Three Days of a Blind Girl

Three Days of a Blind Girl

Three Days of a Blind Girl

I had the chance to sit down and watch the 1993 Hong Kong thriller "Three Days of a Blind Girl" (aka "Maang lui 72 siu si"), and of course I did so. I hadn't heard about the movie prior to sitting down to watch it, so all I knew about it was that it was a Hong Kong thriller. First of all, it was a nice surprise that Anthony Chau-Sang Wong was in the movie, though this was hardly some of his most outstanding work. I mean, the acting in the movie was pretty much as expect for a Hong Kong movie from the early to mid-1990s; that being a bit over the top silly and over-acted. And such was also the case for "Three Days of a Blind Girl". Now, I have seen more than my share of Hong Kong movies in my time, but I can't really claim to be overly familiar with Veronica Yip, though she did perform well enough in the movie. But again, the acting was influenced by that archetypical manner seen in the Hong Kong movies from that time. The story told in "Three Days of a Blind Girl" was pretty straight forward and very easy to follow. However, it seemed like writer Man Sing So was taking the easiest way for the script, and following the basic how-to-make-a-thriller movie blueprint. As such, director Wing-Chiu Chan was left with something that has been seen in countless other movies before and since, so it wasn't a rather outstanding or innovative storyline or script the actors and actresses had to work with in the movie. "Three Days of a Blind Girl" has a rather small ensemble of casted performers on the cast list, so those in the movie had to perform all the better to maintain a watchable movie, and I will say that they actually did so quite well. Just keep in mind that the movie bears witness of the archetypical style of acting seen in the early 1990s Hong Kong movies. This turned out to be a watchable movie, and one that was entertaining enough for the generic type of movie that it was. It is good enough for a single viewing, and I doubt that I will ever be returning to watch "Three Days of a Blind Girl" a second time. My rating of the 1993 movie "Three Days of a Blind Girl" lands on a bland and mediocre five out of ten stars.

Veronica Yip stars as the beautiful, busty and (temporarily) blind wife of Dr. Jack Ng, a successful heart specialist. Unfortunately, Mrs. Ng is also blind to her husband's philandering ways—it seems that the good doctor likes to take 'extra special care' of some of his female patients. When Dr. Ng leaves his sightless wife for a few days (in the care of their maid), Sam (Anthony Wong), the wronged husband of one of Jack's conquests, seizes his chance to terrorise poor Mrs. Ng (and the maid) and lay in wait for the doctor's return. Anthony Wong, star of classic Cat III movies The Untold Story and The Ebola Syndrome, once again proves his 'lunatic' credentials by playing yet another complete maniac, albeit one with a reason for his behaviour. When he first arrives at the doctor's house, he introduces himself to Mrs. Ng as an old acquaintance of her husband's. Now this being Anthony Wong, a lot of people would immediately call the police, but Mrs. Ng is blind, so she can't tell who it is, and she invites him in. Before you know it, her guest is taking full advantage of his situation, hopping in the shower with the buxom babe when she thinks she is alone, playing mean tricks on her (he cooks the family dog and serves it up as 'steak') and generally making her life hell. Towards the end of the film, Psycho Sam goes into overdrive and becomes a knife wielding, rapist/killer hell-bent on revenge. With a story like that, Three Days of a Blind Girl could've been a masterpiece of Cat III excess, but although it's heart is in the right (or should that be wrong) place, the film isn't a complete success thanks to a plodding pace and little in the way of explicit nastiness. Much of the horror is suggested, and even the most gory scene (a multiple stabbing) is less bloody than many other films of the genre. Sensational moments that wimp out a tad include a spot of genital mutilation, and a bit where Mrs. Ng has to hurriedly find a place to hide a phone battery (use your imagination). As the story progresses, the film does get better, and the finalé, which sees Mrs. Ng regaining her sight and fighting back is great stuff. It's just a shame that a film with such a potential to be an exploitation legend doesn't go all out to deliver the goods.

