glory, with a completely restored anamorphic transfer maintaining its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Having been a longtime fan of pre-millennial Hong Kong films, I’ve seen more than my fair share of crappy VHS, VCD, and DVD transfers. Coming from this perspective, the restoration work done by Discotek on Ebola Syndrome is extremely nice. It’s crisp, clear, with no dirt or scratching. Really, it looks brand new. Way cool.

For your viewing pleasure Discotek has provided the original Cantonese language soundtrack, with your choice of literal subtitles, and the original “crazy hong kong” subtitles. This is a nice touch, for as many of you HK film fans know, the ludicrous subtitles can actually provide a very different viewing experiences. That said, both tracks are pretty well matched in hilarity, the literal being offensive and the HK being just plain wrong.

First up on the extras list is an interview with Herman Yau and Anthony Wong. The format of the interview is similar to that of the typical Artsmagic DVDs interviews, with questions fielded in a text format, and the interviewees respond to the camera. Yau does pretty much all of the talking, covering varoius topics including aspects of the making of the film, the reputation of the film, and the death of the true category III film following the handover of Hong Kong to mainland China. Wong pretty much just nods in agreement, and disappears following the second or third question.

Yau and Wong are also featured on the DVD’s audio commentary (Chinese audio with English subtitles), where they discuss everything from special effects and stand-in work (Anthony Wong notes that being a Buddhist he did not prepare the frog in the restaurant kitchen sequence. Way cool.) to simple sharing of set anecdotes. Both are pretty laid back, but it’s an entertaining listen (or should I say, read?).

Also included is a video reel comprising all the cut material from the film. This is about two minutes long, and actually manages a few hearty shocks on top of those found in the film. It’s one of the best deleted scenes reels ever.

Rounding out the package are a photo gallery with stills from the film and Discotek trailers for Ebola Syndrome, Chinese Torture Chamber, Sars Wars,and Zero Woman.

All in all, a slick disc for a hilariously disgusting film, and quite possibly Discotek’s best disc to date.

Ebola Syndrome hits stores July 31st, 2007.

About the Author

Chris Nelson has been a film fanatic since age six. A former film and English major, he is now a Software Engineer and contract Technical Writer living in the Silicon Valley.

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