The Five Deadly Venoms
After reviewing a mediocre Kung-Fu movie, I decided it was time to review one of the greatest. This masterpiece of the genre was directed by Chang Cheh, one of the more prolific and talented directors in the Shaw Brothers’ stable.
The plot is this: An old master is dying. He is the head of the Legendary Poison Clan. His old partner had absconded with funds from the clan, and his past pupils knew about this, but not where the old man had gone. The old Master before dying charges his newest pupil with checking in on his old students, who each know a signature brand of Kung-Fu, and if they are doing evil deeds, eliminate them. There is the Lizard, the Toad, Centipede, Scorpion, and the Snake. The beauty of this set up is that each student has a visually unique style with distinct strengths and weaknesses. The new pupil is no match for any of the old pupils, unless he teams with one of them to take on all the others.
The old master sends his newest student to the town where he last knew of his old partner living. From there, there is a small mystery of who is which of the Five Deadly Venoms, and which one the newest member of the Poison Clan will team up with to right the wrongs of the others.
The fights in this movie are choreographed wonderfully, and again each style is represented well. The characters are some of the most engaging in the genre, and it helps a simple plot become great.
Clips from this movie will be familiar to fans of the Wu-Tang clan, as this is one of the Rza’s favorite movies, and some of the dialogue has been sampled into a few of their songs.
Unlike other Dragon Dynasty picture’s re-releases, the sound in this flick is impeccable.
All around one of the best the genre has to offer.
5 Deadly Venoms out of 5.
Return to the 36th Chamber
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin by the Shaw Brothers may be one of the most perfect kung-fu movies ever made. This sequel trades on that name and goodwill with mixed results.
We start in a village overrun by the evil Manchus. The main business in this town is a silk dyeing plant. Manchus show up and start up sabotage the workers by giving them inferior dyes to tint their silks with. The owner of the business hires the Manchus, and in order to pay them will be docking all the workers 20% of their pay. A fight breaks out and the Manchu show their dominance and beat the workers with sticks. While licking their wounds form their beating, one of the worker’s brother shows up. This guy is a con artist who dresses up in different roles in order to beg money from the townspeople. One of his more popular gigs is dressing up as a Shaolin monk named Shan Te. (This is the Gordon Liu character from The 36th chamber of Shaolin. He also plays the con man in this film.) The mental juggernauts of the village decide that the beggar should impersonate the monk, so he can bargain for them with the Manchu. What follows are some genuinely funny scenes of the townspeople and Gordon Liu trying to con the Manchu into believing that the beggar is actually the Monk. The head Manchu doesn’t buy it, and asks the beggar to fight him to show his true skill. Liu tries to get out of it, and ends up blowing his cover. This leads to the townspeople getting another beating with sticks.
The beggar decides that this is his fault, and most of the people that put him up to the farce agree. So, Liu’s character decides to get real kung fu skills by entering the Shaolin Temple. More hijinks ensue with Gordon Liu trying to enter the temple and bypassing the Monk’s security. The twist is, that the real Shan Te is at this temple. He lets Liu’s character in, and from here the end of the previous 36th chamber movie is enacted with minor twists. Gordon liu goes through some interesting training scenes, and ends up being kicked out of the temple, and fighting for the townspeople, and winning them their fair share of wages from the evil Manchu.
The print on this disc is great and completely restored. The audio is a little soft in some places, and the dubbing gets confused at some spots.
The big beef with this disc is that there are no special features to speak of. This is very disappointing coming from a Dragon Dynasty re-release. Most of their discs have come with interviews and retrospectives, and to have nothing on this disc is out of the norm.
Overall, I would suggest this as a rent.
3 grasshoppers out of 5.
