Capsule Reviews - 2 Mainland films

Real Kung Fu of Shaolin, Pt 1 (1980/1984)
Aka: Shaolin Dragon Snake 
Chinese Title: 忍無可忍
Translation: Enough is Enough

Starring: Siu Yuk-Lung, Yin Long, Jiang Lili, Weng Yu-Lin, Leung Siu-Wah, San Sin, Lee Fat-Yuen
Director: Kao Yang
Action Director: Zaung Sea-Yang

This was one of the earliest Mainland kung fu movies, predating Jet Li's Shaolin Temple by two years. It got a release on VHS by Ocean Shores and later by Tai Seng and let me just say that I really dislike some of these 1980s Ocean Shores dubs. The problem isn't so much the voices, but the mixing. The volume of the dubbed voices is much higher than the original background music and sound effects, so it feels completely unnatural and distracting.

The film revolves and Siu Ching (Siu Yuk-Lung, who mainly had bit roles in Shaw Brothers films before this), a young man who was brought to Shaolin as a child by his mother. His father was murdered by the evil Mr. Wu, who is evil because...I don't know. I think it has something to do with Warlord period of the Republic Era of China, but other than talking about buying copper and asbestos for military use, we never see him do warlord stuff. Siu Ching grows up in Shaolin and learns numerous styles: the Iron Head technique, Finger Boxing, Qigong, Kitchen Fu, and Broom Fu. He eventually finds out that his mom is living in a village not too far away and Siu Ching fights the Four Guardians of Shaolin in order to get released from the temple.

Once he is reunited with his mom, he discovers that Mr. Wu and his flunkies, led by the wicked Mr. Jyiu, are trying to steal the commoners' land by beating them to death if they don't just up and vacate. Siu Ching and his mother go to stay with his uncle, who now runs a restaurant. Siu Ching gets a job as a waiter and falls in love with his cousin (Jiang Lili), who is also the subject of the lecherous designs of Mr. Wu's son (Leung Siu-Wah, of The Black Belt and Land of the Brave). Siu Ching beats him, beats the corrupt Red Monk, and brawny Korean fighter named Pak. Mr. Jyiu forces Siu Ching's uncle to sign over his restaurant while Mr. Wu kills Siu Ching's mother and Wu's son tries to rape his cousin. Time for our hero to dispense some kung fu justice.

Real Kung Fu of Shaolin, Pt. 1 is interesting because it doesn't feel like a Mainland film. It is filmed in China, but it lacks those sweeping Chinese vistas that fans of Mainland films enjoy so much. The story and its execution feels a lot closer to a Hong Kong film, bereft of the pro-CCP propaganda that shows up in a lot of 80s wushu films. Overall, it just lacks the scale of a lot of the Mainland films made in the 1980s, feeling closer to a low-budget Taiwanese movie in terms of overall feeling. That said, the story lacks a real sense of urgency or even much development on the part of the villains: we never learn what they are really about and what their endgame is.

There is a fair amount of action, choreographed by Zaung Sea-Yang, whomever that is. It is obvious that most of the actors are wushu stylists. On the other hand, the lead actor is a Hong Kong veteran and it's clear he is using more Southern styles in his fighting than the usual Northern Wushu we see in these movies. He gets to fight with a sword and his fists and is certainly less flowery in his presentation than most Mainlanders in these movies. There is a villain who gets to use a rope dart, if only briefly. The hero's mother uses the double daggers, wushu style. The female love interest does some nice cartwheels and acrobatics, even if her actual fighting lacks real power. The fighting on the whole is pretty good, although the climax could have benefitted from more choreography and less running. Old school fans should check it out, if for nothing else than for its historical value.

Ninjas & Dragons (1984)
Chinese Title: 忍者潛龍
Translation: Ninja Hidden Dragon

Starring: Junya Takagi, Dong Li, Xia Qing, Sun Genfa, Xu Li, Song Wenhua, Chu Ah-Lin, Lu Yun-Ling, Rong Ro-Pei
Director: Ding Cheuk-Lun
Action Director: Kazuyuki Saito

At first this looks like what may be a Mainland Chinese rip-off of Ninja in the Dragon's Den. But it's not that. I'm not quite sure what it is (or when it's supposed to be set...perhaps the Yuan Dynasty?). The tone is often a lot lighter than most other Mainland kung fu films of the era, save Kids from Shaolin. But it ultimately suffers from a distinct lack of action.

