1974 saw Shaw Brothers teaming up with Hammer Studios which resulted in Shatter and The Legend Of The 7 Golden Vampires. A bit more obscure is this co-production with Italy that tapped into the notion of combining martial arts with the popular spaghetti Western and paired up Lo Lieh (King Boxer) and Lee Van Cleef (The Good, The Bad And The Ugly). Lo Lieh is Wang, dispatched from China to find the the missing fortune of his late uncle. Setting free Dakota (Van Cleef), the man accused of the murder of Wang, the two begin uncovering clues tattooed on the bottoms of women that leads them closer to the hidden wealth. A psychotic, bible quoting gunman is also following their every step...

While not particularly memorable, the novelty of pairing up East and West in this case survives the entire feature. It feels distinctly less Shaw and more Italian though which results in subpar martial arts choreography (a 70s score put on such scenes doesn't help either) but the pair of Lo Lieh/Lee Van Cleef are a fairly fun double act to follow as cultures are shown merging. Especially our Asian star nicely portrays the cunning nature of Wang and is a typical fish out of water character by choice. The many excuses to be very naughty and feature shots of women with their pants down is some kind of genius exploitation thinking as well. Also released as The Stranger And The Gunfighter. Also with Wang Hsieh and Chan Shen.

The Japanese invaded China set against a cold and dramatic backdrop is surprisingly well handled in combination with some breathtaking martial arts action. Essentially the invaders have hired one of the Chinese (the main character of Lui) to handle the matter of The Doll Bride Mask who's leading a destructive rebellion against the Japanese. Lui is of course disliked by his own people and family but tries to stand firm under the circumstances. A basic melodrama but one that works fairly well against the gritty nature of the narrative, to boot there's some excellent kicking from the man behind the mask. Acrobatic showcase amidst a basher and a surprising end reveal is proof that Blood Of Dragon Peril demands attention all throughout its lean running time.

Designed to scare the living pants off the superstitious Chinese (the opening caption does well in that regard), Ding Sin-Saai (The Beheaded 1000) directs all three stories contained within The Blood Reincarnation, starting with "The Treasure". Featuring Dean Shek, this quite short scenario strips the narrative down to a minimum and goes for the highest gear possible in the audio- and visual field. The relentlessness of it all is eye catching and atmospheric.

Soon we're into "The Wanton", settling again as per the first story on revenge but with some goofy and darkly comedic twists that manage to work by the time the ending has done its thing.

The center piece "Lau Tin Sok" is the story corresponding to the title of the film and takes a different route. Not only is it the longest of our short stories but also designed to dig into our emotions, hard. A doctor played well by Peter Yang is framed but returns thanks to the titular blood reincarnation to settle what he didn't have time for before his natural life ended. A neat twist by Ding Sin-Saai is inserted and it's a story therefore that takes a potentially predictable main plot to secondary status as well as unexpected places. It helps that the atmosphere is suitably spooky as well as touching, even though the typical broad melodrama is quite ear piercing in the final reel. The Blood Reincarnation ends up overall on a positive note, being a show reel for what director Ding can do and no aspect truly fails. The drama easily beats the terror though.

An ex-con (Norman Tsui) and his private detective friend (Deon Lam) are hired by a wealthy man to investigate his daughters involvement in what is referred to as "evil religion". A huge problem of society and the Hong Kong police at the same time are fighting the battle...

A hilarious presentation of Keith Li's particular Hong Kong society being infused with a youth desire to go into evil religion sets the tone for what merely is an audience pleasing effort. But Li (Centipede Horror) knows a thing or two about pleasing an audience, something that is, as criminal as it may sound, a very valid filmmaking method here. The silly comedy (much featuring Ng Man Tat, dubbed by someone else) is as expected just that, and disgusting at times but seeing Norman Tsui goof off is a little entertainment factor in itself. Tsui is also very much an anti-hero as he gladly mistreats the female lead character of Caca.

Furthermore, Li gives us some worthwhile gritty skirmishes (action was directed by Tsui Siu Ming), nudity and a healthy dose of gore for the hounds out there and frankly, those are the ones seeking out Blood Ritual. It's a fitting tribute to the way Hong Kong films performs the elements well, but not the movie as a whole. If you have that particular frame of mind, you know there is no shame in liking a movie like Blood Ritual.

The old Ocean Shores VHS contained an uncut print of the film while subsequent Laserdisc editions had the nudity toned down.

Playing it safe by setting 90% of the narrative in flashback, Bloody Beast represents yet another excursion into immoral Category III nastiness of the 90s but it can't really go the atmospheric and thematic heights the likes of Red To Kill did. Lawrence Ng (Center Stage) is the perverted, sexual deviant of the piece, working with a scripted template of old proportions. Ng channels the giddy aspects of Simon Yam in Dr. Lamb but can't reach out due to a rather drab village setting that doesn't make for any distinguished cinema. That drabness includes the various hollow characters that remains a downfall for the proceedings as well. It's also the kind of film where going dopey places with the inept cops is always an option (although the director spare us broad comedy compared to Daughter Of Darkness for instance) as well as exploiting mundane events such as washing for erotica purposes but we'll take it obviously. For those of us after it, Bloody Beast does have a nasty streak that is deeply offending and effective, whenever following Ng on his killing streaks with a hammer and subsequent necrophilia. The latter largely removed by the Hong Kong censors. Ken Tong, Lau Siu-Ming and in a role reversal for this genre, William Ho plays a cop. But yes, a rather dim-witted one who gets an ear chewed off by Ng.

