She's a killer, who kills in the nude. Talk about Exactly What It Says on the Tin!
Naked Killer is a 1992 Hong Kong film directed by Clarence Fok and produced by Wong Jing, starring Chingmy Yau, a former Miss Hong Kong Pageant contestantnote and 1990s sex symbol, in her Star-Making Role as the titular killer. Along for the ride is Simon Yam (of Bullet in the Head fame) as a police detective investigating her killings, but he inevitably falls for her.
Kitty (Chingmy Yau) is a fierce and violent young woman who had no qualms attacking men who cheated on their wives or girlfriends, by stabbing their crotches, seeing herself as a vigilante for bullied women. But after an attempted assassination on a triad leader who killed her father goes wrong, Kitty ends up being rescued by veteran assassin Sister Cindy, who decides to take Kitty (completely against Kitty's will) as her protégée.
Tinam (Simon Yam) is a cop and once the best sharpshooter in the Hong Kong police force, but after accidentally killing his brother as a rookie, he develops a crippling phobia of guns. And when he is assigned to investigate the many assassinations performed by Kitty, both cop and killer inevitably fall for each other... Worst of all, an even more deadly female fatale, nicknamed Princess, who has a past vendetta against Sister Cindy, comes back with a vengeance. Tinam and Kitty will have to team up against their common adversary.
The film is considered a Cult Classic nowadays, mostly because of the amounts of steamy fanservice.
Simon Yam and Chingmy Yau would collaborate on a few more Hong Kong films in the 1990s, such as Street Angels, Future Cops and Legendary Couple, although none of them are as notoriously popular (or controversial) as Naked Killer.
A decade later, Naked Killer would receive a Spiritual Successor, Naked Weapon, with none of the original cast returning.
This film provides examples of:
- Accidental Murder: Tinam's fear of guns is revealed in a flashback, where he accidentally shot his brother while still a rookie.
- Action Girl: Sister Cindy and Kitty, although Kitty spends most of the movie training herself to become one. And then there's Princess, the Dark Action Girl of the story.
- Anti-Hero: Sister Cindy. While she did rescue Kitty, she pretty much kidnapped the girl and forced Kitty against her will to become an assassin, before setting her off on a killing spree.
- Anyone Can Die: By the time the credits roll, any named character with more than 10 minutes of screen time is dead.
- Asshole Victim: Most of the victims killed by Kitty and Cindy falls under this.
- Mr. Bee, who is one of Kitty’s first kills, is a mobster and triad leader who killed Kitty’s father first, and uses his power and affiliation with the police to get away with murder. The movie tries its best to make him pretty close to a Hate Sink to justify Kitty murdering him as her Start of Darkness.
- The bodybuilder violently murdered by Princess is revealed to be a cheating boyfriend and pimp.
- More of a matter of Offscreen Villainy, but the many victims killed by Kitty and Sister Cindy, as assured by Cindy herself, are actually cheaters and different abusive boyfriend who deserves their comeuppance.
- Cindy has a paedophile chained up in her basement for Kitty to test her skills in killing.
- Badass Longcoat: Tinam wears a long trenchcoat throughout the second half of the movie, and even in the climatic shootout.
- Badass Teacher: Sister Cindy, who is a veteran Professional Killer, as well as a Hot Teacher.
- Barbell Beating: The film opens with the Dark Action Girl villainess, the Princess, killing a playboy by bashing his brains out with a pair of barbells and shooting him with a silenced gun.
- Big Fancy House: The Princess' mansion, where the final shootout takes place.
- Blood from the Mouth: Sister Cindy and Princess both dies in the manner, with their eyes wide open but the camera lingering on their bloody lips to assure the audience they're really dead.
- Boyish Short Hair: Baby, the girlfriend and toy-girl of Princess. She's the only female character with hair that doesn't go past her shoulders, and behaves least feminine amongst the various ladies in the film.
- Can't Refuse the Call Anymore: The moment Kitty wakes up in Sister Cindy's room, and learning that Cindy is taking her as a protege, Kitty immediately demands to be let out. Cindy responds by flicking on the television, showing a news broadcast about Kitty's rampage in Mr. Bee's office, that police have identified Kitty as Mr. Bee's killer, and as such Kitty is now a wanted fugitive and has no choice but to accept Cindy's offer.
- Contrived Coincidence: Kitty's assassination attempt on Mr. Bee happens on the same day as Sister Cindy is trying to kill said target. What's even more contrived, after killing Mr. Bee and attempting to escape pursuing triads, Kitty grabs the first person she sees as a hostage... which is none other than Cindy herself!
- Covers Always Lie: Despite the DVD cover shown above, at NO point in the movie did Kitty gets completely nude. The most we see of her is in her sports bra and panties, and the movie's CAT-III rating (equivalent to R rating in the United States) mostly comes from the violence and controversial content.
- Deadly Graduation: Though done as a first test rather than a final test. Sister Cindy has a rapist chained up in her basement until he's gone Ax-Crazy, and locks Kitty in the room with him. The key to the door is attached to his waist, so Kitty has to kill him to get it, using his own chain. When she runs upstairs to give Cindy a piece of her mind, her mentor just reprimands her for taking too long and failing to notice several potential weapons in the room. Later Kitty gets payback by locking Cindy in the basement with two mad rapists and all the weapons removed. Cindy lets them grope and slaver over her gorgeous body, then kills both with her bare hands.
