World War II, Japanese occupied Manchuria: Mo Hua and Chuen Tze have
just escaped from prison (see Girls in the Tiger Cage) but their
captors are just around the corner and throw them back in in no time. The
prison warden Kato soon figures the two of them have to die, but since he
can't kill them just like that, he figures he has to give them a chance,
any chance, to escape and then kill then fair and square.
Thing is though, Mo Hua has killed one of her tormentors (in Girls
in the Tiger Cage) and now has decided to become a model prisoner to
atone for her sins, so she doesn't fall for Kato's tricks one bit, even
though he soon enough tortures her more and more.
Then a fire breaks out and Kato decides to rather let the girls burn to
death than have any of them escape, but eventually the guards let them out
all the same and only 18 of them die, Chuen Tze among them. As a
consequence, Kato is fired as a warden and put on trial for his actions.
When the 18 girls are buried, Mo Hua finally makes an escape attempt (by
being buried with one of the corpses and then digging her way out) but the
guard dogs at the cemetary put an end to her plans, and now she and her
friend Anna are tortured and Anna is even killed in the proceedings.
Then though, Wang Ping, a rebel friend of Mlo Hua, has somehow gotten a
job as a guard at the prison, and he manages to break her free and make
good their escape (by rail trolley) ... and ultimately they gun down Kato,
just when he has won his trial concerning the prison fire.
Revenge in the Tiger Cage has not too much to go for it: Its
storyline is way too formulaic to be impressive, there is little in
build-up of tension as teh film is awfully episodic, and it's by far not
sleazy enough to compete with the best (or worst) of the genre. The only
bit I really liked was the extended rail trolley chase, which is at least
something you don't see every day.
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