TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

BeyondHardBoiled Now I'm normally quick to defend movies in the "serial killer" sub genre. There are some great films to come out of it, such as Kim Jee Woon's "I Saw the Devil" and Sion Sono's "Coldfish", but this film just seems like Category III gore trash.I watched this mainly to see Simon Yam and wasn't expecting a masterpiece, but I was shocked. This was severely underwhelming.The plot's very cliché, nothing that stands out to make it really interesting. It's laid out terribly, there is a scene that goes on for minutes of cops playing poker, which is hardly relevant. It gets very repetitive by the end.The acting is horrible, including Yam's, which is unfortunate. This is almost embarrassing. I guess it has to do with the dialogue. Some lines are written for some dark comic relief, but it's hard to distinguish from the regular dialogue.Finally, the ending is very unsatisfactory.I suggest you avoid this, even you Yamster fans.

trashgang I had this flick on my shelves for years, bought full uncut on some Hong Kong label but I never took the time to give it a go. But an interview in Darkside magazine with Simon Yam did me decide to give it a go. But what a mistake it was, it is a perfect example of a much over-hyped flick. Don't get me wrong, the acting is okay but where was all that gore that people were talking about. Flicks that are based on true events concerning serial killers that's what I like to watch. Dr. Lamb is based on the true life murders that took place in Hong Kong in 1982 during several months. A taxi driver named "Lam Gor-Yu" committed murders on females that were sluts in his eyes, hookers as we know them. He killed them because God told him so. Taking pictures of the naked girls in all kind of positions and mutilations he had to develop his pictures. He was caught in the shop he was working by his colleagues. He was sentenced to prison for life. All those things were actually in this flick.But Dr. Lamb fails due the long scene's with the cops. One is trying to give some English sentences but it doesn't work at all. The problem is that it even becomes a bit funny while seeing those coppers at work, especially the female one. I guess that that wasn't supposed to happen. The only moments that are worth watching is once Lam is talking to the police how and why he did all his atrocities. We see him perform his killings but it never becomes gory even as it is a CAT III flick. Even the necrophilia looks a bit dull. In fact this flick had nothing to offer when the killer isn't on-screen. A joke here and there with the stupid coppers like the throwing of a breast but for me it just wasn't funny.I can't understand why this is so much hyped. I found it overall boring with a few scene's that are worth watching. But for me not a CAT III worthy. A bit of nudity here and there but the blood was left out. Luckily the acting by Simon Yam was okay.Gore 1/5 Nudity 2/5 Effects 2/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0,5/5

BA_Harrison Dr.Lamb's narrative structure bears more than a passing similarity to that of another infamous category III shocker, The Untold Story. Both deal with 'true-life murders', both show the police investigation and apprehension of the murderer, the subsequent interrogation (ie. beating) of the prisoner, and the retelling of the crimes in shocking flashbacks. And both have seemingly out of place comedic moments.But where The Untold Story was unashamedly OTT sleaze and gore, Dr. Lamb is a more stylish affair. The cinematography is beautiful (maximum use is made of creative lighting with many scenes swathed in blue and red), the acting is great (Simon Yam and Danny Lee give solid performances and even the actresses playing corpses are convincing) and the direction is well handled by both star Lee and Billy Tang.Simon Yam play serial killer Lam Gor-Yu, who prowls the streets at night in his taxi, looking for 'bad' women (mostly foul mouthed drunks) to strangle, dismember and then photograph. After he takes some of his more 'risqué' snapshots to the equivalent of his local Boots Chemists, he is arrested by the police, who wish to know the truth behind the disappearance of several women who they suspect Lam of reducing to a pile of spare parts.30 minutes into the film, and Lam confesses all, finally giving fans of Cat III horror what they were waiting for – well almost...I know that Dr.Lamb has suffered at the hands of the censors, and that the Winson Entertainment DVD I saw is missing some seconds of strong gore, but I was surprised at how relatively bloodless this film was, especially considering that it is often mentioned in the same breath as The Untold Story and crazy shocker The Ebola Syndrome. Blood is sprayed around during the first dismemberment and we get the odd severed breast thrown in (quite literally during one 'funny' moment!), but I had been hoping for a higher 'yuck' factor.As if to make up for the lack of gore, we get a fair amount of unsavoury action in the form of Lam's predilection for messing with the bodies of his victims, prior to cutting them up. Lam poses them for photos, uses them like puppets, and in the case of the final victim, he 'marries' her and then humps her corpse for a solid 40 minutes in front of a video camera.For me, Dr. Lamb's mix of classy production and lurid subject matter is its main stumbling point; is this meant to be a serious study of a psychotic killer or an exploitative sleazefest? The film ends up being an uncomfortable mix of the two – too much sleaze for those wanting a stylish thriller and not enough sleaze (and gore) for those wanting a memorable slice of extreme cinema.

