This is only Sun Chung's
third film as a director and his first for the Shaw Brothers but he does
his best Chang Cheh imitation. This is a very fine Wuxia film with a large
number of action set pieces, a huge kill count and a never-ending supply
of red paint splattered against walls, people and at one point filling up
a pool. It is violent and takes no prisoners. I was actually taken a back
a bit at how much blood is spilled. All it needed was Jimmy Wang-yu as the
male lead rather than a colorless Lau Dan. But then Wang-yu didn't really
like sharing the stage with a female and he would have had to with Shu Pei-pei
who is an equal opportunity killing machine. Nearly all of the action scenes
are large ones - one or more of the heroes taking on a group of twenty or
more of the bad guys. There is really only a single one-on-one fight and
it is pretty terrific with the pointed peg-legged Wang Hsieh having a duel
against a traitor in his clan. Choreography is from Chui Yee-ngau who has
some fine films on his resume - Deaf and Mute Heroine, A Taste of Cold Steel,
Lady with a Sword, The Flying Guillotine and many more. The action scenes
are all well planned out and easy to follow.
Trouble is brewing in Martial Arts Clan land. The Jiuxuan Witch (Lee Ga-sai)
and her many black clad or red and white haired men in the Bloody Ghouls
Clan have been ripping up the area that the Golden Lions Clan headed by Ching
Miao and the Jixian Clan headed by Wang Hsieh have promised to protect. But
they are undecided whether to go after her because of her magical powers.
Someone suggests they combine their powerful mirrors to defeat her. Ching
Miao says no - combining the Thunder Magic Mirror and the Wind Magic Mirror
could be catastrophic to the world with its powerful cosmic ray. Got that?
Their children - Lau Dan of the Golden Lions and She Pei-pei of Jixian Clan
are for fighting but are not listened to.
The Jiuxuan Witch is indeed powerful - she can fly around like a bat out
of hell, wears a ton of rouge, has seduced Tung Lin of the Jixian Clan and
turned him into a traitor, has developed Corpse Worm Pills which ravages
and horribly scars a man's face and makes kung fu experts her slaves, has
an evil laugh as good as any male villains - and best of all has chosen the
Skull Theme for her underground lair. It was in Homes and Ghouls Magazine
of Ancient China. She wants those mirrors so that she can open Emperor Wu's
Tomb and steal the Fish Intestines Sword and rule the Martial World.
Plenty of action to follow.
So it does indulge in the multi-named-clans-and weapons style of wuxia films
- but it still keeps it simple. Kill the guys in black. Co-incidentally,
I was reading an old review I wrote 20 years ago on the Brigitte Lin film
Lady in Black in which I said "My God, what a gut wrenching ending this film
has. The last ten minutes will leave you feeling as if you have been emotionally
thrown into a blender and shaken very hard. I just lay crumpled on my couch
listening to the syrupy ballad play over the end credits – just trying to
catch my breath". I never even mentioned that Sun Chung was the director
because 20 years ago I had no idea who he was. Now he is becoming a favorite.
