All involved in this Shaw Brother's production (including action director Tong Gaai) punches in as usual but does deliver fair competence considering the common plot framework. David Chiang is Cheng Ying who is taught the titular technique fully but has his family murdered by Fang Yu Biao (Chan Shen) shortly after his final training has concluded. Yu Biao was hired by wealthy smuggler Lin Hao (Lo Lieh) and Cheng Ying goes to Thailand to execute a revenge plot. It starts by stealing Lin Hao's gold in order to prove his worth and get close to him as only bodyguards can...

Therefore seemingly lensed in Thailand partly, the setting is more modern as we get the sights of trains and the action direction contains motor bike stunts for one scene. Director Hoh Mung-Wa (The Mighty Peking Man) does roll full steam ahead concerning his revenge plot but stopping at the very last second is a choice that generates more of a curious narrative when we see Cheng Ying manipulate his surroundings to believe other ones but him are after Lin Hao. Michael Chan co-stars while Kara Hui and Dick Wei briefly appear.

Buy the DVD at:
HK Flix.com
Yesasia.com

KENNETH'S REVIEW: Possessing the genre trademarks including a Ming rebels vs. Ching rulers plot, here's a standard kung-fu vehicle that will make for a fine evening's viewing. With Carter Wong and Hsu Feng fighting against their opponents that includes a badass Chang Yi and his weapon of choice The Bloody Bird, you early on realize Shaolin Kung Fu Mystagogue sparks when it's about fun with gadgets. Best sequences does indeed use weaponry such as Chang Yi's that acts as a boomerang, cuts down trees and various other Wuxia techniques is crudely but wildly fun orchestration by the filmmaking team. With Buddhist monk's mentioning that the ultimate form is not for everyone, you betcha it's a desired skill in this universe that will appear at a climactic point plus finally, you get a pair of delightful rooms of traps-sequences. All looking as creative as can be coming from this cinema as well as fake and there's nothing wrong with that. Sit back and kick back, it's a feeling this widespread viewer and reviewer not often feels like doing. Mang Fei, Suen Yuet and Phillip Ko also stars.

Buy the DVD at:
HK Flix.com

Chu Yen-Ping managed to find a fairly long lasting, commercial element in this flick. Or rather two. Or rather two kids. Yes, little Kok Siu-Man and Sik Siu-Lung formed a kung fu-comedy team of wacky and stern/buttkicking respectively. They were later put to use in the semi-sequel as well as in China Dragon and Super Mischieves. Under Chu's very commercial direction, it's mainly Kok's show along with Taiwanese heartthrob and ten times less talented Aaron Kwok wannabee of the era Jimmy Lin that take center stage in what definitely is kid's entertainment but a movie that corresponds ever so slightly to director Chu's old habit of caring for absurd, illogical details.

Basically patented after the dopey high school American comedy formula, the beginning is an unwarranted MV for the great lead Jimmy Lin, showing how great Jimmy Lin is. Even signs of being Taiwan's Tom Cruise of Cocktail fame are evident but when the actual story starts, director Chu's structure is very clear. Lin's Spinach character wants Vivian Hsu's Annie. Annie dates the school bully. Pearl (Hilary Tsui) helps Spinach who will come to realize during the last scene who he loves. Starting over at least twice with the high school comedy structure that begins with pranks at home and ends with family dinner, Chu is resting comfortably. Although he goes daring places for the designed entertainment that it is by creating a locker room sequence for the voluptuous Vivian Hsu (who began making Category III pictures the year after), the marginal delight Shaolin Popey is represented by a few key tangents. One is a variant of the Street Fighter scene in City Hunter and later our main characters take refuge in the Shaolin Temple. The seemingly real world is now part of the Wuxia universe, comedy is punctuated by cartoon sounds and the flick briefly turns into Home Alone by the end. It's easily digestible, thoroughly silly and a far cry from well-honed in the wirework department. But considering, Chu Yen-Ping doesn't embarrass himself as such. Compare with his army training flicks such as Forever Friends, starring an even more annoying Jimmy Lin, and you'll see the gigantic difference. Kingdom Yuen, Michael Lee and Paul Chun also appear.

Buy the DVD at:
Yesasia.com

For the at most mildly related sequel, there's no build-up towards the Shaolin in Shaolin Popey. The kids Kok Siu-Man and Sik Siu-Lung are already there in the Shaolin temple, under the guidance of Michael Lee's abbott but mostly they're taken on various shenanigans with Ng Man-Tat's Senior. Feeling very Hong Kong, Taiwan's Chu Yen-Ping knows he doesn't have to show any interest in structure and wit. Alongside the mild story of The Evil Sect assassin Yellow Lemmon (Dicky Cheung in truly horrid super-villain gear) failing at most of his attempts, the trio of Kok, Sik and Ng mostly wander to and from one silly skit to the next. See them for instance learn the fart stance and do heavy duty stunt work in all manner of films films for support of their eating habits. All for an almost unbearable amount of reels. Thankfully Chu gets other ideas and remembers cartoonish craziness of his past.

