Fatal Vacation

Fatal Vacation (An le zhan chang) (安樂戰場) is a 1989 Hong Kong action/suspense film written by Yin Nam and directed by Eric Tsang. The project was filmed on locations in the Philippines.

Synopsis
While on vacation in the Phillipines, a Hong Kong touring bus and its occupants are kidnapped by Communist guerrilla rebels who wish to orchestrate an exchange with the government of the hostages for their jailed rebel leader.

Partial cast

 * Bernardo Bernardo as Rebel Leader
 * Irene Wan as Candy
 * Victor Wong as Grandpa
 * Paulo Tocha as Sanchez
 * Eric Tsang as Bob
 * Emily Kwan as Television Crew Director
 * Spanky Manikan as Rebel Leader's brother
 * Pen Medina as Leader of Military
 * Pik-Wan Tang as Grandma
 * Kwong Leung Wong as Big Eyes

Reception
The Manila Bulletin made note the the film's plot was echoed by a recent event in the Philippines, where a discharged policeman took a tour bus and its occupants hostage, writing "it’s quite uncanny how this movie shares 3 elements from what recently happened in the local news; the Philippines as the setting, Hong Kong tourists as characters, and a hostage crisis as plot. I know it shouldn’t be a subject for entertainment, but it really makes you think, is life imitating art?"

Robert Firsching of All Movie Guide was reminded of campy films such as Ernst von Theumer's Jungle Warriors by this film's "straight-faced melding of naive politics and ludicrously unconvincing gunplay." He writes, "To their credit, Tsang and Nam lay out a convincingly horrific series of dire consequences which could result from Hong Kong's impending reunification, but the political message is lost amidst all the gunfire, racist stereotypes, and Times Square grindhouse-level silliness."

Cinema Far East writes "Auf formaler Ebene gibt es dank der gelungenen und soliden Inszenierung von Eric Tsang, der auch in der Rolle des Reiseführers eine erstklassige Vorstellung abliefert, nichts auszusetzen. Leider wird aber auf Grund einiger aufgesetzt wirkender Brutalitäten und Vergewaltigungen diese Realitätsnähe nicht mit in die Story übernommen. Statt dessen wird viel zu viel Schwarzweißmalerei betrieben. Die Entführer z.B. erfüllen alle nur erdenklichen Klischees. Böses Grinsen, diabolisches Lachen und Manieren wie die ersten Menschen.  Die Art wie die philippinischen Charaktere hier gezeichnet werden, muß man schon im höchstem Maße als rassistisch bezeichnen.  Aber auch das Verhalten der unschuldigen Geiseln ist wenig glaubwürdig. Ihre Metamorphose von eingeschüchterten und völlig verängstigten Gefangenen zu gnadenlosen Kampfmaschinen ist der Geschichte nicht gerade zuträglich."  (On the formal level, there is thanks to the successful staging and sound by Eric Tsang, who delivers himself well in the role of a tour guide. However, some of the acing was flat, and the brutality and rape incorporated into the film was too black and white, with the kidnappers meeting every cliché, and the Phillipino characters coming across as racist. The behavior of the innocent hostages is not very credible. Their metamorphosis from completely intimidated and frightened prisoners to desperate battle machines is not exactly conducive to the story.)

They offered that the film had redeeming qualities by writing, "Trotzdem hat Fatal Vacation neben der erstklassigen Inszenierung auch seine guten Seiten. Ganz besonders die nicht gerade seltenen und ordentlich inszenierten Actionszenen dürften für einige Unterhaltung beim Zuschauer sorgen. Das besondere Highlight sind aber die Szenen im Gefangenenlager, die schon einige Elemente der Lagerszenen aus John Woo´s Bullet In The Head vorwegnehmen und mit einigen äußerst intensiven Momenten aufwarten können." (Fatal Vacation's staging has good points and is a first-class addition to the film. Especially the rare and not very neatly staged action sequences should provide some entertainment for the audience. The special highlight, however, are the scenes in the prison camp, which already anticipate some of the elements of the bearing scenes from John Woo's Bullet in the Head and come up with some very intense moments.)

DVD Holocaust notes that the films of this period tend to borrow heavily from their Hollywood counterparts, and writes "...the plot is fairly light and can be easily followed enough even with out reading the subtitles or understanding what is being said on screen. This movie is a great example of the violent over the top camp produced during this time from HK without being too strange, silly or getting too involved with cultural themes/topics that will alienate Western audiences." They note that the film has both silliness and heavy-handedness without being too bogged-down by either, offering that the film maintains flow and balance.