Yi boh lai beng duk (1996)

A restaurant employee wanted for murder contracts Ebola by raping a woman in South Africa and starts an outbreak there and in Hong Kong when he returns home.

Director:

Herman Yau

Writer:

Ting Chau

Stars:

Anthony Chau-Sang Wong, Yeung-Ming Wan, Fui-On Shing

Cast

Credited cast:
Anthony Chau-Sang Wong	...	Kai
Yeung-Ming Wan	...	Yeung
Fui-On Shing	...	Annoyed Husband
Tsui-Ling Wong
Miu-Ying Chan	...	Har
Meng Lo	...	The Boss
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Lu Cheung	...	Kei's Wife
Edward Corbett
Lorraine Ho
Cheung-Lung Kai
Lori Shannon
Michael Tam
Bobby Yip	...	Short Ugly Triad
Sin-Yi Yip

Storyline

Hong Kong 1986: A restaurant employee murders his boss and mutilates his wife, he escapes to South Africa where he rapes a Zulu-girl, who is infected with the ebola virus. In the restaurant where he now works he murders his boss and the bosses wife after raping her. He chops them up and makes them into hamburgers, which he sells in the restaurant, spreading the ebola virus. When the police come on his trail he moves back to Hong Kong and an ebola epidemic starts there.

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Plot Keywords:

restaurant | meat | south africa | murder | rape | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese English

Release Date:

15 June 1996 (Hong Kong)

Also Known As:

Ebola Syndrome

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company Credits

Production Co:

Jing's Production

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

During the DVD commentary, Anthony Chau-Sang Wong made it clear that it was not his him killing the frog in the first kitchen scene. He said that not only does it take a special skill to prepare a frog like that, but he also found it to be cruel.

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Quotes

[the coroner is dissecating the body of a man who died from Ebola Syndrome]
Coroner: Hum... the lower intestine has liquified. The main organs have disglued and the lungs have all turned to mush. Starting our examination of the head we shall make an incision to the throat. And the face has ulcers. Facial muscular tissue is badly decomposed. I've never seen anything like it, it's as if the muscular tissues were trying to eat each other!

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Alternate Versions

Video versions of this film (VCD and DVD) are heavily censored. The original cut of the film no longer exists. According to the director (Herman Yau) all of the edited footage is either missing or destroyed.

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Connections

Referenced in Category III: The Untold Story of Hong Kong Exploitation Cinema (2018)

User Reviews

A Nutshell Review: Ebola Syndrome

Back in the early 90s, I recall widespread concern about incurable diseases such as the Ebola virus, and Hollywood taking the premise and churning out movies such as Outbreak and the such. In Hong Kong cinema, director Herman Yau cemented his cult status for films with excessive graphic depiction of sex and violence with this movie - Ebola Syndrome.

As compared to the other cult hit The Untold Story, you can spot various similarities in terms of presentation style, and certain plot elements and development. Again the lead role, Kai San, is played by Anthony Wong, this time with long frizzy hair, and begins the movie with both sex (with his boss' wife) and violence (yet another gruesome massacre played out in full on screen, coupled with sexual violence). Naturally he becomes a fugitive and escapes to outside Hong Kong - this time to South Africa, and becomes an employee at a local Chinese restaurant.

The similarities do not end there. You just cannot wait for the next dismemberment and the making of the new "char siew bao", now termed African Buns for local flavour. Expect more hard unflinching violence, and this time too with the camera unmoved from the decapitation of animals like chickens and frogs - heart still pumping, and the slicing out of innards, or the chopping off of legs. Sure puts you off your next bowl of frog leg porridge. And serving as another reminder, is not to offend your cook, as he has the power to include unwanted ingredients, including bodily fluids! Rapid fire profane dialogue is a standard, and sometimes comical as the characters rattle off combinations of vulgarities with ease. But just in case you wonder if Ebola Syndrome is The Untold Story rehashed in a different setting, rest assure that only the good gory bits from Untold get squeezed into the first half of Ebola. Unfortunately the second half seemed to want to move away tangentially from its predecessor, and kept its focus on the contact with, and spreading of the disease.

Stemming from Kai San's inability to keep his pants on, he takes advantage of a comatose African tribe woman, who unknowing to him, is a victim of the Ebola virus. With an incredible stroke of luck, he survives the infection and becomes a virus carrier, spreading the disease in South Africa no thanks to his African Buns, and amongst prostitutes when he returns to Hong Kong. The rest of the movie becomes a comedy somewhat with the police attempts to contain the virus as well as to apprehend Kai San. Nothing too fancy in its second half treatment.

One more thing, look out carefully at the cameos and extras!