Shaw Brothers: The 82 Tenants (1982) Review

The 82 Tenants (1982) from the #ShawBrothers is not what you would expect considering you have names such as Lo Mang, Gordon Liu, Kara Hui and Robert Mak in various roles. Instead, this is a contemporary movie that mostly falls under the comedy area with some drama and oddly a small horror piece tossed in towards the last half of the film. While Robert Mak did manage to get in a small acrobatic bit, The 82 Tenants is not a wuxia/kung fu vengeance piece but more about some ruthless landlords and their greed in trying to evict a bunch of people from a rundown building.

Because this was recently released on YouTube with subtitles and the fact that I like the three previously mentioned people gathered in a single contemporary film, I thought I would check this piece out. So at least from my perspective, despite this film being partly labeled as a comedy, I honestly did not find it all that humorous. The director, Lee Pooi-Kuen, isn’t someone I recognize and from the looks of it, this might’ve been his final movie credit as a director. But perhaps that’s because this movie isn’t very good and without the subtitles it would’ve been impossible to follow based on how it was shot.

But the main premise is a corrupt, shady landlord and his equally despicable/dastardly wife/girlfriend manage a rundown complex with numerous tenants that were friends with the previous owner. Unfortunately, that person had passed away but due to their relationship allowed the tenants to stay despite the barely livable conditions. The place itself has numerous issues such as water problems, cheap tiling, small rooms, a single restroom, etc. that all these people must share apparently.

Yet you do get the feeling that despite all the hardships of the building, there is a relatively close community with the residents. However, they aren’t favorable to the manager of the place and have squabbles with him. Within the residents themselves, each person has a distinct personality or job such as one being an electronics sales person, another working as a cab driver, another being a doctor. So in a way, they balance each other out.

However, the surrounding area is owned by a powerful man/corporation who wants to monopolize the region and increase the value by removing that last bastion. In turn, the owner easily bribes the manager, although he does realize that the tenants are difficult and had that relationship with the previous owner. Nonetheless, the big boss basically leaves the details up to the scheming manager.

The manager himself isn’t incredibly bright but he does various things to make life difficult for the tenants such as going to Lo Mang’s store and breaking a TV which causes his boss to fire him, tossing black ink all over Gordon Liu’s taxi or bribing a crooked cop to harass Gordon Liu. Between all this not everything is down for the tenants and the manager’s own incompetence gets him into trouble.

Regardless, at one point, we find out that Lo Mang’s wife in the movie (whom some may recognize as one of the fruit peddlers from Invincible Dragon) has a child. Since she is from mainland child and lacks the proper paperwork, she is used by the manager as a way to force Lo Mang into agreeing to move out (otherwise the manager would call the authorities on her and the child would not receive a proper birth certificate). This is when the residents start rallying up with each other as they find the manager to be heartless. In the end, the wife turns herself over to the police so Lo Mang’s efforts were for naught as the manager gains all the signatures to be able to evict the tenants.

Figuring that they need to fight back, they decide to plot to regain the paperwork from the main boss by setting him up with one of the more attractive tenants as the boss has a weakness for women. She seduces the boss which allows some of the tenants to stage a break in to find the safe with their paperwork. At the same time, some weird gangster ends up spying on the decoy woman because he’s suspicious that his wife is cheating on him. In turn, he sends his men to castrate the tenants which results in more chaos while the decoy girl is forced to have sex with the boss.

Despite their efforts, they learn that the document is a copy. The decoy girl is distraught and Gordon Liu tries to comfort her which creates jealousy with Kara Hui who he actually is his love interest. Somehow they make amends and Kara Hui decides that she’ll lure the boss out the next time. A ball is setup where people are dressed up in costumes. Somehow the tenants manage to get in and they bump the boss into the pool. Embarrassed, the boss goes to shower and rinse himself off then hands Kara Hui his special shirt which contains the main document.

In turn, the tenants celebrate by burning/tearing up the document and here’s where things make no sense to me because the movie shifts into a bizarre horror drama. But ghosts start appearing and people get possessed or freaked out while one of the tenants splatters after trying to appease Buddha. None of this made any sense to me because it just came out of nowhere abruptly without any necessity.

After that segment, things get even weirder because the boss decides to continue with his ruthless plans by drilling into the foundation of the zone to make the area unsafe legally. In turn, the police/riot squad show up to try and force an eviction. However, the tenants make a last stand as a huge chaotic fight breaks out between both sides. Eventually, the police use tear gas to smoke the tenants out, which implies that the big boss has won.

As some workers begin work on demolishing the building, they uncover an artifact shaped like a curved tea pot except it’s supposed to be an ancient artifact signifying the importance of the site as a historical monument. As a result, the area is declared critical and that it should be preserved. The tenants are moved to a different complex where they hear the news. A brief shot shows that Kara Hui and Gordon Liu got married (in the movie) while the old manager remains insane.

This movie was just all over the place for me and very hard to follow. I think part of it was that it seemed to be moving in the direction other TV shows of that nature were going. There were just too many characters to get to know while the humor itself was more dumb slapstick. The tenant’s manager was flat out annoying and I’m guessing made to look like a stooge while the big boss guy appeared as this modern corporate power player. I suppose if you’re more in tune with this type of culture and humor, it might appeal to you. But I just couldn’t get into this.

The only reason for me to watch this movie is Kara Hui. As always, she’s a doll. Although I will say the glasses and hair style they gave her at one point. Oh jeeze. Please, no.