Set during a feudal period with many warring clans, Yuen Biao stars as a young warrior who deserts his army and , after falling off of a cliff, finds himself in a magical land in the middle of its own war. The forces of Good, lead by the ancient sorcerer White Brows (Sammo Hung), are at odds with the forces of Evil, lead by the Blood Demon (Corey Yuen). Biao teams up with a group of heroic warriors, including Adam Cheng and Brigitte Lin, to help defeat the evil menace.
Filled with bizarre characters (White Brows fights with his extendable eyebrows!) and dazzling, if primitive, special effects, this film is a non-stop feast for the eyes. It maintains a light tone for the most part, and the choreography, which utilizes a lot of "wire-fu", is spectacular. It has a low budget (for American audiences, anyway) can-do feel, and a lot of the effects are done with in-camera trickery that is quite clever.
The script is convoluted, the way a lot of kung-fu epics are, and there are times when you aren't quite sure who is who and what is what. Some of this I blame on the DVD I watched, a poor quality edition from a Chinese distributor, with a shoddy English-dubbed audio track. If someone were to put this out on a re-mastered Blu Ray, I would buy it in a second. Highly recommended for martial arts fans, and fans of weird world cinema.
Filled with bizarre characters (White Brows fights with his extendable eyebrows!) and dazzling, if primitive, special effects, this film is a non-stop feast for the eyes. It maintains a light tone for the most part, and the choreography, which utilizes a lot of "wire-fu", is spectacular. It has a low budget (for American audiences, anyway) can-do feel, and a lot of the effects are done with in-camera trickery that is quite clever.
The script is convoluted, the way a lot of kung-fu epics are, and there are times when you aren't quite sure who is who and what is what. Some of this I blame on the DVD I watched, a poor quality edition from a Chinese distributor, with a shoddy English-dubbed audio track. If someone were to put this out on a re-mastered Blu Ray, I would buy it in a second. Highly recommended for martial arts fans, and fans of weird world cinema.