RETURN
OF THE FIVE DEADLY VENOMS (1978)Director: Chang Cheh
Crash Cinema
RETURN
OF THE FIVE DEADLY VENOMS (1978)Better known in bootleg circles as MORTAL COMBAT and CRIPPLED AVENGERS, this movie doesn't waste any time getting to business. Chang Cheh is certainly one of the best directors from this period in Shaw Brothers history, and he provides ample thrills and over the top Kung Fu antics in this one.
Now any film that opens with women slaughtered and children dismembered has to be worthwhile right? Uh...right! Tu Tin Tao seems to have ticked off some locals, who decide to take revenge on his family, killing his wife and brutally chopping off his son's arms. This, needless to say, leaves Tu Tin Tao fairly nonplussed. He kills the rebels and forges steel arms for his son. Because what is a family man if he can't pass along his Tiger Style? Some training sequences show Lu Feng as the younger Tao, getting the chops together with the new iron fists. Yep, we know he's gonna be a badass later on. So as a gift to his son, he lets him gain revenge on the sons of his assailants. Father and Son bonding has a name, and it is that sitcom all the kids of the 70's were yammering for....Tu Tin Tao Knows Best!
So now that father and son have generally bad attitudes and nobody to take it out on, they casually cripple people who happen to get in their way. Enter our Crippled Avengers. Eyes poked out, eardrums shattered, voiceboxes destroyed, legs chopped, and a rather unique way of rendering someone insane unfold before our eyes. Our newly crippled heroes are played by FIVE DEADLY VENOMS' Philip Kwok, Lo Meng, Sun Chien and Chiang Sheng (hence the title here). And don't worry...the centipede himself, Lu Feng plays our iron handed baddie here. So as bad our hapless cripples situation may be, they pull up the fu-bootstraps and decide that some payback is in order. To do this what could possibly be the answer. What it always is, the beloved TRAINING SEQUENCES.
And damn are they good in this one. As our blind hero learns to sense everything around him by sound, we are treated to lots of nice acrobatics and you can NEVER go wrong with Lo Meng smashing things in my humble opinion. Chang Cheh really had a way with these training scenes, sort of like Kubrick with bones flying in the air. Sort of…The rest of the plot basically sets up the climactic battle, not to mention some damn fine ones in the middle of the picture. But I'm sure you get the point.
RETURN OF THE FIVE DEADLY VENOMS is an excellently paced out Kung Fu fiesta, far superior to the somewhat slower FIVE DEADLY VENOMS, and featuring much more action. Also, this film falls into a far more over the top style, with iron feet kicks (wait til you get a load of these!), dart shooting hands, idiot fu, and even some early wire work that would later become the signature of Hong Kong action films. This is an excellent film for anyone that loves the later HK films, and wants to see a really great old skooler. While lacking a certain realism (of a sort) that can be found in later HK cop and modern day films, the performers in these films had to work much harder and perform much better than the later stunt laden films. The final battle (which is a three, four and five way at different points) is a masterwork of timing, agility and astonishing stamina.
Chang Cheh is much better represented on DVD here than the VENOMS disc as well. The film is presented in Shawscope and the picture is very good for the most part, far above the FIVE DEADLY VENOMS offered by Steeplechase. Hats off to Crash Cinema for that, and my only minor quibble is the sound is very distorted in parts and it seems like the levels have been lowered to compensate. However, this is a tiny caveat really, because companies like Crash Cinema are finally presenting these films with some respect, and are keeping the price to the consumer low as well. Finally we can enjoy the cinematography, the sets, and the action choreography that went into the best of the 70s Shaw Brothers films.
Hopefully, more films featuring "The Venom Mob" (as they were sometimes called) will make it DVD as well. Of course, let's all put our chi together and hope that someone (calling all Crash Cinema reps!) can produce us a nice version of 5 ELEMENT NINJAS (aka-and better known as-SUPER NINJAS). I'd have to strap on my iron feet and stomp every consumer in my path to get at that! (David Zuzelo)