Interesting combination of talent got together here to make one of the classic movie from the silver age of Hong Kong cinema. Veronica Yip plays the part of a housewife who's temporarily blind, and Anthony Wong plays the part of a handyman who's infatuated with her. The movie plays little like "Wait until Dark" - an another classic by Audry Hepburn, but this is a turbo charged version of that movie. Veronica Yip was a rising star at the time, and this is one of her earlier works that exploited her Asian beauty, and Anthony Wong was a relative new comer to the Hong Kong cinematic scene. Neither of them had been given much opportunity to increase their acting experience, but their acting skills skyrockets in the coming years, and becomes much sought after talents in the industry. Even in this early works of theirs, their on screen presence is unmistakable. This in my opinion is what "Wait until Dark" should have been. The clever sexual angle with the blindness, and the danger of being sexually exploited should have been the theme of that movie also. The risk of getting raped gains high voltage when the actor is so beautiful. In the end, the movie is surprisingly "normal" probably due to the talent of the two stars. It's not a vulgar movie, and can be viewed as a suspenseful drama with a twist. The producers chose good pair of talent to make this movie, and it's now another Hong Kong movie classic.

As other reviewers have said, this is kind of a sexier version of "Wait Until Dark", but the woman here is only temporarily blind from surgery, she has only a single male assailant, and the assailant's motives may have something to do with her unfaithful surgeon husband who is away on a business trip. I'm not sure if this is an actual Category III Hong Kong film, but if so, it is definitely one of the tamer ones I've seen. It does feature two Hong Kong film legends (and a third--Fruit Chan--has a small role as a thief and potential rapist). The main attraction is Eurasian heavy Anthony Wong from "The Untold Story" and "The Ebola Virus", who plays the creepy stranger who shows up unexpectedly at the blind woman's villa and befriends her before eventually revealing his true and much more sinister motives. Wong is much more restrained than usual, but he is also genuinely scary. The best scene is when he slips into the shower with the blind woman and silently pantomimes washing her * body without quite letting on he's there. It's a scene that is both very creepy and funny. The other attraction is the beautiful Veronica Yip. Her role here doesn't compare to her other Category III work in terms of sheer exploitation value. She may not wind up actually raped and/or murdered here, and her shower scene, while certainly very enjoyable, doesn't compare in sheer gratuitousness to the 11-minute(!) shower scene she has in "Pretty Woman". But she is positively stunning and certainly is given a lot more opportunity to act than in most her other films. The end is a little prolonged and goes into the usual "indestructible psycho" territory, but it's definitely a fun little film. It actually seems like kind of a missed opportunity that none of the countless American "erotic thrillers" of this era ever thought to mine the "Wait Until Dark" plot, but then I doubt the actors in those were talented enough to really pull it off anyway. But if you want to see a more erotic version of the Audrey Hepburn classic (even if it's pretty weak tea for Cat III), this is your chance.

Amazing sleazy adult psycho exploitation/thriller! This one woman goes blind but the blindness will only last for 3 days. When her husband (a rich doctor) is going somewhere away for work, Anthony Wong (greatest Hong Kong actor ever) comes in to trap and terrorize her in her own home. Wong seemed like a friend just visiting at first but slowly we discover how messed up in the head he was and why he's doing this (there's actually a very fascinating story behind everything and you question who the bad guy truly is in the grand scheme of things). The girl's blindness makes her easy to torture and hold captive so Wong's insanity is even more threatening, lots of surprises and twists you'll have never seen coming. My favorite twist has to do with "steak". Most hilarious scene though is the "shower scene". The unsuspecting girl had no idea what Wong's depraved character was doing as he stood right behind her naked wet body. Decent amount of sexual harassment, verbal abuse, and violence with some blood (scissor castration, stabbings, fights) but not as graphic as Anthony Wong's other movies like "Ebola Syndrome", "Untold Story", or the lesser known "Love to Kill".

Trailer—Three Days of a Blind Girl