This was originally going to be one of my extremely long videos, probably 2 hours or so in length, but I decided I needed to tone it down a bit. No idea if this video will find an audience, if it does, I’d love to dig into this topic further. Ideally, I’d love to do a video about the true crime and serial killer movies, and then I’d love to do one on the se* comedies/movies (yes, I’ve had to censor a few things here, trying not to get the video de-monetized and thus receiving no views).
One thing I think I would have liked to include in the section about Run Run Shaw was his consistency in wanting to give his viewers whatever they wanted. As Godfrey Ho says in the video, “this was the selling point of the movies, this is what the audiences wanted.” when referring to the cinematic violence. There’s a great story in a book called Ask For the Moon by Meredith Lewis (I found it after writing the script/recording the audio for this video) where it describes how the Shaw Bros. put on a play in their earliest days and when one of the leads came on the stage, the physical stage broke underneath him and he fell below. The audience laughed so much, thinking it was part of the show, that the next night the Shaws made sure that the actor fell through the floor again. His idea was to give the viewer what they wanted, and if that meant buckets of blood… so be it.
Also, one little correction (sort of)… When I say in the video “recertified for video” in reference to Triads: The Inside Story, I mean it probably had a cinematic (meaning shown in theaters) recertification BEFORE it hit video. The video market uses a different rating system than Cat 1, 2a, 2b, and 3. While what I said wasn’t inherently wrong, I could have worded it better and I only thought about it upon 4th rewatch!
A brief synpopsis:
This video focuses on what the Category III rating actually is, the history and landscape before it, and it also takes a look at the first local Hong Kong film to receive the rating, the first Western/foreign film, and the first from mainland China. Hope you all enjoy it!
Sources:
. This Week in Sleaze (the greatest CAT III podcast ever! Find it wherever you get your podcasts)
. Conversations with Kenny B. and King Who?
. Fighting Without Fighting: Kung Fu Cinema’s Journey to the West by Luke White.
. The Error 4444 supplemental feature Wild Ratings: Talking Category III w/ Arne Venema & Mike Leeder of CFK – taken from the Red to Kill Bluray ( never actually referenced it in the video, but definitely watched it a couple of times for this).
. Warning! Category III: The Other Hong Kong Cinema by Darrell W. Davis and Yeh Yueh-Yu. Taken from Film Quarterly Vol. 54, No. 4 (Summer 2001), pp. 12-26 (15 pages).
. A Study of the Hong Kong Swordplay Film (1945-1980) from The Fifth Hong Kong International Film Festival.
. The documentaries Category III: The Untold Story of Hong Kong Exploitation (2018) by Callum Waddell and Black Sunshine: Conversations with T.F. Mou (2011) by J.L. Carrozza.
. I’m not sure if I used any information from it directly, but I was reading These Fists Break Bricks by Grady Hendrix and Chris Poggial while writing the script and that thing is packed with so much information that its entirely possible that some crept in.
CHAPTERS:
00:00-02:10 – Introductions
02:11-09:19 – Chapter I: History of a Rating
09:20-11:50 – Chapter II: Creation of a Rating
11:51-17:34 – The Three Firsts of Cat 3
17:35-21:31 – Sentenced to Hang
21:32-25:34 – The Other Possible Firsts in HK
25:35-28:11 – Chapter III: Conclusions
🔔 Subscribe to Weird Cinema & stay updated on the world’s most unusual films—from haunting horrors to bizarre cinematic treasures. Don’t miss out!
https://www.youtube.com/@weirdcinemashow/?sub_confirmation=1
✅ Other Videos You Might Be Interested In Watching:
👉Incredible Feats: The World of Hong Kong Stuntmen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSz6BIXv0Y4
👉Prepare to be Shocked: Exploring the World of Pinky Violence
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC9quBi5v9s
👉Exploring the Strange Universe of IFD Films and Arts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0dDvb3Dxzo&t=23s
=============================
🔔Are you a fan of strange and fascinating films? Subscribe to watch a documentary-style movie series that explores unusual and captivating films from around the world: https://www.youtube.com/@weirdcinemashow/?sub_confirmation=1
How did this gentle old man inspire such SHOCKING films? | Intro to CAT III
This was originally going to be one of my extremely long videos, probably 2 hours or so in length, but I decided I needed to tone it down a bit. No idea if this video will find an audience, if it does, I’d love to dig into this topic further. Ideally, I’d love to do a video about the true crime and serial killer movies, and then I’d love to do one on the se* comedies/movies (yes, I’ve had to censor a few things here, trying not to get the video de-monetized and thus receiving no views).
