Lung Wei Wang's film ESCAPE FROM BROTHEL (1992) tells the unhappy story of two prostitutes working in a Hong Kong brothel. One of the girls has a boyfriend in the mainland and she is wishing to see him some day again, as does the boyfriend, too. He goes to Hong Kong and tries to save the girl(s) but it is easy to tell what'll follow since this is a CAT III rated film and made in 1992 in Hong Kong.
Director Lung Wei Wang has also directed another ultra violent exploitation actioner called CITY WARRIORS (1991) which is pretty close to ESCAPE FROM BROTHEL but lacks its strong sex scenes. Wang also plays a gang leader in Billy Tang's incredible RUN AND KILL (1993). ESCAPE FROM BROTHEL stars Pauline Chan, who died very recently and sadly so. The cast is adequate in BROTHEL and after all it is a once watchable exploitation junk if the viewer has high tolerance for this kind of film.
The film opens with very graphic and strong sex scene to secure the target audience's interest. There's full frontal female nudity which I haven't seen too often in a "straight" Hong Kong (exploitation) film like this. But the Eastern girls are very beautiful, natural and sensual, and BROTHEL naturally isn't an exception. Alongside sex, there's one other thing this film was made for, and that isn't hard to guess..
Violence, mindless and over-the-top violence which together with sex, makes this among the maddest efforts of the genre even thought it is FAR away from the real masterpieces of the Hong Kong cinema in the 90's. BROTHEL is just exploitation and nothing more, but still it could be much worse than this, and I'm glad I haven't seen too many of the really worst ones.
BROTHEL has some very nice "blue night time photography" which makes the film easier to watch as there's at least some talent in the director. The "plot" turns very slow at the end part of the film, and it is very unnecessary and totally waste of celluloid. The film runs approximately 95 PAL minutes in its uncut form and at least 15 minutes of that is too much. The "dramatic" discussions at the end really makes it hard to watch the film without falling asleep. Also the theme about immigrants and foreigner's in Hong Kong could've been an interesting one, but I would feel naive to try to look this film as anything more than just exploitation. There is some sparks between he and she at the end, but the film makers didn't want to concentrate on those deeper and more ambitious sides, they were interested in the third level rating only.
ESCAPE FROM BROTHEL is among the Hong Kong films that really don't give much clue to what they can really achieve if they want to. BROTHEL is a noteworthy example of Eastern (s)exploitation at its most graphic and insane element. 3/10