- Designated Girl Fight: The strangely seductive Cat Fight between Kitty and Princess in the finale. The movie in fact spends a lot of time building up to this scene, and while Tinam gets to confront Princess several times, he never did get to challenge her directly, and instead spends most of his time dealing with her legion of faceless mooks.
- Doesn't Like Guns: Tinam, but only for the first half of the movie, because he’s shown to have accidentally killed his brother while trying to shoot a criminal several years ago when he was still a rookie. The moment he got over his fear of guns halfway through the film, be becomes a total gun expert who can gun down hordes and hordes of Princess’ mobsters with Improbable Aiming Skills.
- Drugged Lipstick: How Princess managed to assassinate Sister Cindy, using poisoned lipstick. And later Kitty uses this trick back on Princess.
- Excuse Plot: There’s barely a plot whatsoever in this movie; the whole film is made just to have Chingmy Yau and Carrie Ng strut around in as little clothing as the rating allows.
- Fanservice: Once every ten minutes. Kitty herself spends roughly 30% of her screen time in her undergarments. And of course Girl on Girl Is Hot.
- Femme Fatale: Sister Cindy. And Kitty herself, who is being trained by Cindy into becoming one.
- Fingore: Kitty, upon waking up in Sister Cindy's bedroom, realize all her fingers are bandaged. Because Sister Cindy had removed her fingerprints with a scalpel while she was unconscious.
- Groin Attack: All of the lethal lady assassins uses this method constantly to take out their mostly-male targets. You can in fact play a drinking game with the groin attacks featured in the film.
- I Cannot Self-Terminate: Kitty in her final moments: poisoned, wounded, and near the verge of death after killing the Princess herself. Tinam decides to end it right there though, blowing up himself and Kitty so that they Died Happily Ever After.
- In Love with the Mark: Tinam, a police detective himself, is ordered to investigate and hunt down Kitty, the assassin. He ends up falling for her instead.
- It's Personal: Kitty’s vendetta towards Princess becomes a lot more direct when Princess kills her mentor and lover, Sister Cindy.
- Karmic Death: Princess kills Sister Cindy by luring Cindy to a kiss, and poisoning Cindy with her Drugged Lipstick. This trick ends up backfiring on Princess when Kitty learns how her mentor died, and uses the same type of lipstick to poison and kill Princess.
- Masturbation Means Sexual Frustration:
- A twofer with the two leads, Kitty and Tinam, who had fallen for each other, jerking off simultaneously while thinking of each other.
- Kitty later says she knows Cindy hasn't had sex in a while as she's masturbated twice in the last five nights.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Princess' real name isn't revealed in the movie.
- Psycho Lesbian: Princess, to say the least... Given her perving over her girlfriend, relationship with Sister Cindy and her plans for Kitty...
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil:
- Mr. Bee, after having Kitty captured alive, orders his men to bring her to his office and gang-rape her, but she escapes.
- Later, during Kitty’s training with Madam Cindy, it’s revealed that Cindy had a group of Serial Rapist and murderers chained in her basement, which she used them to "train" Kitty.
- Reverse Relationship Reveal: The movie opens with Princess apparently being stalked by a man who follows her up to an apartment and surprises her in the shower...whereupon he demands to know what she's doing in his apartment.Princess: I normally take a shower before I work. (kneecaps him)
- Rule of Pool: There is a large swimming pool outside Princess’ mansion, and during Kitty’s confrontation with Princess and Baby, all three of them end up in the water. When Tinam arrives he, too, gets dragged into the pool, in the same scene where he shoots Baby.
- Sexophone: Used a few times, whenever Sister Cindy appears onscreen.
- Shower Scene: Right in the opening scene, when Princess assassinates her first target, a bodybuilder who had cheated on his girlfriend. Said target hears someone in his shower, and pulls open the shower curtain to reveal a nude Princess taking a shower, who then shoots her target while he's momentarily stunned.
- Teacher/Student Romance: Kitty ends up falling for her own mentor, Sister Cindy. The feeling is quite mutual actually.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Plenty throughout the movie. Especially the first onscreen death performed by Princess, shooting a man in his shoulders, then his kneecaps, before knocking a set of weights who collapses on his head squeezing his brains out of his skull, then delivering the Coup de Grâce by shooting him twice in the groin.
- Together in Death: In the aftermath of the climax, with Princess and all her henchmen dead, Tinam finds Kitty poisoned and near the verge of death, and with the police arriving there is nowhere for them to run. Tinam decides to end it right there by shooting a nearby fuel tank, blowing up the entire mansion with him and Kitty still in it.
- Training from Hell: Sister Cindy's training for Kitty, to initiate her as an assassin. It involves having her locked in a basement with a serial rapist who haven't touched a woman for years.
- Waking Up Elsewhere: After the assassination on Mr. Bee goes awry, with Kitty barely escaping with her life before being rescued by Sister Cindy, she later wakes up in Cindy’s bedroom
. Wearing only her underwear. - Workout Fanservice: More than once, featuring Kitty or Princess.
- You Killed My Father: Kitty holds a personal grudge against Mr. Bee for killing her father. Her killing him marks her start as an assassin.
