{ "id": "eptn4mrpev", "slug": "riki-oh-the-story-of-ricky", "title": "Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (力王)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure", "label": "Action and adventure films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.martial-arts-films", "label": "Martial arts films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.martial-arts-films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.martial-arts-films.yr-1986-2026", "label": "Released 1986 to 2026", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.martial-arts-films.yr-1986-2026" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.martial-arts-films", "label": "China · 1946 to 2000: Martial arts films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.martial-arts-films", "path": [ { "id": "geo.chn", "label": "China", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946", "label": "China · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure", "label": "Action and adventure films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.martial-arts-films", "label": "Martial arts films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.martial-arts-films" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (力王, Story of Ricky) is a 1991 Hong Kong martial arts splatter film directed by Lam Nai-choi, based on a Japanese manga.", "snippet": "Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (力王, Story of Ricky) is a 1991 Hong Kong martial arts splatter film directed by Lam Nai-choi, based on a Japanese manga.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.martial-arts-films.yr-1986-2026", "markdown": "# Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (力王)\n\n**Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky** (力王, also known as *Story of Ricky*) is a 1991 Hong Kong martial arts [splatter film](https://www.edgepedia.org/splatter-film) written and directed by Lam Nai-choi (藍乃才), based on the Japanese manga of the same name by Masahiko Takajo and Tetsuya Saruwatari.\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Original title | 力王 (Lik Wong); released in the West as *Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky* or *Story of Ricky*[10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102293/) |\n| Source | Adaptation of the manga *Riki-Oh* by Masahiko Takajo and Tetsuya Saruwatari[11](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=4193) |\n| Runtime and language | 91 minutes, in Cantonese[12](https://www.mplus.org.hk/en/cinema/rediscoveries/riki-oh-the-story-of-ricky/) |\n| Critical standing | 89% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 9 reviews; 85% Popcornmeter from more than 5,000 ratings[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/riki_oh_the_story_of_ricky_2002) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot and setting\n\nThe story is set in 2001, in a future in which all correctional facilities have been privatized. Ricky, a martial artist with superhuman strength, is found \"guilty\" of the manslaughter of an infamous crime boss and sent to a corrupt private prison.[2](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/riki-oh-the-story-of-ricky) Time Out's summary adds the motive: his girlfriend threw herself off a roof while being chased by heroin dealers, and Ricky took revenge on those responsible.[3](https://www.timeout.com/movies/riki-oh-the-story-of-ricky)\n\nInside the prison, Ricky works his way through a hierarchy of opponents. The assistant warden and the [Four Heavenly Kings](https://www.edgepedia.org/four-heavenly-kings), the bosses of the prison's four blocks, are themselves superpowered, and Ricky battles each in turn before a final showdown with the Warden.[4](https://bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3489610/butcher-block-martial-arts-splatter-fest-riki-oh-story-ricky/) A Chinese-language synopsis adds that Ricky exposes the warden as the hidden head of a drug operation inside the prison and burns the poppy fields cultivated there.[5](https://tw.18dao.net/%E5%BD%B1%E8%A6%96%E8%B3%87%E6%96%99/%E5%8A%9B%E7%8E%8B_%281991%29)\n\n## The violence and its effects\n\nThe film's reputation rests on the extremity of its gore. [Bloody Disgusting](https://www.edgepedia.org/bloody-disgusting) places it, alongside [Peter Jackson](https://www.edgepedia.org/peter-jackson)'s *Dead Alive*, among the two bloodiest films of the early 1990s in terms of sheer quantity of blood on screen.