To the tones of Europe's "The Final Countdown" in Cantonese, Wilson Tong opens his modern day action vehicle designed for many of his old Shaw Brother's chums, in particular those from the Lau Kar-Leung camp of players. Therefore featuring Gordon Lau, Norman Tsui, Fung Hak-On and Lau himself, A Bloody Fight shows little sparks of director Tong adjusting well to this new era of genre filmmaking. Expectedly the story of lifelong friends now on opposite sides of the law is rather limp (although at its darkest, there is a poignant line about what use it is to be good in this world) while Tong also resorts to cheap nudity and a rape scene to hold our attention. Cheap is the word and literally the film corresponds to its title largely as the gore level is kept pretty high up, creating some satisfaction on a primal level in the process. One wishes Tong would've let go of the idea of many characters dying by spurting blood out of their mouths as it looks silly after the 19th time it's done and those hoping for a big fighting showcase will be disappointed. Lau Kar-Leung lights up the screen briefly in a fine bout, showing his well-handled transfer of his action sensibilities to the late 80s era. Could've made all the difference if Lau had been running this show. Also starring Ngai Lau-Loh, Shum Wai and Chor Yuen.

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HK Flix.com

The chase for the "Friday Killer", an awfully clever motorbike rider in black drives cop Ko (Simon Yam) slowly but surely towards the brink of being burned out and insane...

Low-budget but quite effective evil tale from Danny Ko (co-director of The Day That Doesn't Exist). Even though he delivers an awful, expository ending, a way too invincible faceless villain and never gets the ol' Hitchcock zoom right, Ko has quite a superb eye for chilling violence, highlighted mostly in the various stunt-heavy chase scenarios for the dark rider. An unfair but underrated low-fi thriller. Also starring Loletta Lee, Ada Choi, Stephen Au, Emily Kwan and Elvis Tsui (who never does any scene outside of his office chair).

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HK Flix.com
Yesasia.com

KENNETH'S REVIEW: Mainland refugees take advantage of Hong Kong brothers offering hospitality as some of them rape the maid of the house and then it's off to the Philippines to do what these characters apparently only can do. To be kings of the gangster world. Not the lowest of the low but certainly down there and definitely a candidate for the best incomprehensible "storytelling" award. Nothing is going on but a lot of characters occasionally doing what's supposed to be done in the gangster movie but you've got about 2 worthy minutes of that stock content. A decent street brawl, an average stream of excessive finale gunplay and stunts through glass, those are highlights but well worth skipping as well. IF... somehow we'd been offered hard action, brutality and fluidity, it would've meant someone actually talented had taken over from director Addy Sung. The otherwise reliable Miu Kiu-Wai looks deadly uncomfortable here while Alex Man and Emily Chu are inserted at random points without pay off.

No use hiding behind Ho Chi-Mau, we know it's you Godfrey Ho! His American B-movie/martial arts actioner merged with macabre serial killer plot was actually shot in two versions according to reports. One under the name of Undefeatable and the other for the Asian market with the goofier title Bloody Mary Killer. The Asian version is said to contain scenes with Robin Shou and Yukari Oshima but only the former take part in a separate plotline that doesn't go anywhere. Although a full movie, Godfrey Ho does indeed evoke feelings of cut & paste efforts of the past. Anyway, Cynthia Rothrock plays a street fighter whose dirty, criminal ways doesn't go unnoticed by the police force but attention is instead shifted to Devil Fish (or Stingray in Undefeatable, played with an extra crispy, atrocious flavour by mullet-clad Don Niam). He's a boxer, turned rapist, turned eye gouger of women...

Wonderfully badly dubbed into Cantonese, stale, poorly choreographed and acted, yet Bloody Mary Killer delivers fun goods to laugh at and with. Especially so when it goes all out macabre on us which makes for fun inclusions of Don Niam overacting to the max, women in chains, without eyeballs and two rather memorable finale fights. One is an oddly fun and stylized Cynthia Rothrock/Don Niam scrap but the best cheese is saved for last as our hero cop and Devil Fish go toe to toe without shirts on and oily bodies. The gory, goofy comeuppance to cap all this is quite something too and for sure, Godfrey Ho proved his touch is still there and that he can strike a chord with movie fans for real. That isn't even a joke. The man himself appears in a supporting role, possibly in the footage exclusive to the Bloody Mary Killer edit.

The state of Yun is trapped between fractions of the Ming and the Ching and has to decide which side to swear loyalty towards. Rebel or stay with the current rulers essentially. Although opening and throughout showcasing an admirable intensity in the fight department (and the appearance of a flying guillotine helps), Bloody Mask holds little to no tension otherwise as the power struggles play out. Add onto that indistinct characters, an invisible love triangle the filmmakers very much WANT visible and you have yourself a snore-fest of a Wuxia entry.