This a lesser seen Cat111 film from Hong Kong and starring Anthony Wong, of course. He is not the baddie in this but the father of a family that gets into trouble because of a bad investment, gambling and loans that get bigger instead of smaller as they are repaid. Rather more sexual violence in this than gore and many an uncomfortable scene. Children in peril, once more, much crying, screaming, hitting and running around. Also, again not unusually, totalling inappropriate humour whilst everyone overacts and grimaces like crazy. Just like crazy, actually. Not unlikeable for all that but this is not for the casual viewer. There isn't another country in the world that produced films quite like this up to the time of the handover. Good job too, some would say but for all the lack of sophistication, there is a level on which these pretty despicable and almost childish films can work a certain magic like no others. PC this is not!
7 Reviews
Pin number.
morrison-dylan-fan12 June 2020
Warning: Spoilers
After selling a DVD of Harakiri (1962-also reviewed) I wanted to find a bonus title to send the buyer. Checking the Hong Kong titles waiting to be played,I found a neat-sounding CAT III flick, that I banked on viewing.
View on the film:
Laying out the terms and conditions of the underworld loan in zany criss-crossing drawings spread across the screen,director Bosco Lam & cinematographer Kin-Fai Mau pull the gritty Horror of CAT III to the final, in exchange for a rubbery Comedy atmosphere of darting camera moves running to keep up with the family rushing to overturn the loan.
Tugging the "zany" Comedy to breaking point, Lam attempts a last minute push into Melodrama, which thanks to utterly rubbish practical effects looks like a unplanned spoof of the genre, that is awkwardly slotted in with welcomed sleazy shots on the banker's arm candy.
Initially offering the enticing set-up of a family trapped in a underworld financial scheme,whilst also bringing in the killer from DR. Lamb (1992-also reviewed) into the mix (!),the screenplay by Jobic Tsui and Bing Cheuk waste so many chances, by quickly taking the fangs of Dr. Lamb being a threat out, and also keep the zany comedy antics of the family dampening the flickers of CAT III sleaze.
Merrily spoofing his Dr. Lamb role in calling himself "Bunman" during the final, Anthony Wong is the highlight of the film Tong Chi-Ming,whose mad-cap family time is mashed by Wong with a nervousness over learning about changes to the terms and conditions from the underground banker.
View on the film:
Laying out the terms and conditions of the underworld loan in zany criss-crossing drawings spread across the screen,director Bosco Lam & cinematographer Kin-Fai Mau pull the gritty Horror of CAT III to the final, in exchange for a rubbery Comedy atmosphere of darting camera moves running to keep up with the family rushing to overturn the loan.
Tugging the "zany" Comedy to breaking point, Lam attempts a last minute push into Melodrama, which thanks to utterly rubbish practical effects looks like a unplanned spoof of the genre, that is awkwardly slotted in with welcomed sleazy shots on the banker's arm candy.
Initially offering the enticing set-up of a family trapped in a underworld financial scheme,whilst also bringing in the killer from DR. Lamb (1992-also reviewed) into the mix (!),the screenplay by Jobic Tsui and Bing Cheuk waste so many chances, by quickly taking the fangs of Dr. Lamb being a threat out, and also keep the zany comedy antics of the family dampening the flickers of CAT III sleaze.
Merrily spoofing his Dr. Lamb role in calling himself "Bunman" during the final, Anthony Wong is the highlight of the film Tong Chi-Ming,whose mad-cap family time is mashed by Wong with a nervousness over learning about changes to the terms and conditions from the underground banker.
Un-PC romp
scarroll9 June 1999
You just have to love Category III films from Hong Kong. This movie had me laughing from beginning to end. It's the story of a man who's family is torn apart when his wife borrows from the triads. This movie is DEFINITELY not for everyone. But it was really refreshing to see a movie that is not constrained by the bounds of good taste :)
Category III Cinema: The Underground Banker.
Captain_Couth24 August 2005
Warning: Spoilers
The Underground Banker (1994) was another Category III film that starred two of it's more notable stalwarts Anthony Wong and William Ho. Anthony Wong is a mild mannered family man who's a trucker by trade. After searching forever for a new home for his family, he finds one when the female occupant of the flat decides to vacant immediately. Soon Wong, his wife, son and sister move into their new digs. But their good look turns bad when the wife decides to play the Hong Kong Stock Market. She loses more money than she anticipates. Instead of bailing out, her broker convinces her to borrow more money. An old lover of her introduces to her to a "underground banker" (William Ho) who'll lend her the money with high interest rates. The broker wastes the money on more bad investments and not only does she haven't a cent to her name, the banker wants his money.
Desperate, she doesn't want her husband to find out so she lends her services to the banker and his associates. After she services them and films an adult movie, the banker now set's his eyes on the poor woman's sister-in-law. Meanwhile, the family's next door neighbor is the notorious Doctor Lamb (Lawrence Ng). He's a former serial killer who's found redemption through Buddah. Wong's son befriends the former murder and somewhat becomes a member of the family. One of the wife's clients comes to the flat for dinner. She realizes that he's slept with his boss' wife. The two can't keep it a secret and they both spill the beans. Wong is in a state of shock. He goes to the banker and begs to release his wife from the contract. He refuses and beats him up and tells him that his wife better show up for work.