[4](https://bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3489610/butcher-block-martial-arts-splatter-fest-riki-oh-story-ricky/) Time Out describes the practical effects: heads pop, skin rips, jaws smash, and one character pulls out his own lower intestine and tries to strangle the hero with it.[3](https://www.timeout.com/movies/riki-oh-the-story-of-ricky) Ricky himself is superpowered in both strength and resistance to damage; in one fight he ties together a severed artery or nerve before returning to battle.[4](https://bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3489610/butcher-block-martial-arts-splatter-fest-riki-oh-story-ricky/)\n\nThe makeup effects were the work of Chi-Wai Cheung and Fung-Yin Cheng. Bloody Disgusting judges that the low budget produced some cheesy effects, but that in pure quantity of splatter the film has no equal.[4](https://bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3489610/butcher-block-martial-arts-splatter-fest-riki-oh-story-ricky/) The climactic fight left actor Fan Siu-wong unable to wash the red dye off his skin for days.[4](https://bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3489610/butcher-block-martial-arts-splatter-fest-riki-oh-story-ricky/)\n\n## Censorship and the Category III rating\n\nThe film arrived just after Hong Kong introduced its three-tier film classification system, and directors of the period were exploring subject matter the older censorship had ruled out; *Riki-Oh* is a product of that moment.[6](https://www.hk01.com/%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1/113025/%E5%8D%88%E5%A4%9C%E5%A0%B4-%E5%A5%87%E4%BA%BA%E5%A5%87%E7%89%87-%E5%B0%8E%E6%BC%94%E6%8B%8D%E7%95%A2-%E5%8A%9B%E7%8E%8B-%E5%8D%B3%E8%BD%89%E6%8A%95%E5%85%A7%E5%9C%B0%E6%89%B6%E8%B2%A7%E5%8A%A9%E5%AD%B8) Abroad it was banned in Ireland and rated 18 in Germany and K18 in Finland.[5](https://tw.18dao.net/%E5%BD%B1%E8%A6%96%E8%B3%87%E6%96%99/%E5%8A%9B%E7%8E%8B_%281991%29)\n\n## Cast and production notes\n\nFan Siu-wong, a martial artist who had trained at the Shaolin temple, played his first leading role here.[6](https://www.hk01.com/%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1/113025/%E5%8D%88%E5%A4%9C%E5%A0%B4-%E5%A5%87%E4%BA%BA%E5%A5%87%E7%89%87-%E5%B0%8E%E6%BC%94%E6%8B%8D%E7%95%A2-%E5%8A%9B%E7%8E%8B-%E5%8D%B3%E8%BD%89%E6%8A%95%E5%85%A7%E5%9C%B0%E6%89%B6%E8%B2%A7%E5%8A%A9%E5%AD%B8) Yukari Oshima, a Japanese karate champion, plays one of the Four Heavenly Kings, a male role.[2](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/riki-oh-the-story-of-ricky) In the warden's monstrous transformed state, the actor Lam Suet performed the role under heavy prosthetic makeup, a shoot he later recalled as lasting six hours in makeup and ending with him immersed in a vat of prop meat paste that had fermented for hours.[6](https://www.hk01.com/%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1/113025/%E5%8D%88%E5%A4%9C%E5%A0%B4-%E5%A5%87%E4%BA%BA%E5%A5%87%E7%89%87-%E5%B0%8E%E6%BC%94%E6%8B%8D%E7%95%A2-%E5%8A%9B%E7%8E%8B-%E5%8D%B3%E8%BD%89%E6%8A%95%E5%85%A7%E5%9C%B0%E6%89%B6%E8%B2%A7%E5%8A%A9%E5%AD%B8)\n\n## Reception and cult status\n\nOn release the film was a modest genre entry in its home market, but it circulated in the West in the 1990s on VHS and laserdisc, often dubbed, and was embraced by cult audiences and midnight-movie programmers.[7](https://sightlines.media/film/17467/riki-oh-the-story-of-ricky-1991) Critics have been broadly positive about its excess: Time Out gave it 3 of 5 stars and called it a perfect Friday-night audience movie, comparing its dismemberment comedy to the [Black Knight](https://www.edgepedia.org/black-knight-monty-python) scene in *Monty Python and the Holy Grail*.[3](https://www.timeout.com/movies/riki-oh-the-story-of-ricky) On Rotten Tomatoes it holds 89% from 9 critics and 85% from more than 5,000 audience ratings.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/riki_oh_the_story_of_ricky_2002) Reviewers repeatedly note the same combination: a weak script and hammy acting carried by inventive, cartoonish carnage.[3](https://www.timeout.com/movies/riki-oh-the-story-of-ricky) • [8](https://www.alternateending.com/2023/10/riki-oh-the-story-of-ricky-1991.html/amp)\n\nThe film's afterlife has been durable. The M+ museum in Hong Kong screened it in 2024 in its Rediscoveries program, noting that Fan's performance has made Ricky a meme hero more than thirty years on.