One thing I think I would have liked to include in the section about Run Run Shaw was his consistency in wanting to give his viewers whatever they wanted. As Godfrey Ho says in the video, “this was the selling point of the movies, this is what the audiences wanted.” when referring to the cinematic violence. There’s a great story in a book called Ask For the Moon by Meredith Lewis (I found it after writing the script/recording the audio for this video) where it describes how the Shaw Bros. put on a play in their earliest days and when one of the leads came on the stage, the physical stage broke underneath him and he fell below. The audience laughed so much, thinking it was part of the show, that the next night the Shaws made sure that the actor fell through the floor again. His idea was to give the viewer what they wanted, and if that meant buckets of blood… so be it.
Also, one little correction (sort of)… When I say in the video “recertified for video” in reference to Triads: The Inside Story, I mean it probably had a cinematic (meaning shown in theaters) recertification BEFORE it hit video. The video market uses a different rating system than Cat 1, 2a, 2b, and 3. While what I said wasn’t inherently wrong, I could have worded it better and I only thought about it upon 4th rewatch!
A brief synpopsis:
This video focuses on what the Category III rating actually is, the history and landscape before it, and it also takes a look at the first local Hong Kong film to receive the rating, the first Western/foreign film, and the first from mainland China. Hope you all enjoy it!
Sources:
. This Week in Sleaze (the greatest CAT III podcast ever! Find it wherever you get your podcasts)
. Conversations with Kenny B. and King Who?
. Fighting Without Fighting: Kung Fu Cinema’s Journey to the West by Luke White.
. The Error 4444 supplemental feature Wild Ratings: Talking Category III w/ Arne Venema & Mike Leeder of CFK – taken from the Red to Kill Bluray ( never actually referenced it in the video, but definitely watched it a couple of times for this).
. Warning! Category III: The Other Hong Kong Cinema by Darrell W. Davis and Yeh Yueh-Yu. Taken from Film Quarterly Vol. 54, No. 4 (Summer 2001), pp. 12-26 (15 pages).
. A Study of the Hong Kong Swordplay Film (1945-1980) from The Fifth Hong Kong International Film Festival.
. The documentaries Category III: The Untold Story of Hong Kong Exploitation (2018) by Callum Waddell and Black Sunshine: Conversations with T.F. Mou (2011) by J.L. Carrozza.
. I’m not sure if I used any information from it directly, but I was reading These Fists Break Bricks by Grady Hendrix and Chris Poggial while writing the script and that thing is packed with so much information that its entirely possible that some crept in.
CHAPTERS:
00:00-02:10 – Introductions
02:11-09:19 – Chapter I: History of a Rating
09:20-11:50 – Chapter II: Creation of a Rating
11:51-17:34 – The Three Firsts of Cat 3
17:35-21:31 – Sentenced to Hang
21:32-25:34 – The Other Possible Firsts in HK
25:35-28:11 – Chapter III: Conclusions
🔔 Subscribe to Weird Cinema & stay updated on the world’s most unusual films—from haunting horrors to bizarre cinematic treasures. Don’t miss out!
https://www.youtube.com/@weirdcinemashow/?sub_confirmation=1
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👉 Weird Cinema Mainline Videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC9quBi5v9s&list=PLR5Guq-L21kg0DOMf5UHBySqcAg0ZlmPm&pp=iAQB
✅ Other Videos You Might Be Interested In Watching:
👉Incredible Feats: The World of Hong Kong Stuntmen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSz6BIXv0Y4
👉Prepare to be Shocked: Exploring the World of Pinky Violence
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC9quBi5v9s
👉Exploring the Strange Universe of IFD Films and Arts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0dDvb3Dxzo&t=23s
=============================
🔔Are you a fan of strange and fascinating films? Subscribe to watch a documentary-style movie series that explores unusual and captivating films from around the world: https://www.youtube.com/@weirdcinemashow/?sub_confirmation=1
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