The Five Deadly Venoms (1978)

The Five Deadly Venoms (1978)
Aka: The Five Venoms
Chinese Title: 五毒
Translation: Five Poisons

 

Starring: Chiang Sheng, Phillip Kwok Chun-Fung, Sun Chien, Lu Feng, Lo Meng, Wai Pai, Johnny Wang Lung-Wei, Dick Wei, Ku Feng
Director: Chang Cheh
Action Director: Robert Tai Chi-Hsien, Lu Feng, Leung Ting

 

Director Chang Cheh’s “Shaolin Cycle” ended in 1976 with the release of the super-production The Shaolin Temple. The following year was something of a transitional period, which saw him switching action directors from Hsieh Hsing and Chen Hsin-I to Robert Tai. He also produced a variety of different projects, including The Brave Archer, an adaptation of the wuxia novel The Legend of the Condor by popular author Jin Yong (or Louis Cha). This was most likely Chang’s response to the slew of wuxia movies directed by Chor Yuen for the same studio based off the works of Gu Long, a contemporary of Cha’s.

When 1978 rolled around, Chang Cheh kicked things off by directing a second Brave Archer movie—it would take three-and-a-half films to cover the source material. Then, in the second half of the year, Chang directed The Five Deadly Venoms, which kicked off his “Venom Mob” cycle. The name derives from the same troupe of actors—Chiang Sheng, Phillip Kwok (billed as “Kuo Chi”), Lu Feng, Sun Chien and Lo Mang[1]-- starring in the movies and taking on action director duties alongside Robert Tai, who had studied at the same Peking Opera school as Chiang Sheng, Lu Feng and Phillip Kwok.

The movie is set in the Song Dynasty (A.D. 960 to 1279). We open with a young man, Yang De (Chiang Sheng), taking care of his sickly master (Dick Wei, of Heart of Dragon and Yes, Madam!). The master, knowing that his time is up, informs Yang that he had previously taken on five students and trained them in the individual Venom styles: Centipede, Scorpion, Snake, Lizard and Toad. The school, known as the House of Venoms, has a horrible reputation for crime and violence, and the teacher suspects that some of his former students might be perpetuating that reputation. Yang De thus receives the mission to find the good students and eliminate the bad eggs. Since all the students wore masks during their training and took on assumed names afterward, finding them will be a bit of a challenge. The only hint that the master can give him is that the former treasurer of the House of Venoms now lives in a small town and may be targeted by the students at some point.

So Yang De heads over to the unnamed town, where he assumes the guise of a beggar. Meanwhile, a local constable, Ho Yuanxin (Phillip Kwok), is out doing his rounds when a stranger slips him a piece of paper with a toad painted on it. That stranger is Li (Lo Mang), the Toad Venom. Li has reason to believe that the Snake and Centipede Venoms are in town looking for the treasure. The problem is that neither of the two knows who the former treasurer is, nor who the Snake and Centipede are.

But we the viewer learn their identity in short order. The Snake Venom is Mr. Hong (Wei Pai, of The Young Master and Cheeky Chap), a young businessman and one of the wealthiest men in town. He receives a visit from the Centipede (Lu Feng), who has since discovered the identity of the treasurer: Scholar Yuan (Ku Feng, of The New One-Armed Swordsman and Dynamo), a lowly civil servant working for the governor. Both men raid Yuan’s house and murder him and his family, but are unable to find the map. While the police are baffled by the incident, there was a witness: a young street gambler named Menfa (Lau Fong-Sai) who saw the Centipede and recognized him as a friend of Mr. Hong. Menfa confides this to Yang De, who in turn passes the information to Constable Ho and Li.

A trap is set for the Centipede, who is arrested after a scuffle with Li. That’s where Hong steps in. He uses his money and influence to bring the governor (Wang Lung-Wei, in a non-fighting role) to his side. They convince Menfa to change his story so that Li is incriminated, and the governor sends Ho on an errand to another town so no one is around to corroborate Li’s alibi. And as all of this is going on, the Scorpion Venom is lurking in the shadows, manipulating people and events to his own benefit.

The Five Deadly Venoms is considered one of the all-time genre classics. Part of the reason is its historical value as the first movie in the infamous Venom Mob “series”, which has many fans to this very day. It is also one of the more intricately-plotted kung fu movies outside of the wuxia films that Chor Yuan was making at the same time, and even those tended to be more convoluted than complex. There’s also the gimmick of five fighters who may or may not know each other’s identities, trained in animal styles that, for the most part, aren’t your average Tiger, Crane, Dragon or Panther techniques. And each of those Venom styles has its own unique gimmick, which makes the action—when it does occur—even more interesting.

While Chang Cheh indulges in his usual love of male bonding—Phillip Kwok spends the climax shirtless for no good reason and the other Venoms eschew period garb for clothes that leave their chests exposed—the film deals with the snowball effect of evil and greed. Even one of the villains laments that with each step on the path to the treasure, he needs to kill more and more people just to protect his interests. And those that are hardened to the carnage are some horrible human beings, too. People die in some messed-up ways, like a hook that is stuck in the mouth to slit the throat from the inside.

In addition to violent kills, there is also a fair amount of torture on display in this film. One character is thrown into an iron maiden and his entire body perforated with needles. In another scene, a device called “the red stomacher”—half a breastplate of armor heated in a fire—is placed on a character to brand him, leaving third-degree burns all over his back. While not awash in red paint like many of Chang Cheh’s other films, the movie on the whole is just mean and brutal.

The action duties went to Robert Tai, Lu Feng and Leung Ting. The first two were Peking Opera buddies, while Leung Ting was a real-life wing chun master. The action is actually rather sparse: after the opening demonstration of each Venom’s abilities, the plot kicks into gear and the first real fight—Lu Feng (Centipede) vs. Lo Mang (Toad)—doesn’t occur until the halfway point of the movie. The fight choreographers were endlessly creative, giving each style its own character. The Centipede style is known for its lightning-quick handwork and short, quick kicks; in one scene, we see dead bodies with dozens of hand-shaped bruises on their chests. The Toad style is much like qigong, in that the practitioner’s body becomes invulnerable to attack. Actor Lo Mang was trained in chow gar, also known as the Southern Praying Mantis style, and uses hand-based attacks as well. Wei Pai wasn’t as knowledgeable in martial arts as his co-stars, so Leung Ting taught him wing chun. The Snake style in this movie is different from other movies: Wai Pai uses his thumb, index and middle fingers to puncture objects (or human flesh) like a snake’s fangs.

The finale brings all the (still-living) Venoms and Yang De together for a huge free-for-all. Phillip Kwok as the Lizard (or Gecko) Venom has the ability to run up walls and stick to them with his feet. Much like Marco Polo (1975) and The Shaolin Temple (1976), Kwok’s character is also trained in “light skills,” which enables him to perform all sorts of flips and somersaults. Sun Chien, who plays another constable, was trained in tae kwon do and thus was a talented kicker. His skills are saved for the finale, where shows off his legwork and even kicks a hole in someone’s forehead! Chiang Sheng was one of the most acrobatic of the Venoms, but his skills are a little muted in this film. Later Venom Mob movies would serve as better showcases for his abilities. Nonetheless, it’s still a solid ending to an unique martial arts film and the movie on the whole deserves to been by all action fans.

---

[1] - The sixth Venom was Wei Pai, who played the Snake Venom. He made three films with Chang Cheh and other Venoms before jumping ship to Golden Harvest Studios in a failed bid to become a big star.