Shaolin Martial Arts (Hong Kong, 1974) – 3,5/5
To be perfectly honest this beloved Chang Cheh classic has a rather boring start. The plotting and storyline seem hardly exciting and there’s no real focus on any specific character. The most enjoyable scenes are those silly comedic bits involving a couple of cute girls… somewhat unexpected in Cheh’s overly masculine world. Thankfully the film turns far more interesting after the first half an hour. Our heroes (lead by the charmant Alexander Fu Sheng and Chi Kuan-chi) travel to study under a variety of martial arts masters who can teach them the techniques that can be used to beat the seemingly invincible enemy. From this point on the film concentrates on showcasing lengthy and exceptionally good (partly thanks to the epic score) training sequences. The choreography is by Liu Chia Liang.
- dvd / IVL
Disciples of Shaolin (Hong Kong, 1975) – 3/5
Despite the title, this Chang Cheh Shaolin film has little to do with the actual Shaolin. Instead it’s a rags to riches tale of a naive young man (Alexander Fu Sheng) who follows his brother (Chi Kuan-Chi) to town and finds his kung fu skills can earn him more name than any normal work. Disciples of Shaolin is not as action packed as some of Cheh’s films. The story and character’s are given as much focus as the action. Early on the film feels like it could move at faster pace, but later the build up pays off. Acting is not too bad, even if the film still wouldn’t entirely convince as a drama feature. The soundtrack, although not very memorable as a whole, has its moments. The film was also one of the last collaborations between Chang Cheh and Liu Chia Liang. Liang’s action choreography is typically enjoyable with Fu Sheng in top form. The film’s most memorable – and brutal – fight scene is seen through sepia colour filters.
- dvd / IVL
The New Shaolin Boxers (Hong Kong, 1976) – 2/5
Alexander Fu Sheng star vehicle that lacks coherent plot and decent characters. That may not sound like a huge flaw in a kung fu film, but here the problem is nearly fatal. Fu Sheng plays a man who defends innocent people from gangs and street punks. His actions, however, only make matters worse as the villains pay back by attacting his close ones. But our hero doesn’t seem understand, he thinks his duty is to defend people with kung fu whenever he happens to be around. This makes the character hard to like and some scenes rather frustrating. Otherwise the pic is quality Shaw Bros production. The final fight is also very good… and thankfully features villains (Wang Lung Wei and Leung Kar Yan) evil enough for the audience to take the hero’s side for a change. Another memorable part is the choy lee fut demonstration in the beginning. The style is later used in the film. Directorial credit goes to Chang Cheh and Wu Ma (credited as joint director).
- dvd / IVL
Killer Constable (Hong Kong, 1981) – 3,5/5
Kwei Chih-Hung is best known for his notorious horror movies The Killer Snakes and The Boxer’s Omen. Killer Constable is a swordplay film, but notably darker than most of its genre brothers. Chen Kuan Tai plays an ice cold government official who is given a mission to hunt down the men who stole the imperial gold and bring them to justice… dead or alive. Chih-Hung’s film has an unusually strong screenplay with good characterization. At times the main character seems even more cold blooded than the robbers he’s chasing. Action is plenty, but always written into the story. The brutal fight scenes also aim at a certain degree of realism. Any sort of humour is completely missing from the film. Only the slightly too fast pace in moving from one scene to another takes away some of the film’s nihilistic impact. The soundtrack features some music that was later re-used in Liu Chia Liang’s Eight Diagram Pole Fighter. A remarkable film that has received less attention than it deserves.
- dvd / IVL
Masked Avengers (Hong Kong, 1981) – 3,5/5
I don’t supposed anyone’s expecting an early 80’s Chang Cheh film to lack excessive bloodshed. Yet Masked Avengers manages to surprise with it’s sheer amount of graphic violence. Every person who gets killed in the film (all 76) is stabbed 15-25 times with huge spears before their death. Sounds good? It is. Masked Avengers is another Venoms film that fails to create emotional impact, but all other types of impact are included. Fighting is first grade, although the final showdown goes on a bit too long. The evil masked bastards create a pretty decent villain, and the audience is successfully kept guessing for their true identities till the end. Unlike some other Chang Cheh films from the same period this one has a good balance between simple plot and great action.
- dvd / IVL
Men From The Gutter (Hong Kong, 1983) – 4/5
Here’s an undiscovered gem of a crime / action thriller. Ngai Kai Lam’s (Riki Oh) impressive film follows multiple characters which include two hard boiled cops, three robbers and a determined Thai killer, all related to the same case. No humour or goofing around, instead a very gritty screenplay brought to the screen in equally gritty fashion. The action consists of somewhat realistic (although some of the characters are able to take a bit more damage than believable) gunplay and street fighting, often shot with handheld cameras. Audio-visually the film is both cool and moody. The stylish soundtrack could be described as Carpenter esque. It’s also not hard to see why the film won the Asia Pacific Film Festival award for best editing; some scenes, such as the armored van robbery, are brilliantly put together.
- dvd / IVL
Seeding of a Ghost (Hong Kong, 1983) – 3/5
Adultery leads to black magic in this effective Shaw horror. The first 40 minutes, however, are quite restained on the horror front and concentrate heavily on story. It works alright, though, as the actors are not too bad. Especially Phillip Ko is a fitting if not overly original choice for the lead role. Gore buffs may still get bored, although the director tries his best to make up for lack of graphic violence with generous amounts female nudity. The second half is when the shocks come in. The first ones are warm up, light weight stuff like worms coming out of a (living) man’s mouth and brain eating. But just wait for the finale, it’s a hurricane special effects and gore. And it’s all surprisingly well done, not far behind films like The Thing (which obviously inspired some of the mayhem). The music at the end had me scratcing my head for some time before I realized where I had heard it before; the same piece plays in James Cameron’s Aliens (Ripley and Newt in the elevator near the end). That should raise a few questions… (reviewed: IVL dvd).
- dvd / IVL