This
film piles layers of revenge upon each other but gives it enough interesting
aspects, action and a huge cast to make it very satisfying. I expect every
extra that Shaw could lay their hands on had to be killed multiple times
in this film. It is one large body count set-piece after another with the
camera luxuriating in the blood and pulling back to show the bodies strewn
about like a turkey butcher plant getting ready for Thanksgiving. The action
may not be slick or intricately choreographed but it has loads of variations
and rarely slows down. The director is Wong Fung who is primarily known for
his Angela Mao films - The Angry River, Lady Whirlwind, Hap-ki-do, When Taekwondo
Strikes, Stoner and a couple of others. He only made a few Shaw films and
it's a shame he couldn't bring Angela into this one. She would have made
a fine addition but Shaw never seemed interested in signing her up.
It begins with an attempted rape and that
leads to hundreds of deaths. Chief Chiang (Fang Mian) of the Chung Chow Sword
School and his daughter Shang-ching (Shih Szu) are having dinner at a small
inn when they see a man attempting to rape a young woman. Chiang jumps to
her rescue and kills the rapist. Good riddance to bad rubbish but he turns
out to be the son of the Yellow Gowned Chief (Wang Hsieh) of the Crimson
Charm gang. This is not a charm school but a multiple branch group of thieves,
psychopaths and killers. All in color coordinated outfits. The gang comes
looking for revenge the next day at the home of Chiang. In his group he has
his number one-man Han Yu (Chang Yi), his daughter, Han Yu's student Fang
Fang (Ivy Ling-po) and a guest - Blood Master Ling with the deadly Blood
Palm (Korean actor James Nam Seok-hoon). Let the killing begin.
Nearly all of the Chung Chow Sword School
are killed - but Han Yu was away, Fang Fang loses an arm, Shang Ching is
badly injured and only Blood Master escapes injury. Three years pass - Han
Yu has been studying with the Godly Sword (Wong Ching-ho), Fang Fang was
carried off by a Buddhist nun and her health brought back and we know how
dangerous one-armed martial artists are and Blood Master has taken Shang
Ching to heal in a secret cave. When they are ready, they all separately
decide it is time to revenge their master - a good time for a minion to go
on vacation. Heading the entire Crimson Charm is a bald-headed pasty-faced
evil Ku Feng with an open bare chested leopard jacket and a grin that needs
to be wiped off in the only way they know how to - by killing him. James
Tin-chuen shows up as Red Gowned Chief and look for Sammo Hung in the inn
scene when about fifteen men take on Fang Fang - who everyone thinks is a
man. Even Han Yu when he meets her. One of the great Chinese action traditions.