So, there is a Japanese ninja named Hayate (Junya Takagi, who had previous sung on the soundtrack of Kabamaru the Ninja) who has come to China looking for the Oni-masked ninja, Kensuke, who murdered his father and most of his clan. Hayate has also been hired by a general--a Mongol general? a Khitan general?--to serve as a bodyguard against possible inside jobs against his life. And lo! and behold, one of the other generals, Hurasi (I think is Sun Genfa, of South Shaolin Master), does assassinate his brother and then has Kensuke murder him so that Hurasi can get his official jade seal. Why? Well, I guess he wants to send his armies into China, something that the previous general was hesitant about. And Hurasi is supported by his scheming, ambitious "mother" (Xu Li, another South Shaolin Master alumni); her ugly daughter Ying Yong; and her creepy baby midget helper.

Hayate is captured during the coup and he'll be out of commission until later. There is also the righteous Liang family, which includes the patriarch, the filial son, and the daughter Ching (Xia Qing, of Eastern First Assassin and Bi Xue Bao Dao). Ching has a suitor in the form of the righteous martial artist, Lin Feng (Dong Li, of Revenge of Swordsmanship). Anyway, Liang opposes Hurasi's military aims and has enough sway in the region that he can get the martial talent together to block the transport of supplies to the front lines of the area. Hurasi and his "mother" have Ching kidnapped and try to force her to marry him. And when Ching and some of the villagers save her (and Hayate, too), they just go and kill the Patriarch Liang. It all culminates in a fight near the Great Wall.

The movie jumps back and forth between light comedy and serious historical action drama. Much of the comedy stems from the villain's cousin, Hutuhan, who provides some of the film's basic slapstick. He's one of those characters that is always bragging about his kung fu, but mainly just gets involved in hijinks instead. He ends up taking a liking to Ching and helps her escape a forced marriage by pretending to have r*ped her, thus making her used goods and of no interest to Hurasi. Uh....okay. And it is supposed to be played for laughs. And then Hurasi allows one of his cronies to have his way with Ching, which leads to both men killing each other and all I can think is..."Man, that escalated quickly."

The action was stated by Kazuyuki Saito, whose filmography suggests he was a member of Sonny Chiba's Japan Action Club--his credits include Karate Warriors; Dragon Princess; The Executioner; and some of the Sister Street Fighter films. And to be perfectly honest, he does a very decent job with the action. Despite Japan having a slightly different style than Hong Kong or the PRC, Saito acquits himself to "shapes" surprisingly well, like in a playful scuffle between Lin Feng and Ching early on. The main problem is that there is not enough of it. The first fight that really sticks out is a flashback sequence in which see the evil ninja Kensuke killing a bunch of ninjas from Hayate's clan. There is some good choreography all around there.

And then there's the finale, which is your typical Mainland free-for-all of different wushu stylists fighting each other. Ching and a male character with an eyepatch take on Hurasi, who is wielding a pudao, or assault blade (i.e. a less ornate variation of the kwan do). Ching wields a pair of iron-ribbed fans during this fight. At the same time, Lin Feng and Hayate team up against "Mother", Yin Yong, and the creepy midget, who have a nifty three-fighting-as-one technique: the Mother stands in one place with Yin Yong behind her and the midget between her legs and when you attack her, you have extra pairs of hands coming out of nowhere to attack you. And the way in which the midget is dispatched is pretty darn goofy. Hayate fights with a blade and a claw, which you see in the poster. Like I said, pretty decent choreography overall, but I wonder why there wasn't more of it.

The Shinobi Ninja (1981)

The Shinobi Ninja (1981) 

Starring: Tadashi Yamashita, Yasuhiro Shikamura (Luk Chuen), Karen Shepherd, Eric Lee
Director: Yasuhiro Shikamura (Luk Chuen)
Action Director: Yasuhiro Shikamura (Luk Chuen)

I was going to do a full-length write-up of this for my 'zine, but I realized that I had so little information about it that I decided just to cover it here. The IMDB lists this as a Canadian production, but given that the open credits are all in Japanese (save the gaijin actors, including a young Karen Shepherd) and the film is dubbed in English, I'm going to assume that it was just a low-budget Japanese film made to capitalize on the nascent "Ninja Craze" of the early-mid 1980s. Somehow, it found its way onto home video in the West and did not vanish into complete obscurity.

