Riki-Oh - The Story Of Ricky (Dual Format Blu-ray & DVD)

Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky is a film that has quite the cult status. The over the top Hong Kong martial arts film features several famous gory action scenes that have been featured multiple times on Youtube movie shows etc. Seeing these scenes online had me looking up and purchasing the film. Little did I know what sort of crazy experience I was in for.Story of Ricky or otherwise known as Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky, is a 1991 Hong Kong martial arts film. It was written and directed by Lam Nai-Cho and is based on a Japanese manga of the same name. The film stars Fan Siu-Wong, Ho Ka-Kui, Yukari Oshima and Fan Mei-Sheng, an actor who I recently discovered in the highly entertaining, The Magnificent Butcher (starring Sammo Hung) and the Jackie Chan classic, Project A II. The film is about a freakishly strong character named Ricky (bet you didn't see that coming). This impressive looking young man is somewhat of an unspoken super hero. He has the ability to heal himself, has incredible strength and has the ability to punch through every flesh bag he touches. Ricky finds himself in Prison for what is an undisclosed reason to the viewer. Here he finds himself in a odd position as he battles the warden and his brown nosing side kicks, the reason for his incarceration slowly unravelling.I highly enjoyed my time with this film. It was the kind of silly over the top film that I really enjoy. You could tell that whoever worked on it has their tongue firmly in cheek, or they did. Everything comes across as hyperactive with super over the top characters, ridiculous action sequences and moments that are just too hard to believe. It's absolutely fantastic. The martial arts was a little lacking but the excessive over the top gore really made up for it. The story was pretty basic but very easy to follow. I can't see a lot of people struggling with this film. Either you're going to love it or hate it.The Medium Rare print of this film leaves a little to be desired. The film in general looks alright. There's a lot of film grain, a decent amount of detail and a fair bit of blurriness in places. There's just enough clarity that you can see all the wires used for the stunts, all the well crafted fake limbs etc used for all the gore and the colour itself can be quite striking. It isn't the best looking bluray but it sure isn't the worst.I really enjoyed Riki-Oh - The Story Of Ricky. It was certainly a very memorable experience. The over top style of the film made me think to the days of Hot Shots and Loaded Weapon. It was all very good. The print quality wasn't the best but somethings you've got to accept. If you want a sudden burst of craziness, by all means pick this film up. It'll go nicely with Tokyo Gore Police, Robo-Geisha and all those sort of films. It's no master piece, but it is a great time.

High quality gags (lots of lovely throat rips), touching drama. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll hurl, you’ll have to restrain yourself from committing inspired acts of violence.

Great picture, nicely cleaned up. The movie itself is gloriously bad. It has some atrocious acting and pretty poor plotting, but it always raises a smile for it's audacious (gory) special effects. Of course the budget isn't really up to it.You can forgive certain things because you know they were really trying to achieve a look that resembles the Manga, but it is just so difficult to watch for any other reason because the story is so bland and the acting slightly campy. Fun, inspiring in some ways, and can never be called forgettable as it's too bizarre. Take it for what it is - a moment in cinema history some would rather forget, but some might gain something by looking at it from a different angle.

’Ricki-Oh: Story of Ricky’ (1991) might not be the best martial arts-movie out there... Wait, let me rephrase that, ’Ricki-Oh: Story of Ricky’ (1991) might just be the best martial arts-movie out there! Why? Because it’s hilarious, batshit insane and one of the bloodiest, goriest and most over-the-top martial arts movies ever made.To me it was instant love the first time I saw it, and I still revisit it from now and then. It’s just so entertaining and there is really no other live-action movie quite like it....Suberb release!

Every bit as ridiculous and epic as you'd expect from a low budget live action anime.

The sound is dreadful, it distracts from the movie so much, it sounds unclear and even slightly muffled. I switched to the DVD version included and the picture isn't much better on the blu ray. The special features are ok, pretty common things included in DVDs.I don't recommend this but if you can't find any other way of watching Riki Oh, then you might aswel get this

Brilliant film.

Bought this a wee while back but just got round tae watchin it. Loved it👌🏻 if ye love old school martial arts movies and have a love for splatter movies then this will tick all boxes. Loadsa blood n guts but it's done in a comedic sence. Think braindead but no where near as gorey, but to be honest nuthin has been or ever will be. The end fight scene with the the warden he me pissin masel😂😂😂 80s fx were topper by the way!😂😂😂 git it watched👌🏻