I’m counting this as a first time watch for this project, because it may as well be… I first saw it on DVD around maybe 2007 or 2008 when Siren were still handling the Shaw Brothers catalogue here; this was a particularly inadequate disc, because not only was it non-anamorphic (never a good thing, but even less so with a proper ‘Scope film like this) but the fucking disc jammed at some point so I never saw it in full. So this is technically the first time I’ve really seen it, in blu-ray form, anamorphic and complete, and GODDAMN it was worth waiting for that ending (disc only arrived in the mail today, too, so I’ve been unusually quick to get to it)… Don’t know much about director Sun Chung, other than that I have another one of his films in one of the Shawscope boxes, but I saw an IMDB reviewer claim he was an unsung hero of Shaws as an action durector, but never got as good a story to work with as Chang Cheh or Lau Kar-Leung. Our story involves a couple of rival martial arts masters in a Chinese town, one of whom hires an former enemy of his (Lo Lieh, making his second appearance in this project) to help him beat the other at the forthcoming lantern festival; the latter, however, has a more vested interest in gaining revenge on his new client. The film is never quite as lurid as I wish it was, though it certainly is that; the blood is plentiful and of a redness that Herschell Gordon Lewis might’ve called unnatural, and a couple of scenes are still kind of grisly and unpleasant. But it’s the martial arts action that works best here, especially in the aforementioned ending which is just 15 minutes of the characters going berserk. This is one I think will reward repeat viewings.
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