Blu Review – Dr. Lamb (Unearthed Films)

Director(s) – Danny Lee (The Eight Immortals Restaurant: The Untold Story, Chak Wong) and Billy Hin-Shing Tang (My Date with a Vampire, Brother of Darkness)
Starring – Danny Lee, Simon Yam (Naked Killer, The Night Rider), and Kent Cheng (Vampire’s Breakfast, Dragon’s Teeth)
Release Date – 1992
Rating – 3/5
Blu Release – 4/5

Unearthed Films is no stranger to the violent and grotesque having dedicated most of their time to extreme horror. Their fan base is some of the most ravenous fans in the horror community. Sometime back Unearthed started releasing some Cat III titles that never received the proper release here in the states.

Sometime ago Unearthed announced the release of the 1992 crime horror film Dr. Lamb. This is one I’ve been looking forward to checking out for some time. When I received the press release for this one I quickly rushed to my email so I could request a review copy. After watching Unearthed’s release of The Old Man: The Movie I decided it was time to finally check out Dr. Lamb. Like always I want to thank MVD and Unearthed for sending this one over.

**Spoiler Alert** The film follows the police department when several women turn up dead. They start investigating the murders and eventually find a lead that takes them to a taxi driver who commits the heinous crimes on rainy nights. **Spoiler Alert**

Dr. Lamb was not what I was expecting. When Unearthed started bringing Asian horror to us I was extremely excited. The Untold Story was a fantastic release and Tokyo Decadence had its moments. However, Evil Dead Trap was hit or miss. I was expecting a bloody flick with a serious horror element but the film was a surprisingly decent crime film with some fun effects.

The acting in this one is very well done. In fact, I was really impressed by the cast and the characters. Not all the characters in the film have detailed development but the cast does a fantastic job in front of the camera. The story for this one is more of a crime thriller with some seriously amazing effects. The film, like many other genre flicks of the time, showcases the brutality of the police department as they use force to beat convictions out of suspects instead of using detective work to uncover the real killer. We do get some of those crime investigations scenes that you expect but the highlight here is the cop brutality and the death scenes.

Finally, the film has some seriously impressive practical effects which is what earned the film the CAT III rating. For me, this was the redeeming point in the film and really sold me on it. They look amazing and several scenes had me rewinding several times as I tried to figure out how they pulled the effects off. Overall, Dr. Lamb is not as extreme or gruesome as I was expecting and the crime aspect really caught me off guard but it’s still a film that deserves a watch. Fans of Unearthed may find it a little underwhelming but it has it’s moments. Check it out.

Special Features:
New 2K Scan Of Uncut Version!
Commentary From Art Ettinger (Ultra Violent) And Bruce Holecheck (Cinema Arcana)
Lamb To The Slaughter: An Interview With Filmmaker Gilbert Po Who Initiated The Dr Lamb Film Project
Three Times The Fear: Film Critic James Mudge On The Golden Era Of Category III
Cut And Run: Film Academic Sean Tierney Aka The Silver Spleen Remembers Dr Lamb
Atomic TV Interview With Simon Yam
Collectors Booklet
Trailers