The Five Venoms (Wu du, 1978)

Chang Cheh

Hong Kong

97 min, color, Mandarin (English subtitles)

Review © 2004 Branislav L. Slantchev

I made the mistake of watching The Five Venoms right after seeing Invincible Shaolin. It was a mistake because I expected something similar and was in that sorely disappointed. But before I have to start ducking incoming Mexican wrestling masks, let me explain. The Five Venoms deserves the hype lavished on it by Western fans although perhaps for the wrong reasons. It is a decent wuxia flick that did introduce Chang Cheh's third generation of protégés, but if you are looking for good fight scenes, then this is not it. This fantasy film is really a mystery that is nice and well-developed, with action scenes that are few and far between. As a suspense film, it works great. Not so great as martial arts.

Off to Mexico!	We're non-corrupt officials and we're gay!

The Five Venoms Clan has ruffled the feathers of the boxer world due to the unauthorized activities of a few renegade students. The ailing Master (Dick Wei) summons his last remaining student Yang Tieh (Chiang Sheng) and orders him to hunt down and destroy the former pupils who had disgraced the clan. Unfortunately, Yang's skills are not good enough even though he has been taught a combination of the five deadly ones mastered by his seniors.

Scholar Yuan mimes postmodernist routine	Ku Feng upstages pretty boy Wai Pak

This is a nice hook. The five skills derive from five extremely poisonous creatures: scorpion, snake, toad, gecko, and centipede. Each of the seniors is especially proficient at one, and the film does some limited demonstration of their peculiar moves. (I was most impressed by scorpion's high kicks.) So Yang would have to pair up with at least one of the other pupils to defeat the bad ones. The catch is: he has no idea what his seniors look like, he has no idea what their current names are, and he has no idea which ones are good and which ones are bad. To summarize, Yang is fairly short on ideas. But he does get a clue: find the clan's treasurer. This guy would doubtless attract the baddies in search for the clan money.

Wang Lung Wei has corruption in his blood	Lo Meng battles Lu Feng

There is, naturally, a little snag with that too: Yang has no idea what the guy looks like, and he has no idea what his current name is. At least he knows the town where the man lives. Unluckily for him, it's a rather large one. So off he goes on the improbably complicated quest to look for a man he does not know in order to team up with another man he does not know to defeat an unspecified number of men he does not know. Fortunately he meets a gossipy grocery seller (Shum Lo). Unfortunately, he does not tell him anything.

Amnesty International Exhibit #1	Amnesty International Exhibit #2

The original poster reveals the identities of all men, including the mysterious Scorpion, which is lamentable because much of the film hinges upon the question of the side he's working on. Early on we find out that Snake (Wai Pak) and Centipede (Lu Feng) are truly corrupt. In fact, they positively revel in their corruption. After soon finding out that Toad (Lo Meng) is a good guy, we easily surmise that Philip Kwok is either the Gecko or the Scorpion, and even that is soon revealed. So, the final mystery upon which the suspense depends is whether Scorpion is really the corrupt judge (Wang Lung Wei) or the upright constable Ma (Sun Chien).

Brain Salad Surgery	Lam Fai Wong spills his guts to Philip Kwok

Clues point to the judge. After Toad captures Centipede (it helps that your skill gives a new meaning to the phrase thick skin), Snake bribes the judge to frame Toad for the crime of killing Scholar Yuen (Ku Feng). Since Qing law requires signed confessions for the death penalty, Toad is subjected to gruesome torture. After being tricked and his skill depleted through an attack on his hidden vulnerable point, he's placed into an Iron Maiden that would make Torquemada weep with envy. Not content with that, the judge orders a red-hot metal coat be placed on his back. (This scene gave me the creeps, honestly.) When Toad passes out, an official helps his hand place the signature. Toad is then murdered in his cell, and made to look as if he hung himself. (Why that was necessary after they had his signed confession is unclear.)

Chiang Sheng, Philip Kwok, and Sun Chien	Philip Kwok surprised at Lu Feng's shoe size

Of course, Yang now has to team up with Gecko and perhaps Scorpion to rid the world of Snake and Centipede. The final battle between the five remaining clan members is a sight to behold, although it does fall short of later outings by the same actors. Of the group, Wai Pak seems the least skilled: he is slow and he is never given acrobatic stunts. Plus he's usually shot at close range, with many cuts; a sure sign that he has no idea what he's doing. Chiang Sheng and Sun Chien, on the other hand are as agile as they come, plus Philip Kwok does some really nice fantasy wall crawling. It's all entertaining if not overly impressive.

Multicultural production of JC Superstar	The fish was THIS big, I swear

The film rightly deserves its place in the martial arts canon, if not because of the choreography, then because it demonstrated that it was entirely possible to make a pretty good drama piece with no female actresses, and not much fighting even though the leads were all (again, with the exception of Wai Pak who soon left and was never considered a proper Venom) basically fighters with somewhat subpar acting skills (except Chiang Sheng, whom I especially like). Of course, the Taiwanese actors would go on to make cinematic history with Chang Cheh, and Philip Kwok would make a memorable appearance in John Woo's Hard Boiled opposite Chow Yun-Fat years later. It is intriguing to see where they all started.

Radical interior design	and then there were two...

The Celestial Pictures DVD is standard for the SB series: anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen video, Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtracks in Mandarin and Cantonese, and removable English subtitles. The extras have nothing but the usual slim offerings including a photo gallery, trailers (both the original and the new one, the original being much better), and talent files. Do not look at the original poster or you will find out who Scorpion is. Will definitely ruin some of the fun.

July 8, 2004