Fatal Vacation

When this narrowly distributed flick was made, Eric Tsang was playing soprano-voiced goofballs in piles of average Hong Kong forgettables. Now, he's matured beautifully and he's playing crime bosses in accomplished dramas like "Infernal Affairs". In other words, he's come a long way, baby! "Fatal Vacation" is one of the few features Tsang has directed, and it's a keeper.

Simple set-up for maximum bloodshed: A bus load of holiday makers are taken hostage by brutal, unreasonable revolutionaries. They do what they can to survive and end up dead for their efforts. Most do, anyway.

Being a child of late Eighties Hong Kong cinema, this is a graphic, unapologetic, mean-spirited exploitationer with close to a dozen jaw-dropping displays of vicious mayhem. It moves like a bullet train and is efficiently directed by Tsang. The rural setting is pictorially interesting and acts as a stark counterpoint to the deliciously gory violence, some of which is admirably shocking.

I was given the chance to sit down and watch the 1990 Hong Kong / Philippines movie "Fatal Vacation" (aka "An le zhan chang") here in 2021. Sure, I hadn't even heard about it prior to watching it, but the fact that it was a Hong Kong movie that I hadn't already seen was more than enough to make me find the time to sit down and watch it.

First of all, I must say that I was surprised to see Eric Tsang in a movie such as this. And while he was out of his usual element, then he was actually putting on a fair enough performance in an action thriller, though at times it was hard to forget that he is usually a comedian. It was fun to watch Victor Wong in a Hong Kong movie, as I have only seen him in American movies, so I was surprised to see him here.

The storyline told in "Fatal Vacation" was pretty straight forward, and actually have some hold in some reality, as tourist kidnappings actually do happen in the Philippines. Sure, the movie was cranked up somewhat for entertainment purposes, but writer Yin Nam actually concocted an interesting enough storyline and plot. I didn't know that it was Eric Tsang whom directed the movie, so that was a nice surprise.

The acting in the movie, was for the most parts, actually adequate enough. Though some scenes had some pretty badly and over-exaggerated acting performances, which seemed so out of place and just dumbed down the movie unnecessarily.

Visually then "Fatal Vacation" definitely bears witness to being from 1990s, so you shouldn't be expecting to be impressed by the special effects in the movie. They served their purpose well enough, but haven't withstood the test of time all that well.

"Fatal Vacation" is good enough entertainment for what it turned out to be, however this is hardly a movie that you will watch more than once. I know that I will not be returning to the movie a second time, as there just wasn't enough of solid contents to the storyline for a second viewing.

My rating of "Fatal Vacation" settles on a five out of ten stars.

I may not have seen that many movies from Hong-Kong, but in the ones I have there's always the same thing annoying me tremendously. I'm referring to the sudden, abrupt, and extreme leaps in tone and atmosphere. One moment, you're looking at something that almost feels like slapstick, then the next you're in the middle of a sadist and disturbing thriller. It's also like this in "Fatal Vacation".

I almost turned off the film after half an hour because it felt like a lame comedy about uptight and eccentric tourists from Hong-Kong traveling around in The Philippines. The first half hour only features idiotic situations (like males dancing in bikinis) and stereotype comedy-characters, like an over-enthusiast tour guide, a dancing midget, an overbearing grandmother, and an adulterous husband. Then, practically out of nowhere, the group is taken hostage by a violent band of guerillas, and there isn't anything to laugh about anymore. The tourists are brutally executed, regardless of age or gender, raped and beaten up. It may just be me, but my autistic brain short-circuited due to this sudden shift in tone. The half hour of comedy is quite annoying, but the barbaric half isn't much better. It's unoriginal, raw, and deeply unpleasant.

Bizarre detail, this extremely obscure (at least, I assume it is) stars the recognizable American - although with obvious Chinese roots - actor Victor Wong, known from cult hits "Big Trouble in Little China", "Prince of Darkness" and my personal favorite monster-movie "Tremors". This guy was the inventor of the name "Graboids", I'll have you know!

I just bought this movie. Didn't expected much since i just bought it because it's an offer item. But it turned out to be a very enjoyable movie. The acting are ok, you can see most of the hong kong actors are still young at that time. Mostly up and coming especially Eric Tsang. It's a movie with a mixture of action, drama, romance, violence and comedy. Worth watching !

This one did not look promising, mainly because no 'name' Hong Kong actors were in it. but it turned out to be a pretty decent thriller. some scenes were pretty intense and violent, but realistic. acting was overall OK, i just wish Hong Kong actors wouldn't shout so much.