Throwback Theater 4

“The Story of Ricky” AKA Riki-Oh

 

By A T Folino

Here it is the grandaddy of all over the top bloody kung fu movies “The Story of Ricky” and yes it is everything that you have heard. Set in the year 2001 the prison system has been privatized by big corporations it is behind the walls of one of those prisons we meet Ricky Ho a former music student turned superhuman kung fu expert. Ricky is serving 10 years for killing the drug dealer that killed his girlfriend in a fit of rage. After Ricky is processed in the prison we are treated to 91 minutes of the most over the top craziness ever committed to film. Over the course of the film we see people get punched in half, intestines used as a garrote, the musical stylings of Ricky playing the opium leaf and a rubber suited monster turned into ground beef.

Ricky is a master of Qigong kung fu I guess this means Cuisinart in Chinese being that he rips people apart like a human food processor. When released in 1991 “Story of Ricky” was infamous for being the first movie to gain a Category III rating purely based on violence and mayhem. By today's standards the movie is tame as the violence is like watching a human cartoon or comic book with blood and violence taken to silly levels. Case in point during his fight with Oscar a tattooed member of the prison gang the ligaments in Ricky's arm are severed and he is forced to tie them back together using his teeth. The mayhem plus the silly dubbing makes this movie a b grade epic for the ages. A rare piece of cinema to find on DVD it is now readily available to watch on Netflix in all its uncut glory.

Things to watch for!!!!!

The head squish!!!!

Ricky's surgery on his own arm.

The Warden monster!!!

The fat, one eyed and hook handed assistant warden (Pure Comic Genius)

The Gang of Four

Kung Fu graveyard training.