Du nu

Chen Ping is fiercely convincing and Lieh Lo steals every scene he's in, but Ho Meng-hua's "Kiss of Death" is not great film-making.

The "kiss of death" is the venereal disease Chen Ping catches when she is viciously gang-raped by a group of low level criminals. After learning that her VD ("Vietnam Rose") is incurable, she decides to kill her rapists and begs Lieh Lo to teach her how to do it in style.

For a sleaze pic, the set-up is perfect and the structure was borrowed for "Kill Bill". Unfortunately, the execution is not so perfect. The action scenes are jagged and unconvincing at times and director Ho Meng-hua has trouble maintaining the momentum. The film stops dead at regular intervals and takes irrelevant detours that do not add anything to the pace or wafer-thin characterization.

There is an oily subplot involving the spiking of drinks and women forced into pornography. Leads excepted, the performances are wildly uneven and over-the-top, although the sleaziest characters come across with conviction.

The film's score and "sting" sound effects perfectly compliment the style. 'Tis a pity a little more professionalism was not applied to the script and staging; several shots are also out of focus.

Recommended for sleaze fans, but best to lower your expectations. Chen Ping shined much brighter in the far superior "The Sexy Killer" ("Du Hou Mi Shi").