Today, the Category III crime dramas of the Far East are a dime a dozen. The competitive nature to make each one progressively more disturbing and shocking is on. If you take a step back to 1992 (I can't believe it's been ten years!) you can take a look at the film that started it all. Many credit The Untold Story as the originator, however, we all should know, that Dr. Lamb is the true starting point, when discussing this sub genre of cinema. Dr. Lamb was the first and in my opinion is still one of the best, even to this day.

Simon Yam stars as Lam Gor-Yu AKA Dr. Lamb, a disturbed loner who drives a taxi at night, looking to rid the streets of what he considers to be human garbage. The story begins with an anonymous tip from a Kodak processing plant. Someone's been developing disturbing pictures of young women, naked and in compromising positions. The case is handed over to inspector Lee (Danny Lee who also co-directed) who thinks there may be a connection with some recent murders. Lam is picked up and interrogated, but will admit to nothing. The rest of his family is also held for questioning, and some disturbing pictures of Lam's young niece are uncovered. Lam decides to spill his guts, literally, and takes the police on a trip down memory lane told through graphic, yet not excessive flashbacks.

Lam tells of how he would travel the streets at night in his taxi, and pick up girls he felt to be evil, dirty, bad, etc. He would murder them, take pictures of their dead, naked bodies in disturbing positions, mutilate them, and sometimes even have sex with them. The story is based on true events of the real life "Taxi Cab Killer" and Dr. Lamb is an honest, well made, and especially well acted account of the events that took place. Dr. Lamb is easiest compared to Silence of the Lambs, and Simon Yam gives a knockout performance as the depraved serial killer. This film is not for the squeamish; there are scenes within that will disturb even the most jaded viewer. As with many Category III crime dramas of the time, we have the obligatory slapstick humor thrown in amongst the investigators for good measure. Those familiar with these types of films, will not be surprised, however, the uninitiated will most likely find it a bit odd.

The company responsible for this budget import is Winson Entertainment, and for the most part, I say job well done. However, this is far from a reference disc, as it is not without its problems. Picture quality varies throughout and the aspect ratio even appears to change about half way through (not drastic but still noticeable and worth mentioning). Colors are fairly stable, some night scenes do suffer from minor digital artifacting, and there is minor print damage (a few scratches here and there).

Audio options are 5.1 or 2.0 and the 5.1 track is not very impressive at all. It's basically the 2.0 track expanded into a monohybrid 5.1 and is the least favorable of the two. You'll definitely be doing yourself a favor if you stick with the 2.0 track which is quite pleasing, except for a few weird pops/glitches. English subs are easy to read and removable, that's a plus. I accept these few audio and video glitches because of the budget price of this disc. Locally this disc can be had for under 15 bucks, and I ordered mine straight from Honk Kong, for under 5! The price is right for a title that will most likely never see a stateside release.

Dr. Lamb has suffered miserably from cuts and edits through the ages, and from what I can tell, this is the most complete the film has been. All I have to compare it to is an old muddy bootleg I acquired about 7 years ago. As far as I'm concerned this is a suitable replacement for the price. Aside from the few audio/video glitches, the film is in decent shape and more than acceptable.

Extras are non-existent so don't even bother looking. Overall, for the price of this disc you can't go wrong. This is a great film that is not to be missed (if your stomach is strong enough). This is likely to be the best quality and most complete print of Dr. Lamb you will see, at least for the time being.