Hell may have no fury like a woman scorned, but hell literally, really has no wrath like a lusting ghost scorned! Cult classic director Kuei Chih-hung shoots the works with this amazing horror romance starring muscular "Venom" Lo Meng.
Unarguably the greatest character in kung-fu film history is Huang Fei-hong. Arguably the greatest director of pure kung-fu films is Liu Chia-liang. Putting the two together was natural, since Liu started his career working on the classic Huang, and his family was trained by students of the real Huang Fei-hong! So after his first film as director, THE SPIRITUAL BOXER, was a huge hit, Liu decided to make the greatest tale of Huang and his "sifu" (teacher) ever filmed. He made a star of his adoptive brother, Gordon Liu Chia-hui, in the leading role, and filled the cast with family members, friends, students, and the best Shaw Brothers had to offer. He even played the villain himself. The result was more Liu magic, with an honorable message of righteousness that rings true through the decades.
Gordon Liu Chia-hui, Chen Kuan-tai, Wang Yu, Lily Li
When is THE BRAVE ARCHER movie a "Venoms" film? When it is this, the fourth in a series originally starring international favorite Alexander Fu Sheng as master martial artist Kuo Tsing. But Fu only appears here in a cameo as the son of a character played by Lung Tien-chiang (best known as a spear master in the "Venoms" film THE FLAG OF IRON). Kuo Chue is the new hero (as he is in the "Venoms" films as well) who is out to defeat the mass murderer of his martial arts masters. In fact, this fast-moving, action-packed, Venom-filled film is even choreographed by the three core "Venoms", making it a unique combination of grand "Martial Arts World" mayhem and special Venom-style high flying kung-fu.
To the tune of the Osmonds hit song, this is a story of adolescent playfulness & innocence lost. Two best friends grow up together and teasingly meet two delightfully impish boys leading to the four to flirtatiously intermingle. However, the innocence of partner swapping eventually leads to a roller-coaster bouts of misunderstood emotions.
On a continent which reveres its martial arts, the director's nickname is "Kung-fu Liang" - holder of a filmography unprecedented in its innovation of theme, ingeniousness of plot, and imagination of its astonishingly designed kung-fu. This production is clearly the culmination of his initial Shaw Brothers work - the film which he used as a showcase for his and his brothers' - Chia-yung and Gordon Lui - skills. In the premiere, groundbreaking book on the genre, Martial Arts Movies, author Ric Meyers called it "the quintessential martial arts movie" and perhaps the greatest kung-fu movie ever made. Showing prescience customary with this visionary, the plot revolved around early 20th century pugilists vainly attempting to find a kung-fu which could defeat the bullet... years before the same theme would be used in Once Upon A Time In China. It also features the rarely dramatized magician-spies of China, who would ultimately inspire the Japanese ninja. But most importantly, it is a beautifully made action comedy featuring international fan favorite Alexander Fu Sheng and supremely brilliant kung-fu.
Liu Chia-liang , Liu Chia-yung , Hui Ying-hung , Gordon Liu
Taiwan’s glamorous onscreen couple, Ko Chun-hsiung and Chang Mei-yao, star in this unique World War II romance. When a Chinese man living in Japan-occupied Taiwan is drafted into the military, he leaves his pregnant and unmarried mistress behind. When he is presumed dead, she becomes a cabaret singer and gradually descends to the likes of prostitution. When he returns, will the couple be able to finally find happiness?
Four martial arts experts live in Seoul after the Korean War in the 1950s. One of them inexplicably crosses path with a drug trafficking syndicate, and his three friends have no choice but to fight a brutal battle on his side...
David Chiang, Ti Lung, Wang Chung, Yasuaki Kurata, Chen Kuan-tai
Stephen Chow's special brand of very modern, very Hong Kong screwball comedy entered a new phase with JUSTICE, MY FOOT!, a costume farce set in imperial China. Chow is a shyster with an equally eccentric kung-fu ace of a wife, hilariously played by Anita Mui Yim-fong. Accompanied by Chow's number one screen sidekick, Ng Man-tat, he manages to bring justice to the court and laughter to the viewer. A resounding success, JUSTICE, MY FOOT! broke box office records to become the number hit of 1992. And it's no wonder, what with skillful direction by Johnnie To and a visual sheen provided by Peter Pao, who a few years later would become the first Chinese to win a Best Cinematography Oscar for CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON.
Stephen Chow, Anita Mui, Zhu MiMi, Ng Man-tat, Carrie Ng
The swordsman genre well under way, even directors like the es¬tablished Yueh Feng, who had directed romance stories since 1938, gave it a spin. THE BELLS OF DEATH, a whirlwind story about a man who embarks on a life long journey to learn the sword then find and eliminate the three men who killed his family and abducted his sister, features an appearance of relatively new Shaw Brothers' faces hoping to make the grade and become the next Jimmy Wang Yu, David Chiang or Ti Lung. Amidst fountains of blood and guts, actor Wu Ma rang true as his bells of glory eventually tolled. He went on to star in 180 movies (including several with Jackie Chan and Jet Li) and become one of Hong Kong's premiere, new wave, ghost story film directors.
Accepted to the Golden Sword School after his father sacrificed his life to save his master, Fang Kang (Yu Wang) is resented by his fellow pupils and decides to leave. However, his master's daughter Chi Pei-erh (Yin Tze Pan) challenges him to a fight and chops off his arm. After being nursed back to health by Hsiao Man (Chiao Chiao), Fang Kang attempts to master the art of sword fighting with one arm and finds himself returning to the Golden Sword School on a desperate mission to save his master.
Wang Yu , Pan Yin-tse , Chiao Chiao , Chang Pei-shan
In a rare reversal of typecasting, Shaw Brothers' perennial bad guy Lo Lieh breaks tradition to play the honorable and noble swordsman in The Swift Knight. Similar to Danny Kaye's The Court Jester without the jest, it's tale of brave knights, chivalry and fair maidens where the Swift Knight (Lo Lieh) finds himself involved in romance, court intrigue and deadly jousts while trying to protect a baby who is the Emperor's secret heir apparent.
Lo Lieh, Margaret Hsing Hui, Huang Tsung-hsing, Chin Han
In Pale Passion, Chin Ping-hsing's only directed film, the gorgeous Chiang Li-ping plays a scorned wife Ah Hsia in an unsettling tale about cheating, adultery and blatant abuse, which develops into a deadly love triangle. The vivacious Elaine Chin Yen-ling plays the other woman Ah Hsing, who teaches the hypocritical husband Ah Fa (Ai Ti) that what goes around comes around! Unknown to him, karma returns in a much more damaging way...
Wang Chung mixes comedy, tragedy & melodrama in this unique action film. Lung Tien-sheng & Cheng Tse-shih play incompetent cops whose ineptitude leads to rape, duplicity & murder, and must redeem themselves by taking down the gang responsible for the crimes.
How far would you go for love? Or lust? These are the questions posed in this sinfully entertaining Sung Dynasty period effort. Split into two tales, the first one involves a devilish magistrate who tries to tempt a Buddhist monk out of his self-professed celibate control by hiring a pretty prostitute. The second story is the tragic tale of an exploited young girl, the queen of femme fatale Shaw Yin-yin, who is forced to work in an unscrupulous couple's brothel.
