From roughly the mid-80’s to the mid-90’s, Hong Kong cinema put out a startling amount of decent quality Category III (adults only) films.  One of my favorites is the sex farce Sex and Zen.  I was thrilled to see it get a totally new release by Eastern Star late last year.  Originally slated for a 2-disc special edition, I was a bit disappointed that by the time of its release it was only one disc, but there is a great interview by the director plus a few other minor extras, and the picture, sound, and subtitles are very nice, so I wasn’t terribly disappointed.

Most Category III films are lensed quickly and cheaply, and while some remind me of 42nd Street grindhouse productions, the quality of these films is usually above average.  However, for this picture, Director Michael Mak was given an exorbitant (for Hong Kong) budget and was able to produce a surprisingly high quality, funny, erotic, soft-core film.

Category III star Lawrence Ng plays a successful scholar who wants to bed as many women as possible.  He runs into a thief who has great skills for breaking into houses, so he decides to enlist the thief’s help to break into lonely wives’ houses so he can ravage them.  The only problem:  the scholar has a rather…unassuming member and not a lot of staying power.  The thief laughs at his member and jokingly tells him to come back when he’s “the size of a horse.”  Taking the thief’s advice, the scholar tracks down a mystical doctor who transplants a horse’s member in place of the scholar’s own.  Of course, the thief can’t go back on his word, so the two collaborate so the scholar can complete his life’s mission of bagging as many lonely wives as possible.

Also starring the beautiful Amy Yip (in her first totally topless role, although she had been a star of Category III sex flicks for a while) and Isabella Chow, this film is often funny and certainly erotic.  Category III flicks are notorious for including loads of wild and wonderful sex scenes, and this film is no different.  We have the obligatory rape scenes that are included in just about every Asian sex film, we have S&M, domination, lesbians, and even a scene that will give the flute a whole new perspective.  Along the way we have plenty of comedy, especially during the transplant scene.  Since this is a sex romp, there isn’t much gore, but we do get to see the dismembered member—after the doctor’s dog mistakes it for a tasty snack!

This is one of the most famous—and for good reason—of the Category III films from Hong Kong’s heyday, and is a must-see if you have even a passing interest in Asian cinema.  Funny, outrageous, erotic, and full of beautiful women, this one is a winner!