The film opens with a history of ninjitsu, set to a series of well-drawn manga images. To boot, there were two big ninja clans during the Tokugawa Shogunate: the Iga and the Koga clans. The former allied themselves with the Shogun while the latter were hunted into obscurity. Switch to modern-day Tokyo, where an American CIA agent is being chased in the streets by a bunch of men in blue jumpsuits, sneakers, and ski masks. Those will be our ninja of the movie: the "descendents" of the Iga Ninja. They kill the CIA agent and we cut to a meeting between a bunch of white guys and Japanese law enforcement establishing that several foreign agents have been murdered in Japan by masked assailants. One of the Japanese officials believes that ninja are behind the killings, but his theory is laughed away by the white guys.

He goes to see an old martial artist, who directs him to Ken Suzuki (Tadashi Yamashita, of Za Karate and The Octagon), the last remaining member of the Koga Clan. Suzuki is teaching martial arts in Los Angeles and finds himself being attacked by a bunch of random white guys. It turns out to be a test of his skills and he is hired to be part of a team of killers meant to defeat the ninja in Japan. He is initially reluctant, but decides to join when he learns that he will be able to avenge the wrongs perpetuated against his clan by the Iga. There are seven other martial artists/professional assassins joining him, including a Chinese kung fu master (Eric "The King of Kata" Lee) and a woman (Karen Shepherd, of Righting Wrongs).

Assassin Number 1 (a white guy), tries to assassinate the rogue politician who hired the Iga ninjas at his home (he has a document that has some plan to restore Japan to its former militaristic state), but is overwhelmed and killed. Assassin Number 2 (also a white guy) is seduced by a female kunoichi (giving the film some brief T&A) and stabbed to death by her in his hotel room. Four of the other assassins carry out a hit on one of the politician's contacts in a long set piece set in the snow. Two of them are killed while Eric Lee and Karen Shepherd are captured. For much of the movie, Ken Suzuki has been hanging around in the background. He finally steps up to the plate, kills most of the ninja and challenges their leader (played by the film's director) to a duel.

Although there is more than a fair amount of ninja action in this one, there is the issue of the outfits, which are very un-ninja like. Worse than that is the script, which jumps from one set piece to another with no introduction, establishing scene, etc. Just how did the first assassin know where the target was staying, let alone who exactly he was? How did the second assassin meet the kunoichi, let alone charm her (or let her charm him) into bed? Just who exactly are the other four assassins trying to kill in the snow? How did they know he would be there? There is just a lot of random things that happen with no explanation, which was honestly the same problem that Sister Street Fighter had--i.e., how did she always show up in the right place for a fight to break out? How did she know to be at that exact place at that exact time? 

The film's director is Yasuhiro Shikamura, aka Yasuyoshi Shikamura, aka Luk Chuen. Luk Chuen was a Hong Kong-born Japanese (or half-Japanese?) martial artist who was a common fixture in 1970s kung fu cinema. He found work as an action director at the same time he was acting, offering his talents to films like Bamboo House of Dolls; The Gold Connection; and even Jackie Chan's The Magnificent Bodyguards, among many others. He first tried his hand at directing in 1978 with Deadly Chase for Justice starring Michael Chan. This would have been his second directorial effort. He later went on to direct Cypress Tigers, the Hong Kong version of Tango and Cash starring Simon Yam and Conan Lee. He also choreographed the Killer's Romance, an adaptation of "Crying Freeman" starring Simon Yam and boasting a supposedly spectacular sword fight.

I'm guessing that Shikamura also staged the fight scenes for the movie. The fight choreography is quite solid, especially by 1970s/80s Japanese standards. Sometimes it looks like a proto-type for the 1980s kickboxing that Jackie and Sammo would be doing a year or two later. It also helps that the filmmakers cast real martial artists in all the roles (except for maybe the one-armed marksman). Shepherd gets two opportunities to show off her kung fu and kicking skills--she apparently studied under one of the Dacascos family members. Eric Lee gets to show off the snake style in his fights, especially during the snow sequence. He looks a lot better than he did in Weapons of Death. Tadashi Yamashita is in "Bronson Lee" mode, that is, he does a lot of Bruce Lee mannerisms in his fights. His moves look good, though his bar fight with the ninja has a jerky, start-stop quality to the execution. He does a lot better in the climax.

