Daughter of Darkness (1993)

 

A CAT3 flick about a girl who is treated horribly by her family and one day gets revenge.  We've commented a lot about films which mix comedy with some of the darkest disturbing shit - and this one may take the cake.

Officer Lui (Anthony Chau-Sang Wong) is the cartoonish police chief.  He is so over-the-top, and says things you would not believe.... and as I'll probably mention several more times, this is amid a truly dark and disturbing movie.  It's like if Jerry Lewis in full goofy mode was in Taxi Driver, or Jim Carey in Ace Ventura mode in Requiem for a Dream... you get what I'm sending out?

Officer Dong Huan (Money Lo) is a new recruit who Lui will take under his wing.  This socially awkward girl is another source of comedy.

Mak Wei-Fong (Lily Chung) bursts into the police station.  She tells Lui that her entire family has been massacred.

They go to the Wei-Fong residence and sure enough, they're all dead.

Lui checks the bathroom and finds another dead body.

Ling (Monica Lo), Fong's Sister, is dead in the bath tub.  Now we get a twisted blend of comedy and disturbing shit the likes of which I've never seen.

Lui tells Huan to take notes as he proceeds to comment on how good looking the corpse is and then molesting the body (all in the pursuit of evidence he says).

Huan is repulsed but goes along with it.

Lui interviews Mak and at one point asks if all the women in her family have big breasts.  What the hell is going on?

More "comedy" as Huan slips in blood and whatnot.

The next day when the bodies have been removed, Lui and Huan explore the crime scene.

Lui reenacts Ling's murder in the tub and nearly strangles Huan to death.

Ping is a pimp currently trying to get a couple girls to act in a porno.

His wife, a former hooker herself, comes to Ping's defense when he's interrogated by Lui.

Ping is roughed up and his wife gives the first clue that she heard Mak didn't get along with her family, and they were always fighting.

Lui follows the lead and interviews the village gossips.

Lui follows Mak who is headed to her boyfriend's apartment.

Lui works with a neighbor to get a view in the apartment window.

Mak and Kin (Hugo Ng) are having sex.

Kin knows about her turmoil at home.  He says he'll sell drugs to help her afford to leave her family.

Lui catches Kin doing the drug deal and brings him to the station. Kin willingly confesses to the murders.  The problem is he gets several key facts wrong and Lui doesn't believe he did it.

That's when Mak arrives and agrees to tell Lui and Huan the whole story.

She works a grueling job and has to turn over all her money each day to her family.

Kin is the one bright spot in her life.  He gives her a present - a makeup box.

Arriving home, Mak's father (Ka-Kui Ho) fights with Kin and abusive to Mak.

Mak's mother (Daisy) may not be physically abusive, but she is still vicious and cruel to Mak.

She throws her slipper at Mak and then makes her put it on her foot.

Ling (Monica Lo) Mak's sister (who we saw earlier dead in the bath) also bullies Mak.

She tries to take Mak's box, the present from Kin.  It ends with Mak pulling it away and falling to the stairs, and the box breaks.

The rest of the family has no sympathy for her.

It gets worse.  Mak's father watches her take a shower.

Mak creates a scene when she screams to her mother about the incident.  But her father is unapologetic and doesn't have to answer to his behavior.

While his wife is away, Mak's father fools around with a girl. And yes those are peanut shells.

They hear someone coming.

As they run out of the room they meet Mak who has just come up the stairs.

Mak just quietly goes to her room.

Her father goes back to fooling around with the girl.  But when he starts taking pictures of her, she says he's gone too far and leaves.

This leaves papa still horny and bursts into Mak's room.

He rapes Mak.  Note the different film quality.  There were two versions of this film - one which contained this and other explicit scenes edited out of the other version.

Mak's parents get into a fight over the incident - but again, the father ultimately gets away with his incestuous behavior.

Mak goes to stay with Kin.

Back to the police station.  Mak is so exhausted by this trauma she passes out at Lui's desk.

Listening to the story has caused Huan to puke into a bag then faint.

Mak is taken to the hospital where they find she's pregnant.  Kin tells her to keep the baby.

At work, papa shows up and presents her with photos he's taken of her.  He threatens to make these embarrasing pictures public if she doesn't comply and come back home.

Mak and Kin have sex.

Mak does agree to return home, but she has something in mind.

Her father gives her a birthday cake and then knocks her out.

She is tied up naked.

Her father spreads the birthday cake on her.

Ling comes downstairs and sees Mak being raped.

Mak pleads for help.

Ling does nothing and returns to her room.

Kin shows up with a gun.  He gets into a battle with papa.

Mak puts an end to it by shooting her father.

Her brother and mother arrive home and are also killed.

Then she goes upstairs and kills Ling.

Her confession on record, Mak is sentenced to death.

She delivers the baby in jail, and they take the child from her.

Lui has Mak and Kin pose for a "family photo" before she's put before the firing squad.

CHARACTERS

Mak Wei-Fong (Lily Chung)
Kin (Hugo Ng) Mak's boyfriend
Officer Lui (Anthony Chau-Sang Wong)

Officer Dong Huan (Money Lo)  
Mak's Father (Ka-Kui Ho)
Mak's Mother (Daisy)

Ling (Monica Lo) Mak's Sister

RATING: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ 7/10

REVIEW: I timed it.  There is 37 minutes of straight comedy at the start of this film.  Then Mak tells her story and it turns on a dime toward seriously dark shit.  That is just so bizarre to me - and for some reason I like it (maybe because it's so unusual?). Whatever the case, the film is really well made and the story is extremely compelling - with lots of sleaze.  A certified CAT III banger.