Comparison between the cut Hong Kong DVD by Universe and the uncut German DVD by Cargo Records

- 7 cuts
- Runtime difference: 36 sec

Made in 1994, A Taste of Killing and Romance rides the wave of John Woo's great Heroic Bloodshed successes. With Mark Cheng, Andy Lau, Waise Lee and Anita Yuen, the Hong Kong fan gets to see some familiar faces and a few unexpectedly crude scenes should be remembered by most viewers.

However, these were already subject to censorship in the home country, so that many interested viewers worldwide only got to see them in a toned-down form. The DVD from Hong Kong was the best in terms of quality, but it was cut just like all the other releases of the film, including the LaserDisc from Star. Only one other LaserDisc without a label was uncensored, the subtitles were firmly burned in here. Later, there was another Australian uncut DVD, but in sub-par quality and with zoomed-in aspect ratio.

Since May 21, 2021, the German DVD premiere is now available. For this purpose, the picture master of the Hong Kong DVD was taken as a basis and supplemented the uncut scenes in the original picture format. Two short passages run in the original sound with subtitles, since the old German version was cut. The film was never released on VHS in this country, but was shown in a shortened version on the TV station RTL II in the 90s. The DVD is therefore also a premiere in this regard.

Runtimes are ordered as follows: Hong Kong DVD in NTSC / German DVD in NTSC speed

27:41 / 27:41-27:44

After the first close-up of the killer, he is seen wrapping cling film around the woman's head in an additional shot. Moreover, one more close-up.

3.6 sec

27:54 / 27:58-28:04

The camera moves longer up the legs to the little girl's face. This way you can see the killer forcibly pouring liquid detergent on her.

6.1 sec

27:57 / 28:08-28:09

The next shot of the mother also starts earlier with a first wrap-around-the-head.

1.1 sec

53:33 / 53:45-53:49

The killer smashes another glass bottle and after a cut to him, we see that the woman is standing in the bathtub in a pile of shards. Much blood has already spread on the floor.

3.8 sec

53:56 / 54:12-54:27

In several shots, the killer waves the knife around in front of the woman and then cuts around her top.

14.4 sec

54:09 / 54:40-54:45

Another shot of wriggling in the broken glass. The follow-up shot of the woman also starts a bit earlier: the camera lingers longer on her face before moving up.

4.1 sec

90:15 / 90:49-90:52

Anita is perforated from behind in another shot.

2.9 sec