The-Plague "Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky" is a Hong Kong martial arts film adapted from a Japanese manga that was released in 1991. This movie is a low budget action packed gore-fest that can be compared to Sam Raimi's "Evil Dead" in relation to American cinema. This movie not only utilizes, but embraces the use of excessive violence and graphic bloodshed, leading me to believe that a majority of the budget must have been spent on fake blood. Action packed martial arts scenes and some of the lamest special effects in cinema solidify cult film status for "Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky," even if some viewers are just watching it because it is just that bad."Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky" opens with a transport vehicle bringing new inmates to a correction facility somewhere in Asia, although for some odd reason the name of the prison is written in Spanish. A black screen then appears with white writing informing the audience that the time period is 2001 and in this future all prisons are privatized and run like businesses. Riki-Oh, or Ricky as he is referred to in the English subtitles, emerges from the transport and enters the prison to begin his ten year sentence for murder. Ricky soon realizes that the prison is run by a tyrannical warden and his assistant, both of whom treat inmates like expendable resources. Ricky now must fight for his fellow inmates and his own freedom. clashing with four skilled fighters brawling his way through to the fiendish warden."Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky" is certainly not a typical Kung Fu movie. We have a hero avenging his girlfriend's death and protecting the weak, but we also have a villain with a prosthetic eye in which he stores mints. There are numerous fight scenes between our hero and villains, but there is also a scene where a dog is kicked so hard it splits in half. At times I found myself laughing at how absurd the movie was becoming with every minute that passed. At one point a villain stabs himself in the stomach and tries to choke Ricky with his own intestines, prompting the assistant warden in one translation to cleverly say, "I knew you had guts!" As over the top as this movie becomes it continues to increase in violence and does not lose pace by diminishing the bloodshed.Aside from six villains and Ricky this movie does not have any characters worth remembering. The warden's enforcers, known as the Gang of Four, all use different fighting techniques and seem to increase in strength from the first to fight to the last. The most memorable of the four is Huang Chaun, a deadly male warrior played by a female actress. It is completely evident Huang Chaun is a woman, but the filmmakers hilariously dub her voice with a man's to keep up the illusion. The assistant warden is a combination of villain clichés retaining an evil looking prosthetic eye and a hook hand, appearing much more interesting than the seemingly normal looking warden. The warden himself, a middle aged bald man with a chubby brat of a son, has a secret that luckily allows him to become a unique character by the end of the movie.Anytime a hero in a movie is strong to the point that they can literally punch through a person the viewer needs to watch with an open mind. "Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky" is cheesy and lacking in special effects, but it is also over the top and hilarious. I would recommend this movie to anyone with a high tolerance for extreme violence and gore, or someone who wants to see a man's eye pop out from being hit so hard in the head. If anything, at least this movie gives us the head crushing scene formerly shown on "The Daily Show" when Craig kilborn was the host. "Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky," heads might not roll, but they sure will get crushed!

Bezenby If you're on the mooch for gore then this film has literally bucket loads of it. I cringed at one point when a guy fell face first onto a board of nails, and my wife was almost puking when some guy tried to strangle Ricky with his own intestines. It was also at this point that she asked me why I was making her watch the film.I've got to say, however, that there wasn't much story to the story of Ricky. He punches a hole in a guy's head and gets put in jail for it. In jail, he gets caught up fighting the warden, the deputy warden, and some heavy duty prisoners (one of which squashes a guy's head between his hands). Apart from a couple of flashbacks, that's all there is.I must be getting old, however, because although the gore is impressive, I was twiddling my thumbs waiting for the film to get onto the next battle. A bit more story would have done the trick I think. Something lacking here, for me at least. Not enough humour? Or story? Or characters to care about? Who knows? You'll probably want to see it anyway.

dworldeater Riki Oh is a Hong Kong production based on a Japanese manga (comic book ). The Story Of Ricky is also very unique as I've seen hundreds of HK movies and I 've not seen anything else quite like it from there. Riki Oh takes place in a dystopian future where prisons are privatised , completely corrupt and its prisoners are brutalized by their sadistic wardens . In a very over the top comic book style The Story Of Ricky combines splatter with kung fu. Ricky has superhuman strength and deadly martial arts skills . He has become a hero to his fellow lnmates by standing up to these thugs. Rated Category III (X or NC 17 equivalent ) for violence alone , Ricky punches through walls as well as human flesh. Bodies explode , people get disemboweled, impaled, crushed and thrown in the meatgrinder. This is much more for gore hounds than your average kung fu fan, however as a fan of both gore /horror and action /martial arts I enjoy this film. Check out the bad guy from Daughter Of Darkness 1and2 as the evil warden.

Viva_Chiba This is another Category III (CAT III) movie, CAT III is a certificate given by the Hong Kong film censors to film that contains Excessive sexual content or extreme violence.This was the first CAT III that i saw, many people claims that this is the first CAT III movie that received this certificate only for the extreme violence (there is no minimal sexual content or nudity), but Men Behind the sun (the first CAT III movie) was rated CAT III for it's extreme brutality, yes, Men behind the sun contained a brief scene of nudity, but i don't think that the Hong Kong film censors scared them self for a brief view of a female breast.Anyway, Riki-oh is based on a manga, i still haven't read it anyway.The plot involves a boy called Riki that ends up in prison for "agression and manslaughter" (we will see many flashback of Riki's past). We discover that Riki have some Superhuman strength and he looks like that he wants do "justice" in the prison....but for this, he must confronts the gang of four that rules every wing of the prison ! Gore is NOT present in EVERY minute, but when the gore delivers, it's well made. Most of these gore scenes involve fights.This is probably the goriest martial arts movie ever made, even if there are not "smooth" and "fancy" martial arts moves, it's still a must see !