[9](https://www.mplus.org.hk/tc/cinema/rediscoveries/riki-oh-the-story-of-ricky/) 88 Films issued a new 4K restoration on UHD Blu-ray, and the film has appeared on the Criterion Channel in the United States.[2](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/riki-oh-the-story-of-ricky)\n\n## The director\n\nLam Nai-choi was born in Hong Kong in 1952. He entered the industry as a lighting assistant at Shaw Brothers and became a cinematographer before directing; his debut was *On the Wrong Track* (單程路, 1981), followed by *Men from the Gutter* (城寨出來者, 1982) and several Hong Kong-Japan co-productions such as *The Peacock King* (孔雀王子, 1988). *Riki-Oh* was followed by his final film, *The Cat* (衛斯理之老貓, 1992), adapted from a novel by the Hong Kong science fiction writer [Ni Kuang](https://www.edgepedia.org/ni-kuang); he then left the film industry, reportedly working as a travel photographer and later volunteering in orphanages and rural education programs in northern [Guangdong](https://www.edgepedia.org/guangdong).[9](https://www.mplus.org.hk/tc/cinema/rediscoveries/riki-oh-the-story-of-ricky/) • [6](https://www.hk01.com/%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1/113025/%E5%8D%88%E5%A4%9C%E5%A0%B4-%E5%A5%87%E4%BA%BA%E5%A5%87%E7%89%87-%E5%B0%8E%E6%BC%94%E6%8B%8D%E7%95%A2-%E5%8A%9B%E7%8E%8B-%E5%8D%B3%E8%BD%89%E6%8A%95%E5%85%A7%E5%9C%B0%E6%89%B6%E8%B2%A7%E5%8A%A9%E5%AD%B8)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Riki-Oh, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/riki_oh_the_story_of_ricky_2002)\n2. [Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky streaming online, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/riki-oh-the-story-of-ricky)\n3. [Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky review, Time Out (Tom Huddleston, 2012)](https://www.timeout.com/movies/riki-oh-the-story-of-ricky)\n4. [Butcher Block: The Martial Arts Splatter Fest of 'Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky', Bloody Disgusting (Meagan Navarro, 2018)](https://bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3489610/butcher-block-martial-arts-splatter-fest-riki-oh-story-ricky/)\n5. [影視資料/力王 (1991), 實用查詢](https://tw.18dao.net/%E5%BD%B1%E8%A6%96%E8%B3%87%E6%96%99/%E5%8A%9B%E7%8E%8B_%281991%29)\n6. [〖午夜場〗奇人奇片 導演拍畢《力王》即轉投內地扶貧助學, HK01 (2017)](https://www.hk01.com/%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1/113025/%E5%8D%88%E5%A4%9C%E5%A0%B4-%E5%A5%87%E4%BA%BA%E5%A5%87%E7%89%87-%E5%B0%8E%E6%BC%94%E6%8B%8D%E7%95%A2-%E5%8A%9B%E7%8E%8B-%E5%8D%B3%E8%BD%89%E6%8A%95%E5%85%A7%E5%9C%B0%E6%89%B6%E8%B2%A7%E5%8A%A9%E5%AD%B8)\n7. [Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (1991), Sightlines](https://sightlines.media/film/17467/riki-oh-the-story-of-ricky-1991)\n8. [Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (1991), Alternate Ending (Tim Brayton, 2023)](https://www.alternateending.com/2023/10/riki-oh-the-story-of-ricky-1991.html/amp)\n9. [力王 Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky, M+ 博物館](https://www.mplus.org.hk/tc/cinema/rediscoveries/riki-oh-the-story-of-ricky/)\n10. [Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (1991) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102293/)\n11. [Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (live-action movie) - Anime News Network, animenewsnetwork.com](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=4193)\n12. [Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky | M+ Museum, mplus.org.hk](https://www.mplus.org.hk/en/cinema/rediscoveries/riki-oh-the-story-of-ricky/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Action and adventure films (individual works) › Martial arts films › Released 1986 to 2026*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/riki-oh-the-story-of-ricky", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/riki-oh-the-story-of-ricky.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (力王)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/riki-oh-the-story-of-ricky. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (力王)](https://www.edgepedia.org/riki-oh-the-story-of-ricky)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/riki-oh-the-story-of-ricky](https://www.edgepedia.org/riki-oh-the-story-of-ricky). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (力王)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/riki-oh-the-story-of-ricky. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky is a 1991 Hong Kong martial arts splatter film directed by Lam Nai-choi, based on a Japanese manga." }