Review for Herman Yau’s ‘Ebola Syndrome’ (1996) from Discotek’s New USA DVD.

Dating back to the death throw days of Hong Kong’s brief foray into its own brand of extreme sex and death during the 1990’s, ’Ebola Syndrome‘ once again teams up Herman Yau and Anthony Wong, previously known to have broken many peoples interest in such films wide open amongst audiences following any kind of contemporary foreign cinema with ’The Untold Story‘ several years previously. It’s certainly not the Anthony Wong familiar to us these days. Now, he’s a much more surprisingly dedicated and skillful man altogether, as familiar from ’Infernal Affairs‘, which comes in at just five years later than this particular film - and it’s not the Herman Yau who crafted a much classier affair in the very recent ’On the Edge‘ either.

We’re instead go straight back into the days of HK film where the amateurish elements were so broadly in place it wasn’t really a good enough criteria to dismiss anything at all, for fear of not going near it for the more unusual aspects. It was, if anything, a sign of a more free and reactionary form of bashing films out without giving it so much consideration that you talked your own way out of things, but it’s left us with a legacy of films which weren’t looked after and often have often been mistreated subsequently too. As a result, there are clear gems from all periods, but we’re now far more clearly into professional territory and suffering from both the influence of Mainland China’s business opportunities (and censorship rules, more importantly) as well as a general shift away from such films towards more solid drama and other fare. Rarely are we seeing brave, brazenly dark and nasty films in the Cat.III arena these days - Johnnie To’s ’Election‘ is effectively suffering from it’s triad subject matter and slang, and it’s perhaps the best contemporary example of how things have shifted there without it being clear over this end of the globe why all the sex and death has gone. For a modern variation on bleak and proud of it filmmaking, head for Pou-Soi Cheang’s ’Dog Bite Dog‘, a film which I love the bravery of, the dark look of, even if it’s similarly not entirely as right as you might have hoped for it’s still something quite special and certainly very odd in a very HK way.

How does the questionable nature of a Cat.III movie work then? Well, there’s clearly an attempt to put some kind of story together, usually, sometimes, to varying degrees of success. Herman Yau does mention that it’s led by the story in ’Ebola Syndrome‘, but given that the storytelling is so inept and unclear, it’s hard not to still take it as misguided or clearly just not the case that there’s an attempt here to give some reason beyond the shock value. It’s actually led by the questionable elements being thrown together as thick and fast as you can. They’re a mixture of the sides of life you may not frequently see or hear, and elements that are real but rare, along with the unlikely, exaggerated and completely barmy.

Taking a relatively (coincidental?) scene of a restaurant and throwing Wong’s gloriously and unashamedly nasty character Kai into the picture is more interesting and dominant than what could be explained to be the central theme - this film tries to say that it’s about the bullied become the bully, the ultimate weapon of a terminal contagious disease being in his grasp as he contracts Ebola and exacts revenge on those that wronged him. Kai is clearly downtrodden, but there’s little sympathy to be had for him, as he’s clearly an idiot and knows full well that this is the case, as he basks in his own offensiveness to his own constant satisfaction. He does however manage some signs of not quite entirely grasping quite how idiotic he is at times, so he can be seen as being unfortunate or victimised, and he’s clearly something of a loose cannon as a result. I suppose this is a little bit of incidental (accidental?) layering to the story, something to add more opportunity to get different reactions out of the original audience, but it’s more likely a result of how indecisive, unclear and unsophisticated the understanding of the potential ins and outs of using a real situation such as a terminal disease for what is essentially a disposable piece of questionable entertainment, as it’s all frequently looking a little too naive all round to be smart enough to be fully in control.

Far too long is spent setting up the principal idea of Kai as the victim, and the more interesting idea which looks initially to be the one being explored (Kai’s escape and tracking post-murder in a brief sequence set ten year previous to the films release) and the one which enters later or (Kai’s exit into the wider world and how others are dragged into danger) are set aside and lost in the muddle of the joy they’re all having in showing his nasty habits, practices, lack of consideration, selfishness and general lack of social graces of any sort. Once more characters come into play, we’re away and into some fairly interesting ideas about peoples behaviour affecting one another, an argument against the kind of stuff Kai’s being doing (but continues to do) earlier on in the film. There’s plenty to be gawping at along the way, it’s not without it’s interests to say the least, it’s just you have to prepare yourself for the kind of misplaced balance of elements you’ll be getting - and you certainly have to prepare for just how intentionally offensive this kind of car crash movie intends to be. It’s the main interest here, something you’ll not see that often even in Cat.III movies as I’ve experienced them, so there’s an interesting example of how you can write a list of things you could do to intentionally get nasty and tick off the boxes in such a comparatively short space of time without having to take your time to clearly and completely justify any of it. You’ll also doubtless get some stuff you hadn’t quite bargained for, which is always nice, depending on how this fits your sensibilities.

DVD Details

There have been a couple of previous appearances of this film on DVD with English Subtitles. The Japan Shock disc, which I also have but haven’t watched for many years, is acceptable, and there’s also a more recent HK disc which may be using the same print as this disc, according to mentions I’ve read recently. Here we have what looks amazingly intact, a fine print with no apparent issues at all, and the picture quality of the mastering looks fantastic too. As for the eternal question of getting a complete edition of this particular film, the confusion still stands to some extent - there’s a selection of moments strung together in an isolated form which gives us tasters of how certain scenes were truncated, but they’re not reinstated into the film and weren’t necessarily found in such a way as to reinstate the film to the form in which it was submitted to censors (and chopped of two minutes or so) back in the 90’s. It’s a great find, a great addition, but it’s still not the film many will imagine we could have once had.

Alongside this issue, it’s worth noting that Herman Yau and Anthony Wong (more briefly) make a reasonably lengthy appearance in an interview here, giving clarification to the issues of how this film and what we often see as it’s unintentional genre died away post-handover of HK to China in 1997. Yau speaks very good English and Wong sits trying to look cool, and it’s a fun watch with lots of value to it. There’s also a commentary track from the two of them, which I’ve not listened to, which is a nice and potentially rare achievement for such a HK film. Most importantly, bringing the film to life in new style, is the superb translation job for the subtitles (Tin-Lun Lau - good work that man!) which adds back in a large percentage of the offensive qualities we’re here to see.
If it wasn’t for the thorough job and the new translation of the subs, it wouldn’t meet my criteria for re-watching a film, as it’s all too bold and easy to take in to warrant going back through for more value unless you’re far too keen on what’s essentially prime material for juvenile fandom or something that has great shock value for those not aware that anywhere ever turned out such material.

All round, for me, Discotek’s work here is thorough and thoughtful. Their finest achievement, as far as I am concerned, to date.

Next time though, more films we’re missing opportunities to see please...

Related Links

• Order Ebola Syndrome USA DVD via Amazon.com, Released July 31st 2007 by Discotek.
• 'Ebola Syndrome' Trailer at YouTube.