Starting with Adam Cheng in a cameo as himself and various parodies of the martial arts genre such as torturous stances from Drunken Master and an appearance by another group of Amazon fighters from Armour of God, Chu is clearly allowed to show his care for absurd detail. Difference this time, most of what we see are parodies and not shameless theft. Now that IS a shame, despite we getting glimpses into Chu's manic mind. The 18 Bronzemen stops by, climactic techniques from Butterfly & Sword pop up but topping it off and taking Shaolin Popey II - Messy Temple into sporadically likeable territory is the sight of Sik Siu-Lung being fed breast milk by Kingdom Yuen in order to utilize his kid drunken boxing! Michelle Yeoh has a very minor cameo while Yuen Wah and Mark Houghton also stop by.

Buy the VCD at:
Yesasia.com

KENNETH'S REVIEW: Not to be confused with Lee Tso-Nam's Shaolin Vs. Lama, in this Taiwan kung-fu fest lead of that film Alexander Lo plays a prince that changes fraction and starts to side with Shaolin instead. Typical power domination-plot and even the inclusion of a lighthearted Beggar So type of character (as seen in Snake In The Eagle's Shadow), the proceedings are in need of more Taiwan madness. Despite, this straight faced stock plot is complemented by a huge array of fight scenes offering up kicks and acrobatics at breakneck speed. Speed being an element that kills some of the choreography but overall Shaolin Temple Against Lama delivers and we're quite thankful by the end that it lacked the foolery of the genre. Villain is played by Alan Chui and Wang Hsieh also appears.

While production company My Way have been at it for over 10 years, it's only fairly recently that their Hong Kong cinema tac has been picked up on by fans. Creating vehicles as a throwback to the golden age of the 80s and 90s, Shaolin Vs Evil Dead presents familiar ground. I.e. the ghostbusting priest/hopping vampire/kung fu-flick and it scores points early by designing itself to be that very film. Frequent My Way director Douglas Kung clearly sweats to work up the proceedings to 90 minutes though as evident by the up and down nature of the film in terms of momentum. While energy could've been cranked up a new notches, the opening set-piece at a zombie infested inn infuses the battle with today's CGI used to only average effect but the new millennium meets the old in quite a refreshing way after all. Plus you get coolness in the form of Gordon Lau as a lead who isn't echoing Lam Ching Ying's ability as a stoic AND comedic performer as skillfully but leads very well nonetheless. In comparison to the entire genre output, it's cheap, tired and not a little silly but the film does feature more memorable scenes such as a cute little romance between disciples Sun (Jacky Woo) and Moon (Shannon Yiu), a game of Evil Chess with children buddhist monks vs. children hopping vampires and an unconventional birth of a boy by a boy. It could've been tighter and more strongly paced but My Way has the heart in the right place. The film ends inconclusively, showing highlights from the sequel Shaolin Vs Evil Dead: Ultimate Power and the tightly edited show reel is promising. Co-starring as a rival Taoist priest to Lau's White, Fan Siu-Wong shows his skills on select occasions.

After making the rounds internationally on home video, My Way finally struck a distribution deal in Hong Kong as Kam & Ronson brought out the dvd of Shaolin Vs Evil Dead in 2007.

Buy the DVD at:
Yesasia.com

KENNETH'S REVIEW: Beloved everywhere you go so the following may be duplicating a lot of audience views but anyway, Lee Tso-Nam's old school actioner deserves that praise AND negative remarks hurled towards it. Shaolin Vs Lama survives very nicely on its plot about (a very buff) Alexander Lo seeking the perfect master to further teach him kung-fu. The film instantly displays a nice sense of giving us clean, crisp kung-fu but scores no points when feeling the need to fool around with low-brow gags. Despite the anti-Buddhist monk being a fun concept, Shaolin Vs Lama earns more points when being serious about its standard story craftsmanship. Because combining seriously clear, clean, powerful and weapons-equipped martial arts action gets Lee's film into deserving of its rep-status, with the finale containing some kickass imagery in particular.

From Jackie Chan's unhappy times working for Lo Wei (and Lo trying to get a new Bruce Lee to emerge in the young Chan), Shaolin Wooden Men sees Chan as a mute training at the Shaolin temple but obviously is in preparation for revenge...

Shaolin Wooden Men is a title that covers roughly 2/3 of the film and it's the most intriguing parts compared to what we get for the remainder. Credited director Lo Wei (Chen Chi-Hwa is named Executive director and surely had a firm seat in that chair as well) has set up automatic sympathy for Chan by having him be a mute but what sets apart the film from others is quite an unusually strong sense for visuals, for once not appearing forced. For sure several training concepts doesn't result in smooth technical execution filmmaking-wise but as hokey as the titular wooden men are, there is something insanely cool about this method devised by the ever so creative Shaolin monks. But there exists narrative after Chan's character clears the hall of wooden men so from this point story and action goes on routine. The so called windmill action of the 70s dominates but it is definitely fun to spot the few times where young Chan is allowed to flash his genius in development. Co-starring Kam Kong with supporting appearances by Doris Lung and Chiang Kam. See how many times you can spot Yuen Biao too.

Versions missing roughly 10 minutes consisting of fighting and narrative from the opening (original running time being 102 minutes) have circulated on releases such as the one from Columbia. The Fortune Star High Definition master clocks in at the correct length.