DETECTIVE VS. SLEUTHS (JULY 8)

The latest offering from Hong Kong director Wai Ka-fai is unhinged.

Figuratively: It’s a bullet-riddled, blood-drenched thriller that pitches the

Hong Kong police against a mysterious serial killer known as “The Sleuth,” who splatters the city in an orgy of penny-dreadful gore through a series of colorfully executed murders. Literally: Its protagonist, the laid-off cop trying to catch the culprit, keeps seeing monsters that aren’t there. This action-packed whodunnit is a mad chase through Kowloon’s grimy neon-lit streets, promising plenty of dramatic twists and turns on the way. Hong Kong directors like Wai still have the power to shock Chinese mainland audiences by muddying the lines between good and evil, as seen by Douban reviews left by netizens. Clichéd in Western eyes perhaps, but the film is dynamite in a political environment increasingly stringent about how the police can be portrayed in film.