01-26-2015, 01:38 PM
One of the true classics of the Shaw Brothers. A masterpiece by Chang Cheh and launched the infamous Venoms crew. Also another Shaw Brothers film that poached Monty Python and the Holy Grail's soundtrack. I've seen this dozens of times but not in the last decade or so. The Kung Fu doesn't really shine until the finale fight. The plot is complicated, yet well paced. There's some strangely disturbing torture - early waterboarding, a prickly iron maiden and the throat hook are particularly harsh. On reflection, it's the gestalt of this that makes it work.
I kept thinking this film needs to be remade with an all-female cast, female champions in the modern wushu versions of the Venoms styles. However, I've never seen a woman do scorpion or toad. Snake is popular with women. Centipede and lizard don't really exist in modern wushu and only marginally in traditional Kung fu. But a female poison clan could wear pretty much the same outfits, hairstyles and eye shadow as the original venoms crew. I know - it's blasphemous to make such a suggestion to Shaw fans, which is why I only say this here.
Another Flying Five Finger One Armed Eight Pole Shaolin Exploding Death Touch Thursday on EL REY.
I kept thinking this film needs to be remade with an all-female cast, female champions in the modern wushu versions of the Venoms styles. However, I've never seen a woman do scorpion or toad. Snake is popular with women. Centipede and lizard don't really exist in modern wushu and only marginally in traditional Kung fu. But a female poison clan could wear pretty much the same outfits, hairstyles and eye shadow as the original venoms crew. I know - it's blasphemous to make such a suggestion to Shaw fans, which is why I only say this here.
Another Flying Five Finger One Armed Eight Pole Shaolin Exploding Death Touch Thursday on EL REY.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse