The Five Venoms
1978 ‘Wu du’ Directed by Chang Cheh
Synopsis
Pick Your Poison!
A kung-fu student is instructed by his dying teacher to track down five of the teacher's ex-students. Each of the five is equipped with a lethal martial arts skill, and the teacher fears this might be used for evil purposes. However, not only does the teacher not know the identity of the students (who all wore masks under his training), but some of the students also don't know each other!
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"Poison Clan Rocks the world!"
-Yang TiehDirected by The Godfather of Hong Kong Cinema, this isn't just his biggest cult hit but it also launched the careers of the Venom Mob. When you think classic 70s Shaw Brothers Kung Fu films, THIS is the movie you're thinking of.
Note: The Blu-ray (aka: The Five Deadly Venoms) looks incredible. Never thought a 70s Shaw Brothers film would look this good.
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A really magnificent martial arts film. It has a delightfully twisty plot that leads to several wonderful "venom on venom" fights, culminating in a 5 ways climactic fight between the young star and four of the venoms. I can't recommend this film strongly enough.
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Maybe I just need to give up on this whole Shaw Brothers thing. While in theory I started with some of the most highly-recommended titles (I'll still give 36th Temple of Shaolin a look as soon as I find it), I'm just not feeling this whole business. Part of it is that there's actually surprisingly little martial-arts action in this one, though at least when it does materialize, it's choreographed and edited in the clean, focused way that I wish to high heaven could serve as more of a model for contemporary action directors. But the story is actually surprisingly convoluted, to the point that I found myself wondering if the "protagonist" whose mission is supposed to be the center…
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The namesake of The Venoms has the best story of the four films I have seen (this, Crippled Avengers, Invincible Shaolin, and The Kid With the Golden Arm) and also has the most iconic characters. The action isn't quite as prevalent or refined as in CA or IS, but it is satisfying and contributes to a strong whole. A very entertaining film filled with brutality.
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Classic gung fu film with great editing.
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Maybe I just need to give up on this whole Shaw Brothers thing. While in theory I started with some of the most highly-recommended titles (I'll still give 36th Temple of Shaolin a look as soon as I find it), I'm just not feeling this whole business. Part of it is that there's actually surprisingly little martial-arts action in this one, though at least when it does materialize, it's choreographed and edited in the clean, focused way that I wish to high heaven could serve as more of a model for contemporary action directors. But the story is actually surprisingly convoluted, to the point that I found myself wondering if the "protagonist" whose mission is supposed to be the center…
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I couldn't finish it. Bored to tears. I guess I'm not a Shaw Bros. kinda guy.
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Although somewhat predictable at some points, this is a great film for its era.
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a lot of wacky. good kung fu.
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The 5 Deadly Venoms is seen as something of a classic in the martial arts genre. I unfortunately didn’t see it in that light. I found it a little dull. I really don’t think the 5 different fighters were utilised all that well at all. We really don’t get to much action and the story wasn’t all that great either. I did Love the iron maiden scene and the few fights that there were were ok but overall nothing too special.
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The proposal makes you want to see "The Five venoms" fighting from the 15th minute, but surprisingly they are administered slowly, giving the story intrigues taking him to one Shakespearean side. There comes a time that everything gets stuck a bit, but back to the end . The characters are mystically crazy.
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This is the best Shaw Bros movie, freaking fun