More Shaw Brothers

The Master (AKA Three Evil Masters)
Dir. Chin-Ku-Lu (1980)

One of my favorite Shaw Brothers movies is definitely The Master. The story is great. The character Kow Chin becomes a skilled fighter who takes on the 3 Evils after they murder his teacher. The music is usually great in this movie. Unfortunately there are spots in this trailer where new music is added, but the reissue has the main soundtrack intact. The fighting in this one is insane, probably some of the best, fastest, and most intensely choreographed of any Shaw Bros. film. I still have the orange Kodak VHS cassette that I used to tape this one off of TV in the 80's. I nabbed it and a lot of tapes like it on a recent scouring of my mom's garage. Available at I Luv Video on Airport.



Five Deadly Venoms
Dir. Chang Cheh (1978)

This may be the holy grail of all Shaw Brothers movies. I know I've seen some that are almost as good, but I've never remembered the names of them and have never seen any of them reissued. This one is readily available in most decent video stores nationwide. If your video store in your hometown doesn't have it, they suck. This movie was a huge hit pretty much everywhere it was shown. It's all here, great characters, involved plot, great visuals, great music, it's scary, fuck- this movie almost has an odor. I remember seeing it for rent in the small batch of tapes inside of Santamaria's Karate school when I was 7 years old and freaking the fuck out. Essential viewing. Available at any Vulcan or I Luv Video store.

Old School US Trailer


Chinese Super Ninjas
Dir. Chang Cheh (1982)

This was another favorite. The 5 element ninjas were mindblowing. This was a very gory Shaw Brothers movie. All of the deaths were always really bloody and brutal. There's lots of color in this movie and fast paced fighting, which is top notch. Easily one of the best.