Dr. Lamb Uncut and Uncensored Review from Unearthed Films!
With the previous arrival of Unearthed Films’ re-mastered blu-ray release of the The Untold Story for their Unearthed Classics line, we are continuing in Cat III territory with Dr. Lamb in a 2K uncut and uncensored blu-ray re-mastered release. I recall my first and only experience with this film being the Tai Seng cut and censored VHS release I rented at a local comic book shop in my youth. Boy did that experience give me a false preparation for what I was about to re-witness for the first time uncut. This beast has phenomenally realistic gore akin to Guinea Pig 2: Flower of Flesh and Blood.
Dr. Lamb follows the true crime story of Chinese serial killer Lam Kor-wan (林過雲) who was appropriately dubbed “The Rainy Night butcher” by the Chinese press. Lam (played by Simon Yam, Bullet in the Head, Naked Killer), is a taxi driver who picks up female passengers on rainy nights, to strangle them with electric wire. He takes the victims to his family home (he shares a bedroom with his brother) for photoshoots and dismemberment. Lam takes pieces of his victims and keeps them in containers, including a prized breast which looks surprisingly real, both being carved from a victim as well as being found in a container by police officers.
This story of Dr. Lamb doesn’t play out like one would expect, as a typical cat and mouse detective film, but rather a retelling of him crimes and motivations from his perspective. The police arrest Lam early in the film when a Kodak printing shop keeps receiving suspicious photos to print, so the shop rats him out to police.
Once arrested, our lead officer Inspector Lee (played by director Danny Lee, The Untold Story, City on Fire) begins interrogating him at the police station. These sequences are crazy and absolute chaos. Officers begin beating him with a hammer and phone book placed against Lam’s chest. They continue by beating the souls of his feet with a strap. They proceed the madness by letting his father and sister in the interrogation room who begin to relentlessly attack him and for good reason for he has taken inappropriate pictures of his nieces. During the familial beatdown Lam shouts “Bastard” which is almost as good as the “Bastard” scene in Pieces.
Broken down, Lam decides to be forthright with the police and begins recounting his murderous spree. Depicted via flashback we see Lam working as a tax driver with an obnoxious female patron in his car. She upchucks what looks like a belly of White Russians. Lam, pissed-off, returns the vomitus gesture by pounding her in the fac with his fist, then strangling her with electrical wire he receives from his glove box. Simon Yam is no Anthony Wong, but he’s still a depraved badass.
This being our first instance of seeing him enact murder, he takes to home for a proverbial photoshoot in various poses. He gropes and jiggles her breasts like a madman cocking his head back howling like a Huskie. He then attempts to chop her arm off with a cleaver in gruesome Flower of Flesh and Blood fashion but decides against using that instrument. Instead, he decides to venture to a nearby shop mid-butchering to procure a Makita brand circular saw to ease the task at hand. Work smarter, not harder. This results in a fantastic grotesque dismembering and disgorging, all in supreme practical FX glory. The deed is completed when Lam bags her up and throws her in the harbour. “You were much too dirty.” He declares.
Inspector Lee asks Lam what his motive is for killing these women. “I forget, you can find the answer yourself.” He says smugly. “Okay, I will make you remember the detail.” returns Lee. So, he sends a portly officer called Fat Bing (Kent Cheng, Sex and Zen) and another named Eric (Eric Kei) to Lam’s house to absurdly re-enact the case with a female officer! And of course, she freaks the fuck out!
Dr. Lamb is such an impressive Cat III film. While it isn’t constantly violent, when it is, it’s brutal and authentically gruesome. The vehicle of using this film being a way to explore the murders of an already captured killer also works well instead of the typical aforementioned cat and mouse style crime film. And the bat-shit craziness makes Dr. Lamb all the more alluring and often hilarious in the ridiculous situations concocted.
Dr. Lamb arrives August 9th, 2022, from Unearthed Films with an abundance of extra material including a commentary from Art Ettinger (Ultra Violent) and Bruce Holecheck (Cinema Arcana), an interview with filmmaker Gilbert Po, as well as other featurettes. You can pre-order your copy of Dr. Lamb directly from Unearthed Films (here) and you’ll receive an exclusive Dr. Lamb poster.
AKA: 羔羊醫生, 羔羊医生, Goh yeung yee sang, Gāo Yáng Yī Shēng, Assassino!, Gao yang yi sheng, Goh yeung yee sang, Honkon jinniku chûbô, Kitchen of Human Meat in Hong Kong, Доктор Лам
Directed by: Danny Lee, Billy Hin-Shing Tang
Written by: Kam-Fai Law
Produced by: Parkman Wong
Cinematography by: Kin-Fai Mau
Editing by: Hung Choi
Cast: Danny Lee, Simon Yam, Kent Cheng, Si-Man Hui, Eric Kei, Emily Kwan, Dave Ching Lam, Siu-Ming Lau
Year: 1992
Country: Hong Kong
Colour: Colour
Language: English, Italian, German, Japanese
Runtime: 1h 30min
Studio: Grand River Film Ltd., Heroes United Films Ltd.
Distributor: Unearthed Film