People looking for ninja antics should get their fill, the silly modern-day clothing notwithstanding. I want traditional robes and masks on my ninja, not ski masks, con sarn it! But you get to see ninja fighting with kunai, shuriken, katana, bows and arrows, yari (straight spear), kusari-fundo (weighted chain), and kusari-kama (sickle-and-chain). The snow sequence features ninjas on skis and ninjas on sleds. The climax has this really long and silly sequence of Tadashi Yamashita being "chased" by a ninja on a hang glider, which just lazily flies around in circles. Eric Lee and Karen Shepherd are wasted in the finale: they storm a house looking for a document, but the house is empty. No guard ninja hanging around there, so no fighting from them. Boo. The final one-on-one is a sword vs spear duel that is well choreographed (by Japanese movie standards), if too short.

On the other hand, the entire movie runs a good 10 minutes too long--there is no reason for a film with this little plot to run 104 minutes. A few edits here and there (including removing the hang glider and the "storm the empty house" sequences) could have improved the pace dramatically. That is a problem I find in a lot of Japanese movies, including the Japanese cuts of Godzilla films. They tend to meander and need a few seconds cut here and a minute snipped there to have better pacing.  All things said, The Shinobi Ninja is little more than a curio from the days of the Ninja Craze, but it at least boasts some pretty good fighting (especially if you compare it to a lot of American and Filipino films from the same time). 

Capsule Reviews - 3 Ghost Movies

Ghost of the Mirror (1974)

Starring: Brigitte Lin, Shih Chun, Tuo Tsung-Hua, Chang Ping-Yu, Ku Wen-Chung, Chiang Wei-Min, Pai Lin
Director: Sung Tsun-Shou

This movie feels a bit like "The Magic Sword and the Magic Bag" from Pu Song-Ling's Strange Story from a Chinese Studio. That is, this feels a bit like the story that inspired A Chinese Ghost Story; The Enchanting Shadow; and any other movie based on the material.

Our hero is Young Noble (A Touch of Zen's Shih Chun), a young scholar whose mother (Chang Ping-Yu, of Imperial Tomb Raiders and Shaolin Wooden Men) has recently recovered from a severe illness. So severe, in fact, that it practically took her life. She was able to make a deal with the gods (or directly with Buddha) that her health would be restored in exchange for her (or someone by proxy) copying some Buddhist sutras some fifty times. The task itself has fallen onto her filial son, Young Noble, who finds an abandoned manor some ten miles outside of town to work in peace (and away from the influence of wome).

He settles into the manor with the company of a young apprentice, Qi Tung (Tuo Tsung-Hua, who grew up to play the main henchman whom Donnie Yen kills in Butterfly and Sword). They discover that the well is haunted by a female ghost, Su Su (Brigitte Lin, of Swordsman II and New Dragon Inn). Su Su just lies at the bottom of the well and mesmerizes men who look inside into falling in and drowning. When the Young Noble ignores her, she leaves the well and tries to seduce him outright. But he is too righteous for that and her master, the Poison Dragon, tries to possess her to kill him. That doesn't work and Su Su and the Young Noble start to fall for each other. But will their otherworldly love stand strong against the protestations of his pious mother and the evil of the Poison Dragon.

Ghost of the Mirror is a bit of a slow burner, although it gives you plenty of time to stare at a 20-year-old Brigitte Lin in period garb. The film builds to a tragic finale, although not quite in the way I was expecting. It does involve a giant dragon marionette attacking miniature buildings, so that was unexpected. My main issue with the story is the sub-plot that suggests that the ghost Su Su has an alternate personality, or horcrux (or something), in the form of a mirror that also fell into the well and has its own spirit (or something). Maybe it's Chinese Taoism metaphysics that I don't understand, but I don't think it added anything to the story.

The Ghost Snatchers (1986) 

Starring: Wong Jing, Joey Wong, Stanley Fung, Hsu Shu-Yuen, Joyce Mina Godenzi, Michael Chan Wai-Man, Shum Wai, Charlie Cho Cha-Lee, Tony Leung Hung-Wah
Director: Lam Nai-Choi
Action Directors: Yuen Bun, Wong Chi-Ming

Crazy Ghostbusters-inspired horror-comedy directed by Lam Nai-Choi, who later went on to direct the famous The Seventh Curse and The Peacock King. This sort of over-the-top WTFery is really up Lam's alley. That said, it pairs Wong Jing and Stanley Fung in front of the camera, so I assume that this movie is part of Fung's life's shame.

So, there is a building in Hong Kong that has some very bad Feng Shui. It was built on the execution site of a garrison of Japanese soldiers at the end of WW2 and their spirits are gaining strength from the fact that the building has "too much Yin" (and not enough Yang). In the first scene, a pretty lady (Hsu Shu-Yuen) is at a big office party when she gets assaulted (and stripped nude) by a corridor of "scary hands" (similar to when Sigourney Weaver gets attacked by Zuul). She shows up later on, now possessed by the ghosts.

