We're Going to Eat You - Norman Chui (1980) - Tang Chung Ling Ancestral Hall, Lung Yeuk Tau

We saw it just a few posts ago as the location where Wang Jang Lee picks up his kill contracts in another of Seasonal's films, Drunken Master. In We're Going to Eat you the place plays a rather more significant role as the location of, not only, the village meetings (where the food is divided up between the ever-hungry inhabitants), but also the location for the slaughterhouse scenes and the alleyway connecting the front gate entrance (Lo Wai) to the slaughterhouse area.

The area used for the slaughterhouse is actually a walled courtyard on the east side of the hall. You can see the outside of it on GoogleEarth here. Being a Tsui Hark film, we get a plethora of weird angles from low to high, so I've just included the more conventional views in the screen caps below.

The alleyway connecting the entrance to the courtyard is indeed an alleyway connecting this courtyard to the front of the hall. It's formed by the main hall structure and a couple of lower side blocks (one of which can be see in the courtyard grabs above). Remember, in the film the front entrance was actually shot over at Lo Wai (literally a minute's walk away).

And lastly we can see the main courtyard inside the hall where all the meetings take a place and is also the same location where the finale was shot as the remaining survivors set off fireworks as they rollerskate around avoiding the horde. This area is the one that is usually open to visit as part of the heritage trail.

We're Going to Eat You - Norman Chui (1980) - Tin Hau Temple and Courtyard, Lung Yeuk Tau

It was just a few weeks ago that I did a post for Mr Vampire that used the (now) carpark in front of the Tin Hau Temple in Lung Yeuk Tau. Well, here is another film that used the same space. In We're Going to Eat You it is the area in front of the temple/police station where Agent 999 first tries to speak with the chief of police before being attacked by hungry villagers. This is the same area later where 999's fellow traveller (Hon Kwok-choi) is captured following a comedy fight setpiece. In this film though we do get a peek inside the temple when it was still in a pre-renovation state of dilapidation.

We're Going to Eat You - Norman Chui (1980) - Lo Wai, Lung Yeuk Tau

The location of the village slaughterhouse, where all the victims are taken to be chopped up, is one of the walled villages along the Lung Yeuk Tau Heritage Trail. Lo Wai has some rather identifiable steps up to its main gate and although Tsui has framed the footage to prevent the gatehouse from being seen, it's obvious where we are. The front gate is the only thing we ever see though and I wonder if the reason is because even back in 1980, the villagers didn't want strangers to'ing and fro'ing through their habitat. The whole area was given some renovation a while back so its interesting to see what the area looked like before the heritage trail was inaugurated.

We're Going to Eat You - Norman Chui (1980) - Rocky Harbour, Sai Kung

Despite the opening shot being of Shing Mun Reservoir, when the next shots show the two unfortunate initial victims of the villagers after they have arrived by boat, they are looking at their departing boat as it makes its way across Rocky Harbour - the northern section of Port Shelter in Sai Kung, just off the north tip of Kau Sai Chau.

We're Going to Eat You - Norman Chui (1980) - Shing Mun Reservoir

I'm currently working on a bit of a Tsui Hark side project for a friend and as a result was watching Hark's second directorial feature, We're Going to Eat You, as part of my research. I honestly can't watch Hong Kong films these days without making the locations my main focus, so I usually have to watch them twice, once for the locations and then again for everything else.

The story concerns a village where the inhabitants are cannibals and trap unwary travellers, murdering them and then chopping them up for distribution amongst the villagers. It's a bit gruesome in parts but is most definitely a satricial comedy (a criticism of China's "Great leap Forward"). Melvin Wong stars as the reformed bandit, Rolex, who is sought after by Norman Chui's "Agent 999". Eddie Ko plays a rather evil village boss.

The film opens with a shot of the submerged trees at Shing Mun Reservoir and it's supposed to be the coastline of the plaace where the cannibalistic village is. However, I'm not sure how much subsequent filming was done here. Most of the forested scenes in this film make it impossible to know where they were.

International Prostitution: Brigade criminelle - Jean-Louis Broust (1980) - Victoria Road Squatter Village

One of the main effects in Hong Kong of the turbulance in post-war Mainland China was the influx of refugees who, with nowhere to live, set themselves up in small shacks all over the territory's hillsides. These were gradually removed by the Govt by rehousing people in resettlement estates but there were some long holdouts including places such as Tiu Keng Leng (Remmie's Mill), Stanley and this area on the west coast of Hong Kong Island, below Victoria Road. These days the area is quite well known locally for elderly swimmers who use the area as a staging post for daily harbour swims around the Sulphur Channel, but as you can see in the shots below, the place was full of squatter huts. It's here in the film that Dega and Tazzi set a trap for Marcone. And with that we bid farewell to International Prostitution!

International Prostitution: Brigade criminelle - Jean-Louis Broust (1980) - Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter

It looks like the pair resort to enlisting the help of some local gangster in order to get their hands on Marcone. So they go to pay a visit to said bloke on his junk, moored in Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter.

International Prostitution: Brigade criminelle - Jean-Louis Broust (1980) - The Peak

Some rather empty looking views from the Peak by today's standards. You can barely see the harbour from here these days due to all the high rises.

International Prostitution: Brigade criminelle - Jean-Louis Broust (1980) - The Peak Tram

I recently went on here twice after a break of around 10 years. It was recently upgraded (along with the price) so I thought I would give it a revisit. Suffice to say it has lost its allure for me and a much more enjoyable ride, with equally marvellous views, can be had by catching the #15 bus instead (also cheaper). Anyway, Dega meets up with Tazzi here to discuss tactics for getting Marcone. I must admit that at this time of year in Hong Kong (winter, as I type), the views to be had from the peak tram are about the same quality as the ageing VHS scan I took the screen shots from. The pollution is now back at pre-Covid levels. Be warned, if you want a better chance of views, come between May and September.

International Prostitution: Brigade criminelle - Jean-Louis Broust (1980) - Hoover Theatre, Causeway Bay

One of the more regularly-appearing cinemas on this blog is the old Hoover Theatre that used to stand on the corner of Pennington Street and Yee Wo Street in Causeway Bay. In this film, it's where Dega finally loses sight of Marcone as the latter slips inside the cinema and blends with the crowd. Note the marquee showing the film Thirst (怪血), released in Hong Kong in 1979. In a nice coincidence for the blog, this was a movie that starred Henry Silva (Foxbat) and David Hemmings (The Heroin Busters, Harry's Hong Kong and Spy Game).

International Prostitution: Brigade criminelle - Jean-Louis Broust (1980) - Cornwall Avenue, Tsim Sha Tsui

The chase continues, this time down the now defunct Cornwall Avenue. I've mentioned it before but for newer followers, Cornwall Avenue fell victim to the redevelopment of TST to make way for the K11 Masterpiece skyscraper. A whole block was razed and the whole nature and vibe of the place was completely transformed. The space that was Cornwall Avenue still exists, more or less, but it is now a nameless, covered thoroughfare that runs diagonally along the southwest side of the aforementioned K11 building.