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Devil Angel

Devil Angel
(aka Evil Angel)
1995; directed by Foo Laap

Brandishing its' Category III rating like a badge of honor, but really being as tame as your average episode of Silk Stalkings or maybe Red Shoe Diaries, Foo Laap's 1995 snoozer Devil Angel certainly has more than its' fair share of bare boobies, but the film is presented with so little originality, style, or panache that probably its' only audience would be die-hard Vivian Hsu fans who want to see her two points thrown onscreen... over and over again. Most anyone else would probably be better off having a cup of tea and taking a nap.

Anyway, in Devil Angel, Vivian plays Suen, a young woman who runs away with her boyfriend, Kit (Franco Jiang), before he is arrested for insider trading. Heading to a seaside resort, the couple meets up with Hung (Yeung Si-Man), a rich widow who offers them a lot of money if Kit agrees to sleep with her. As they are running out of money, Suen and Kit agree to the proposition, which quickly puts a strain on their relationship.

Devil Angel

Does this plot sound familiar? Well, it should, because it's based heavily on the US film Indecent Proposal, and the story wasn't all that interesting the first time around. Perhaps sensing this, Foo Laap throws in plenty of softcore smut, but it's of that lame variety which consists of the man seemingly penetrating the ladies' hip while the sheets are strategically draped around any possible showing of naughty bits. And if anyone was actually worried about being aroused here, apparently the production ran out of light bulbs during the filming of sweet nookie, since they're so dimly lit, one starts to wonder if the brightness on their TV is going on the fritz.

Laap does attempts to bring things around a bit towards the end of the movie by injecting some actual pathos into the proceedings, mostly via Vivian Hsu's surprisingly mature and earnest performance. But it comes off as an effort that's sadly too little and too late to actually bring the quality of Devil Angel up beyond the level of your usual sub-standard no-budget Hong Kong fare, with one getting the sense that Hsu's work would have been much better served in something that wasn't pandering and dull Category III throw-away material such as this.

RATING: 3

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