Our main character is Bong (Wong Jing), a ne'er-do-well who somehow has managed to bag a hot girlfriend in the form of Hsueh (Joey Wong). His friend, Fan (Stanley Fung), manages to get him a job as a security guard at the same building from the first scene. Lots of weird things start to happening: Bong witnesses the pretty lady sucking the blood of the building owner (Shum Wai), a TV sprouts arms and legs and attacks him, his fellow guards start to get killed off, etc. They bring in an interior designer/Feng Shui expert, Ling (Joyce Mina Godenzi, looking her most va-voom-tastic), who is also a ghostbuster of sorts. She figures out that they have until July 14th to stop the Japanese ghosts before their power gets so big that they kill all the Yin individuals, including Bong and Fan.

This is one of those movies that I just have to write a paragraph about some of the weird things that happen and you decide whether or not you want to watch this. Do you want to see a man pull off his own face and rip out his own heart? Do you want to see a climax involving a protracted fight with an animated skeleton? Do you want to see Wong Jing run into a porno theater and stand in front of the screen for 30 seconds while looking for one of Stanley Fung's three (out of ten) souls? Do you want to see Wong Jing win at mahjong with the help of a low-rent Alf-looking imp? If you say "yes" to any of those questions, then Ghost Snatchers is for you.

Split of the Spirit (1987) 

Starring: Pauline Wong, Hsu Shu-Yuen, Wu Hsiao-Kang, Ku Kuan-Chung, Cynthia Khan, Peter Mak Tai-Kit, Chan Lap-Ban, Yang Yuan-Zhang, Yang Tuan-Sun
Director: Fred Tan

Okay, after the nuttiness of Ghost Snatchers, here's a supernatural revenge drama that takes itself quite seriously (for the most part). The film revolves around two women: Lu-Ling and Hwei-Chu. Lu-Ling (Pauline Wong, the pretty ghost in Mr. Vampire) is a huge figure in Hong Kong on the modern (or interpretive) dance scene. She has been dumped by her lover and is contemplating suicide. Hwei-Chu (Hsu Shu-Yuen, who was the possessed girl in Ghost Snatchers) is romantically-linked to a playboy named David Bao (Ku Kuan-Chung, of Web of Death and Clans of Intrigue). Bao has cheated on her before, although he now promises that he will end his philandering ways.

NOTE: This is one of those toxic relationships where he openly has cheated on her. But she tells everyone that she believes he has turned a new leaf and will now be faithful to her. But in private, she acts so suspicious toward him that you wonder why she forgave him in the first place.

Anyway, it is suggested that Lu-Ling was the woman that David Bao was cheating on Hwei-Chu with. And when he goes to Taiwan with Hwei-Chu, Lu-Ling tries to kill herself by overdosing on pills. She is saved by her nosy secretary, Amy (Chow Ai-Lei). While Lu-Ling is recovering, David Bao has Hwei-Chu killed and her spirit "sealed" in her place of death by a sorcerer named Master Li (Yang Yuan-Zhuang). However, their accomplice accidentally break the spirit mirror, meaning that Hwei-Chu's spirit is free to roam. Due to a huge coincidence and happenstance at the Taipei airport, Lu-Ling (who has recovered and is preparing for a special Taiwan performance) is marked for possession by Hwei-Chu. Hwei-Chu uses Lu-Ling's body to execute the men responsible for her murder.

And when Hwei-Chu decides that she wants more from Lu-Ling than just a temporary vessel, it wil be up to an observant photographer (Wu Hsiao-Kang), his spiritualist girlfriend (a young Cynthia Khan in a non-fighting role) and her mentor to save Lu-Ling.

Split of the Spirit will probably be creepy to people who don't watch a lot of horror. And even if it doesn't spook you, it gets points for being a Hong Kong horror that doesn't become a kung fu movie or broad comedy (or both) halfway through. The finale does get a bit crazy, though, with eye lasers and eye flamethrowers and badly-composited scenes of spirits flying through the heavens. And the film ends on an ambiguous note, although I don't like the sort of twists that suggest that everything you just saw did not happen the way you just saw it. When you the viewer are expecting one outcome and the opposite happens, the preceding event needs to be shown in a way that is ambiguous enough that you assume things happened a given way before "X" is revealed. A good example is the surprise ending of the film Life. This one doesn't pull it off like it should have.