“World of Desire” Theatrical Poster

Director: Chao Chen-Kuo
Cast: Robert Mak, William Ho, Blackie Ko, Shou-Liang, Norman Tsui Siu-Keung, Chiang Ta-Chuan, Suen Man, Chen Kuan-Tai, Ng Naam-Yiu, Xie Jian-Wen
Running Time: 74 min.

By Paul Taggart

In these days of boutique labels releasing Asian cinema hits and relative obscurities, there are still those who swim in murky waters where even Godfrey Ho fans wouldn’t swim. It’s a strange place, full of bottomless pits of crappiness, tonal whiplash, fountains of sleaze, geysers of violence and the detritus of cinema. It is the land of the Taiwan exploitation film. Usually rougher round the edges than even the similar Hong Kong movies, but just as worth checking out. Perhaps the best known Taiwan 90s entries into this type would be the gangster squib sleaze sagas of Hunting List or Requital. But they are the peak, and something like World of Desire is far from those lofty heights and lies broken and twisted at the bottom, mumbling to itself incoherently.

You would think World of Desire is a cheapie 74-minute soft-score film from its poster and title, but it’s actually a cheapie gangster film with nudie bits. The plot is pretty basic, concerning three night club hostesses and a hoodlum who end up on the run from a gang after an incident at a hotel involving an old man, one of the women and a pistol. Various shenanigans ensure for the rest of the run-time mostly set around a night club the quartet end up running whilst trying to evade the local mobsters gunning for them.

But what’s so bizarre about World of Desire is it’s cast – William Ho you’d expect in something like this, it was his bread and butter – but not cameos from Blackie Ko, Chen Kuan Tai and Norman Tsui. Norman looks rather dishevelled whenever he appears on screen and it’s rather off-putting to see him squeeze some poor woman’s arse for 40 seconds, but kind of funny at the same time. Thankfully the viewer is spared any extended sex scene with Norman, but he sure makes the most of his bottom fondling opportunity and there’s a shot of him lying on a bed where he seems rather too excited under a towel he is wearing. The rest of the guys mostly escape with their dignity intact.

The lead is Robert Mak who is rather bland but appears in a lot of gangster orientated Taiwan films of this era and in more than one he always seems to end up wearing a black vest for some reason. World of Desire spends a lot of time trying to convince that Bob is Mr. Sex, but he’s more Barnaby Jones than Tom Jones. The actresses aren’t memorable at all, and sadly due to their lack of any characterisation. I had time telling them apart as they mostly appear on screen all together, like a female three stooges but lacking any comedic timing.

World of Desire’s lack of budget is evident, near enough the whole film takes place in garish nightclubs, musty pubs or messy living rooms with far too many shots of mahjong players. At one point William Ho and his gang have a meeting in what looks to be a cramped karaoke booth, diminishing any menace the scene is supposed to portray. The soundtrack seems comprised by wonky keyboard demos, one of which is an annoying machine gun funk synth tune. It’s still kind of fun though, the action is shoddy but there’s plenty of it scattered throughout and the exploitation content is pretty high, heavy on the nasty repetitive lady slapping and one of the women is randomly forced to drink wine out of a shoe at gunpoint. Nudity is ample but kept to brief moments, despite the lurid title, the focus is indeed as a low-rent gangster film, one that wishes to make you believe a household metal bin can be used to deflect machine gun fire.

It’s entertaining crap but William Ho exits too early and leaves a large hole in the film’s collective charisma which it stumbles on past due to it’s relative shortness. Not really one for anyone except lovers of trash, World of Desire is a scuzzy curiosity.

Paul Taggart’s Rating: 4/10

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