When she doesn't, the banker's goons go up to the flat and chain the door and set fire to the place. Wong can do nothing but watch his wife die and see his son become horrible disfigured by the blaze. Doctor Lam breaks his vow of the straight life and agrees to help Wong and his sister get revenge on the banker. The three of them storm the banker's office and lay waste to everyone. Wong, Dr. Lamb and the Banker are the only ones left. But before he can exact just revenge, Wong and the banker are taken to the hospital because of their wounds. Inside the ambulance, the banker is scolding Wong about how it's too late for him to get revenge and he enjoyed sleeping with his wife and how he's glad she's dead and so one. He orders the paramedic to get him a cigarette because he feels like celebrating. The paramedic is DR. LAMB!! He shows Wong how to castrate a man and he uses the banker as an example.
Bizarre movie that's a real hoot to watch. The film makers pull no punches in this Wong Jing produced and written cinematic production. If you enjoy category III films then this parody will be a real blast to experience.
Highly recommended.
Desperate, she doesn't want her husband to find out so she lends her services to the banker and his associates. After she services them and films an adult movie, the banker now set's his eyes on the poor woman's sister-in-law. Meanwhile, the family's next door neighbor is the notorious Doctor Lamb (Lawrence Ng). He's a former serial killer who's found redemption through Buddah. Wong's son befriends the former murder and somewhat becomes a member of the family. One of the wife's clients comes to the flat for dinner. She realizes that he's slept with his boss' wife. The two can't keep it a secret and they both spill the beans. Wong is in a state of shock. He goes to the banker and begs to release his wife from the contract. He refuses and beats him up and tells him that his wife better show up for work.
When she doesn't, the banker's goons go up to the flat and chain the door and set fire to the place. Wong can do nothing but watch his wife die and see his son become horrible disfigured by the blaze. Doctor Lam breaks his vow of the straight life and agrees to help Wong and his sister get revenge on the banker. The three of them storm the banker's office and lay waste to everyone. Wong, Dr. Lamb and the Banker are the only ones left. But before he can exact just revenge, Wong and the banker are taken to the hospital because of their wounds. Inside the ambulance, the banker is scolding Wong about how it's too late for him to get revenge and he enjoyed sleeping with his wife and how he's glad she's dead and so one. He orders the paramedic to get him a cigarette because he feels like celebrating. The paramedic is DR. LAMB!! He shows Wong how to castrate a man and he uses the banker as an example.
Bizarre movie that's a real hoot to watch. The film makers pull no punches in this Wong Jing produced and written cinematic production. If you enjoy category III films then this parody will be a real blast to experience.
Highly recommended.
Anthony needs help with his Wong.
ElijahCSkuggs16 February 2008
The story revolves around Anthony Wong playing a family man with the urge to increase sexual potency. At the same time his wife, who's a complete babe, idiotically gets into some money problems with the local Triads. And to make things even more interesting Dr. Lamb, from the famous CATIII flick of the same name, is free out of jail and is living next door...and is very fond of Anthony's young son! Well, what follows is a tale of greed, abuse, sex, rape, and....yep, laughs! This is just another CATIII gem all fans of this sort of stuff should check out in a heartbeat. It has all the ingredients: funny subtitles, crazy violence, firm Asian breasts....everything you need. So, get finding/downloading or what have you and find The Underground Banker.
CAT III + Anthony Wong + crossover with another CAT III movie = Something Awesome
Viva_Chiba13 September 2010
The Underground Banker is another CAT III (Categoy III) movie, when a movie is rated CAT III by the Hong Kong film censor, you would expect excessive sexual content (mostly rape) and extreme violence.
The Underground Banker is about a trucker named Ming (sometimes nicknamed as Marshmallow), Ming finally succeeded in finding a new house for his family, but there are 3 things that are affecting his life: 1) he suffers from sexual impotency 2) his son became a close friend of the Serial killer "Dr Lamb" (it's from the CAT III movie of the same name, unfortunately Dr Lamb is not played by Simon Yam, but Lawrence Ng did a good job), now Dr Lamb, is not interested in killing anymore, he found redemption in Buddha. 3) after that Ming's wife played on the Hong Kong stock market, she lost a lot of money and after asking help for a friend called Canner (it was even a ex-crush, if i remember correctly), Canner introduce to Ming's wife his brother, who is a loan shark (played by William Ho, you will probably remember him for having played many villains in other CAT III movies, like Daughter of Darkness), Ming's wife decides to lend some money from the Loan Shark, but for pay the debt she is forced to become a whore.....
