Five Deadly Venoms
by Chang Cheh
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Chiang Cheh, Philip Kwok, Sun ChienDirector: Chang Cheh
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 95 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-02-07
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Red Sun RSP
Movie Reviews of Five Deadly Venoms
Movie Review: Red Sun is good, but waiting for Image Entertainment
Summary: 5 Stars
To anybody who never saw a "real" kung fu movie or thinks it's chop-socky nonsense, then watch this awesome movie. It will change your whole attitude around. Like most of the reviewers, I caught this movie as a kid on "Drive In Movie" Saturday afternoon in the early 80s. Actually, "Chinatown Kid" (another classic starring the Venoms & the late Fu Sheng) was my first official intro to the incredible Shaw Brothers/Chang Cheh realm. "Five Venoms", along with "The Kid With the Golden Arm" (same people behind that), "Master Killer" (directed by Liu Chia-liang, starring his half-brother, Gordon Liu) & "The Prodigal Son" (Samo Hung wing chun classic), is simply one of the best.
First, the film itself~everyone seems to know the story, dying sifu (Tu Lung a.k.a. Dick Wei) of the Poison Clan sends his last student Yang Tieh (the late Chiang Sheng) to seek out his other five students. Ally himself with one virtuous venom and kill the ones who are villainous. The five venoms are #1 Centipede; Tang San-kwei (Lu Feng), #2 Snake; Hung Wen-tung (Wei Pai, who I never considered to be a real venom. He was only in four of their films and wasn't a real martial artist like the rest of them), #3 Scorpion; Ma Tang (Sun Chien), #4 Lizard; Ho Yung-hsin (Philip Kuo Chui) & #5 Toad; Li Ho (Golden Arm himself Lo Mang).
Despite not having as many fights as some of the other Venom classics, the story is so engrossing it doesn't matter. However, the fights that do occur deliver the goods. Kudos to Robert Tai & Liang Ting for their choreography, especially Toad versus Centipede and that incredible end fight. Even Wei Pai looks good, although he's totally outclassed by Kuo & Chiang. Great performances and great music. I know it's stock music but Chen Yung-yu really picked out some of the best tracks.
A little trivia info, the Snake venom was originally supposed to be played by a woman and #1 & #2 were husband and wife. Director Chang Cheh (reportedly a chauvinist) scrapped the idea because he didn't want a woman having a lead role in his movie. Next, the DVD transfer~the Red Sun version is the best one right now, they must have borrowed their version from Celestial. It's widescreen, crisp picture, decent audio and it's uncut (you see the Scorpion sort of lose his mind right before he dies). Unfortunately, it's dubbed but at least it's those Australian people doing the English voices. Good news, Celestial Pictures did a slamming job on their version; bad news, it's region 3. However, Image Entertainment has been re-releasing awesome prints of Shaw Brother classics on region 1. Check out my review for "Have Sword Will Travel."
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