By The Cult Club is where Flixist’s writers expound the virtues of their favourite underground classics, spanning all nations and genres. It is a monthly series of articles looking at what made those films stand out from the pack, as well as their enduring legacy.
Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky is famous for its absolutely ludicrous depictions of violence and prison life on what can only be assumed was a tremendously small budget. Consider, for a moment, the fact that in the very title of the movie, the main character’s name is spelled two different ways. This should be your first red-flag that this movie is going to get ridiculous. Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky is a 1991 Chinese adaption of a Japanese graphic novel titled simply Riki-Oh, and though the original language of the movie is Chinese, the English dubbed version is the real cult favorite – for reasons I’ll explain in a bit.
As one of the most absurdly violent films ever created, Riki-Oh: the Story of Ricky has gone down in pop and internet culture history as an absolute cult classic. Riki-Oh is honestly one of my personal all-time-favorite movies to watch with friends, because of the sheer amount of low(lowest of the low)-quality special effects and the very loose plot, not to mention the extremely over-the-top fight scenes. You can think of it as what 13-year old boys would imagine a gory kung-fu fight movie would be like. Disturbed 13-year old boys. As you may imagine, this Cult Club will be NSFW because of extremely fake-looking violence.
First off, the dubbing in the English version of the movie is absolutely horrendous. I don’t think there’s any instance in any scene where dialogue looks like the character is actually saying it. This atrocity instantly undermines any sense of quality about the movie because it’s such a blatant distraction. You can’t get involved with any of the characters or themes even if you wanted to (not that there’s much there anyway). Throughout the entire movie, you are reminded by the horrible dubbing that you are watching something low-budget and silly that is trying desperately not to be.
The beginning of the movie sets the stage with a narrated text informing the viewer that in the year 2001, capitalist governments (this is a Chinese movie, after all) have privatized the prison system, and we quickly learn that the prison is separated into four quadrants: North, South, East and West. Each of which are essentially governed by a lead-badass prisoner who are known collectively as The Gang of Four, and the Warden and the Assistant Warden are in control of the whole place.
The first time we meet the fabled Ricky is as he is being admitted into the prison. After it is announced that he is serving time for manslaughter, he sets off a metal detector in the processing room. Thanks to a conveniently located, upright, chest-x-ray machine, we learn that Ricky has five bullets embedded in his torso. No Big Deal. Ricky says they are his “souvenirs”.
Ricky’s troubles with the other inmates start soon after he is admitted, when a small gang of thugs skin an old man’s face in the bathroom – I told you it was gory. Ricky trips the leader thug causing him to fall on a piece of wood with some nails sticking out of it(?), which punctures through his hand and into his eye. The gang leader that Ricky tripped soon sends a really fat convict after Ricky in hopes of killing him and this leads to the first real fight of the movie.
You have to understand that the fight scenes of Riki-Oh are gloriously awful. They have been mentioned on countless “Best Worst Fights” lists and for good reason. The special effects in these scenes not only look incredibly fake, but they’re also choreographed to be so violent that you often cringe even though you’re laughing hysterically. Riki-Oh ends up being an unusually drastic juxtaposition of horror and campiness.
Around the same time as the fat guy is being destroyed by Ricky, the old man whose face was pared was bullied so much that he hung himself (in the hallway for some reason.) Ricky is very upset by the loss of his (apparent) friend and goes on an all out screaming and punching rampage alone in the rain. (Seriously.)
From that point on, Ricky decides to become the champion of justice in the prison, using his super-human strength which is eventually revealed, in a flashback, as the mystical Qigong (pronounced Chi-Kung) fighting style. We also learn that Ricky’s uncle taught him Qigong by tossing gravestones at him and had Ricky punch through them. Yes, really.
Ricky’s new-found cause upsets the prison’s Assistant Warden (who, if you look closely, keeps an extensive porn collection in his office) and he sends Oscar, the leader of the North Cell to fight Ricky. Watch this clip from the fight below, it will blow your friggin’ mind.
After the fight with Oscar, the Assistant Warden sends bigger and tougher enemies after Ricky, who becomes almost like a rebel leader for the rest of the prisoners … for some reason. Ricky causes more and more trouble for the Gang of Four and the Assistant Warden, until at the end of the movie the Warden himself faces off against Ricky and it becomes an all-out blood-flood. This may sound ridiculous, but there is really no better way to describe it.
Riki-Oh has become infamous because of people sampling parts of the movie’s outrageous fight scenes, and Riki-Oh clips have frequented outlets such as The Daily Show and the website YTMND in the past. The way that I heard about Riki-Oh was actually through The Angry Video Game Nerd – it’s one of his top favorite movies.
One of the things about this movie that makes it so damn entertaining is how serious it takes itself. Fan Siu-wong, the actor who plays Ricky, plays his character with an enormous amount of over-emphasized passion and focused intensity, but he tries so hard that he ultimately gets laughed out the door.
The same can be said about the rest of the movie. It tries so hard to be a scary and thrilling “real” movie, with a lot of work being put into the sets and effects (laughable as they may be) and there are adult themes that are addressed in the movie such as drugs, opium, rape, suicide, revenge, and prison corruption. But none of this adds up to a successful movie by standard thinking.
However willfully the creators tried, Riki-Oh is doomed by terrible English dubbing and gore on par with a junior-high school play trying to be like a horror movie. But of course, that is precisely what makes the film so absolutely enjoyable to watch. You can’t watch Riki-Oh without laughing and flinching. It will surprise you with its entertaining, though completely unintentional, absurdity. I really can’t emphasize enough just how much fun it is to watch Riki-Oh!
If you are a fan of poorly-made and needlessly bloody movies that still manage to be hilarious and full of unexpected twists, you have to give Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky a shot. It is truly a cult classic that is worth your time. I haven’t even really scratched the surface of all the insane stuff in this movie. I left plenty of surprises! If you ever get the chance to watch Riki-Oh, DO IT.
Below is a collection of clips from this masterpiece. Enjoy.
Next Month… Geoff Henao becomes embattled in Battle Royale!
PREVIOUSLY SHOWING AT THE CULT CLUB
February: Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965)
March: Django (1966)
April: Alice In Wonderland XXX (1976)
May: Troll 2 (1990)