For make this movie enjoyable there is: a good amount of nudity and sex, also some (typical) funny subtitles, with grammar errors and mistranslated words or slang, the violence is not gory, but it didn't "ruined" the film for me. Check it out CAT III fans !
The Underground Banker is about a trucker named Ming (sometimes nicknamed as Marshmallow), Ming finally succeeded in finding a new house for his family, but there are 3 things that are affecting his life: 1) he suffers from sexual impotency 2) his son became a close friend of the Serial killer "Dr Lamb" (it's from the CAT III movie of the same name, unfortunately Dr Lamb is not played by Simon Yam, but Lawrence Ng did a good job), now Dr Lamb, is not interested in killing anymore, he found redemption in Buddha. 3) after that Ming's wife played on the Hong Kong stock market, she lost a lot of money and after asking help for a friend called Canner (it was even a ex-crush, if i remember correctly), Canner introduce to Ming's wife his brother, who is a loan shark (played by William Ho, you will probably remember him for having played many villains in other CAT III movies, like Daughter of Darkness), Ming's wife decides to lend some money from the Loan Shark, but for pay the debt she is forced to become a whore.....
For make this movie enjoyable there is: a good amount of nudity and sex, also some (typical) funny subtitles, with grammar errors and mistranslated words or slang, the violence is not gory, but it didn't "ruined" the film for me. Check it out CAT III fans !
The Underground Banker isn't so much a Cat III movie as it is a parody of one.
BA_Harrison22 June 2019
It was difficult to tell at first, since so many Cat IIIs open with scenes of silly humour, but once the film passed the halfway point, it became clear to me that director Bosco Lam (A Chinese Torture Chamber Story) had his tongue firmly in cheek, poking fun at films such as Run and Kill, Dr. Lamb and The Untold Story.
The film stars 'Bunman' himself, Anthony Chau-Sang Wong, as meek truck driver Tong Chi-Ming, who moves into a new public housing complex with his wife Kitty (Mai Ching) and son Tak (Wai-Lim Chu). Soon after, Tak makes friends with neighbour Dr. Lamb (Lawrence Ng), a reformed serial killer, and Kitty is reacquainted with an old flame, Canner (Chi Yeung Wong), with whom she begins to play mahjong.
When Kitty loses a fortune gambling, Canner introduces her to his loan shark brother Chao (Ka-Kui Ho), who gives her the money she needs, but at an interest rate that she cannot afford. Forced into prostitution to pay her debts, Kitty is no longer able to keep her situation a secret from her husband, who sells his truck to try and help. Chao refuses to let the couple off the hook, and humiliates Chi-Ming, who leaves with his cash. Not content with making Chi-Ming lose face, Chao also tries to rape his sister Chi-Kwan (Pui Hui), sends a gang of thugs to steal his money from him, and then torches his apartment with his wife and son inside.
Three months later, after visiting his disfigured son in hospital (the film's funniest scene, in which everyone breaks down in floods of tears at little Tak's inability to play computer games), Chi-Ming finally snaps, and with Dr. Lamb by his side, goes looking for revenge.
Over-the-top mayhem ensues, with Dr. Lamb learning to love killing again, and the once affable Chi-Ming chopping and slashing his way through Triad henchmen to get to the villainous Chao. If you're a big fan of the Cat III genre, Bosco Lam's affectionate parody should prove a whole load of demented fun, right up to the castration of Chao in the final act.
7.5/10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.
The film stars 'Bunman' himself, Anthony Chau-Sang Wong, as meek truck driver Tong Chi-Ming, who moves into a new public housing complex with his wife Kitty (Mai Ching) and son Tak (Wai-Lim Chu). Soon after, Tak makes friends with neighbour Dr. Lamb (Lawrence Ng), a reformed serial killer, and Kitty is reacquainted with an old flame, Canner (Chi Yeung Wong), with whom she begins to play mahjong.
When Kitty loses a fortune gambling, Canner introduces her to his loan shark brother Chao (Ka-Kui Ho), who gives her the money she needs, but at an interest rate that she cannot afford. Forced into prostitution to pay her debts, Kitty is no longer able to keep her situation a secret from her husband, who sells his truck to try and help. Chao refuses to let the couple off the hook, and humiliates Chi-Ming, who leaves with his cash. Not content with making Chi-Ming lose face, Chao also tries to rape his sister Chi-Kwan (Pui Hui), sends a gang of thugs to steal his money from him, and then torches his apartment with his wife and son inside.
Three months later, after visiting his disfigured son in hospital (the film's funniest scene, in which everyone breaks down in floods of tears at little Tak's inability to play computer games), Chi-Ming finally snaps, and with Dr. Lamb by his side, goes looking for revenge.
Over-the-top mayhem ensues, with Dr. Lamb learning to love killing again, and the once affable Chi-Ming chopping and slashing his way through Triad henchmen to get to the villainous Chao. If you're a big fan of the Cat III genre, Bosco Lam's affectionate parody should prove a whole load of demented fun, right up to the castration of Chao in the final act.
7.5/10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.
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