Bogey Man Dr. Lamb is directed by Danny Lee (co-star of The Killer and the cop in The Untold Story) and Billy Tang (director of Red to Kill and Run & Kill) and this film is one of the earlier Category 3 movies with Sentenced to Hang and Story of Ricky. After these films, brutally violent and sexually explicit horror thrillers began to be made and that highest age limit was invented.Dr. Lamb is not as superb as The Untold Story or Run & Kill but it is still very chilling and stylish true crime film but I don't know how close this is to truth. Anyway, a disturbed young man drives a taxi in Hong Kong and he has very bad traumas from his childhood. Murdered and mutilated women start to appear and the police investigation begins..The horrific truth is about to be discovered..Simon Yam is among the greatest psycho actors in Hong Kong (and world!) and only equivalent for him is Anthony Wong. The acting in Lamb is once again very professional and unforgettable, and when he "freaks out" it sure is scary and horrific to watch. At times, it makes me wonder how these gentlemen can act like that, no matter how professionals they are! Yam's motif for these killings is that he is on a mission from God and he has to kill all the bad women. Prostitutes and addicts are for instance "bad" women and due to his traumas and awful childhood he thinks that he has to purify and clean the streets out of this scum. But the main point and theme in Dr. Lamb is exactly the same as in The Untold Story: the power and behaviour of police. How far can police go in order to get info and answers? The police no longer is the "good" guy and they are no better than the victims. The message is not as powerful as in Untold Story which is at times almost unbearably hard to watch due to the acts police commits. But the same problems are discussed in Dr. Lamb and this can be described very important issue and no-nonsense film.The film is also pretty stylish and professional, as we can expect from these film makers. The use of blue and dark colours and light is gorgeous and the film looks fantastic. The rain is always there and so is depressing atmosphere. This looks as wonderful as the finale in Billy Tang's Red to Kill. Dr. Lamb is almost hypnotic at times, so this is once again unforgettable cinema from the great Hong Kong and has no equivalents in Western cinema. The music is also important element here and I can't point out many technical flaws in the film. There are couple of "funny" scenes which should have been left out, but fortunately they are only very few.The violence and sex is always the thing which alienates people from this kind of cinema and Dr. Lamb is not easier to watch than any other of its kind. The violence and gore is not as extreme as in Untold Story but it is still too much for mainstream audiences. Dead bodies are abused and body parts are cut off. The imagery is occasionally off-putting, but then we have to remember, what actually led the protagonist to commit these horrific acts. The difference between Western and Orient (horror) cinema is as clear as crystal: subject matters and imagery which is definitely a no-no in West (necrophilia, brutality towards women/children etc.) are by no means taboos in Orient. I am not too familiar with the Chinese culture, but watching Chinese films definitely shows that there are many cultures in the world and our Western is just one of them. And when the Chinese/Orient film makers show in their films such a horrific acts mentioned above, it definitely means NOT that they accept these things and don't think they're bad. They are bad and the Orient films say they're bad, so only thing the viewer has to be able to do is to INTERPRET these difficult films and see though them and analyze them. This is too much and too hard for most of the people and that's why the films are considered just sick, disgusting, pointless and so on. Orient films as seen through Western eyes are difficult and require a lot from the viewer, and I like difficult cinema which require brains.Dr. Lamb is one of the greatest achievements in this field and absolutely worth seeking out for Hong Kong fanatics. Too bad that the newly released DVD from Hong Kong is cut for violence and reportedly the uncut print doesn't even exist anymore, or at least is not likely to be released anywhere. The Spanish VHS tape is the only uncut version I know but it is dubbed into Spanish. Some old HK versions may be uncut too but I don't know about them. But the new DVD is still OK because the cuts are not as bad as possible and there are no any substitutes, especially for English speaking people.8/10 and recommended for the lovers of Eastern cinema.