Web of Death (1976)

Web of Death (1976) Chinese Title: 五毒天羅 Translation: Five Venom Heavenly Web

Starring: Yueh Hua, Lo Lieh, Ching Li, Wang Hsieh, Angela Yu Chien, Wang Chung, Lily Li Li-Li, Ching Miao, Ku Feng, Chiang Yang

Director: Chor Yuen

Action Director: Tong Gai, Yuen Cheung-Yan

Web of Death is the third movie that Shaw Brothers director Chor Yuen made in his second wuxia cycle, which would define the vast part of his output between 1976 and 1984. Most of the films he made were adaptations of stories written by famed wuxia novelist Gu Long, although this particular film was based on a story by Wong Ying. Wong Ying was a popular writer, albeit not quite up to the standard of his contemporaries, Gu Long and Jin Yong. He was younger than them, being born in 1956, which was when Jin Yong was serializing his first novel, The Book and the Sword. But the man was no less talented, as this movie adapted his work when Wong Ying was but 20 years old.

Of the three movies that Chor Yuen made in 1976—the other two being Killer Clans and The Magic Blade—this is considered the least of them. It has all of the hallmarks of a classic Shaw Brothers films: elaborate sets and costumes, a strong cast, decent fight choreography, coupled with a complex plot populated by lots of characters and martial arts clans to follow. Strangely enough, it is the action choreography that keeps this firmly rooted in “Good” territory, as opposed to “Excellent” or “All-Time Classic.”

The movie opens with a meeting of martial arts masters, who are met by the then-head of the Five Venoms Clan (Chiang Nan, of The Iron Bodyguard and Call Me Dragon). The man unveils his secret weapon: the “Five Venoms Spider.” This is a mystical little creature—played by a regular tarantula with a dubbed-in elephant call, that can shoot deadly, acidic webs at all people in a sizable radius. The spider kills all of the masters present, but later the man relinquishes the weapon, which is hidden away from all the martial world.

Several generations later, the Five Venoms Clan is having a meeting of the Chief (Wang Hsieh, of Heroes Two and The Secret of the Dirk) and his sub-chieftains. Liu Shen, the Snake Chief (Lo Lieh, of Clan of the White Lotus and Heroes of the Wild), points out that there is a martial arts tournament coming up and the winner will determine the best in the Martial World. The Five Venoms Clan has been on the decline these past few decades and both the Toad and Scorpion Leaders (played by Lu Wei and Tung Choi-Bo, respectively) have lost their territory to the other schools. Liu Shen suggests that they unearth the Five Venoms Spider and use it to win the tournament and restore the clan to its former glory. The Chief, however, forbids such things and ends the meeting right then and there.

We learn that Liu Shen is having an affair with the Chief’s wife (Cave of the Silken Web’s Angela Yu, in her last Shaw Brothers outing). Both are conspiring to kill the man so that Liu Shen can assume the leadership of the clan. They decide to start spreading rumors that the Five Venoms Spider has already been found in order to spur the other clans, led by the Wu Tang Clan, to action. In Liu Shen’s words, “We’ll have the righteous clans find it for us.”

The rumor-mongering works, and soon the heads of the different schools (Shaolin, Emei, etc.) are meeting at Wudan Mountain to discuss the weapon. The head of the Wu Tang school, Tian Suan (Ching Miao, of Five Tough Guys and Clans of Intrigue), designates his senior student, “Three Saints” Fei Yingxiang (Yueh Hua, of Green Dragon Inn and Dragon Swamp), to go to Shaolin to try to learn more about the rumors. On his way to Shaolin, he meets a girl dressed as a male beggar, who claims to know someone (who knows someone who knows someone) who knows about the Five Venoms Spider. She tells him to meet her at a nearby lake in 10 days. That girl turns out to be Hong Susu (Ching Li, of The Magic Blade and Killer Clans), the daughter of the Venoms Clan chief.

Hong Susu heads back to the Venoms Clan headquarters, where she discusses the matter with her father. He reassures that the Five Venoms Spider has indeed not resurfaced, as it’s hidden in a “forbidden” place. Hong Susu figures out that said place is the tomb of the deceased Clan leaders. Unfortunately for both of them, the chief’s wife is eavesdropping on their conversation and relays the information to Liu Shen. He comes up with the idea of making two maps and sending them to two different clans, and then spreading the rumor that said clans have a map to the weapon. 

The rumor reaches Wu Tang, and two students—Fei Jingyie (Wang Chung, of Police Force and Five Tough Guys) and Qiuxin (Lily Li, of Shaolin Mantis and Soul of the Sword)—are sent to investigate. They come across a bloodbath: one of the clans has been attacked by the Holy Fire Clan. Jingyie and Qiuxin intervene, but when the smoke clears, both clans have been wiped out. They take the map and head for the crypt, where they find the other clan has already arrived. Jingyie sends Qiuxin to find Fei Yingxiang and tell him what’s going on. When the other clan is massacred by the crypt’s traps, Jingyie sneaks in and makes his way to where the Five Venoms Spider is being kept. While leaving the tomb, weapon in hand, Jingyie is ambushed by Hong Susu (who doesn’t know who he is) and is poisoned by her Five Venoms darts. Once she realizes who her victim is, she hires the Golden Dragon Security Company to carry both the weapon (hidden in a crate) and Jingyie back to Wu Tang. But Mr. Xie (Chiang Yan, of The Flying Guillotine and The Spiritual Boxer) has made some underhanded deals with some very shady people…

There are a lot of twists and turns to the story, which is what makes it so fun. It does not get too convoluted, but there are a lot of plot complications that stem from mistaken identity, incorrect assumptions on the part of (otherwise righteous) characters, and just rash actions on the part of the main protagonists. The main villains are obviously motivated by ambition, but a lot of the bad things that happen to the main characters occur because of their own prejudice and envy. While the bad guys are definitely bad, the good guys have negative human qualities that keep them from making the right decisions, too.

All this talk of the Five Venoms Clan may make some readers wonder if this has anything in common with Chang Cheh’s classic The Five Deadly Venoms. Not really. This is a wuxia pian through and through, while The Five Deadly Venoms, for all its wuxia trappings, is a kung fu movie. That said, one may consider this to be a precursor (of sorts) to The Five Deadly Venoms, with the latter being set many generations later when the clan is in its death throes. The movie does have the feel similar to that of Kung Fu Cult Master (itself based on Jin Yong’s Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre), where you can switch “The Evil Sect” with the “Five Venoms Clan” and the “Great Solar Stance” and “Magic Stance” with the “Five Venom Spider.” So, if you liked the over-the-top quality to that Jet Li film, you might enjoy this.

To me, the action was the weakest aspect of the film. Tong Gai and Yuen Cheung-Yan are great choreographers for sure, and the swordplay exchanges are well done. But they are generally quite short and none of the fights really stand out in any way. Tong and Yuen opt to emphasize the supernatural aspects of the fighting, realized via practical effects. So be prepared for lots of smoke, sparks, flames, and cheesy spider web effects. Lo Lieh’s character wields a staff with a snake head at the end that shoots spark and flames at its opponents. Yueh Hua has a fight at the Five Venoms Clan hideout—which itself is covered with kitschy spider motifs—that is full of explosions of poisonous gas (i.e. lots of smoke bombs going off) and acid pools. And you can guess what the Holy Fire Clan uses in their fight scenes. So yeah, too much “smokes and mirrors” and not enough of the nitty-gritty fight choreography. Thankfully, everything surrounding the action is fun to watch, though.