Seen any good Kung-Fu flicks of late?

[chojin]

Just watched Dragon Gate.. I fell asleep!!

[Finsbury Girl]

This fred is criminally neglected. I'm gonna watch The Raid 2 in the next few days to rectify this sad situation.

[prinnysquad]

I got a **** load of films from my Canadian mate the other week:

Kung fu genius (dual audio)
Blind hero fighting evil wolf
On the verge of death
Hitman in the hand of Buddha (uncut)
The Ming patriots (uncut)
Dragon killer (uncut)
Crush (custom subbed)
Art of War by Sun Tzu
Black List (dual audio)
37 plots of kung fu (uncut, custom subbed)
Flexible Judge Pao
Okinawan yakuza war (uncut custom subbed)
One armed magic nun
Chinese dragon
War of the Shaolin temple (uncut)
Beggar of no equal
Wolf devil woman (custom)
The dragon fortress
The cruelty goddess
Master killers
Combat at heaven gate
Shaolin temple strikes back (custom uncut)
Revenge of the dragon
Invincible obsessed fighter
Death challenge
The silent guest from Peking
The rendezvous of Japanese kanto
Imperial sword crouching devil
Which is stronger - karate or tiger?
Iron bridge kung fu
The champion of champions

They're all dated from the late 60s to the mid 80s. Lots of them are difficult to source and use prints in lousy condition, from pre-cert vhs tapes, 35mm reels and even old tv airings. Some seem to be sourced from the last example known to exist, in the West at least.

They're from the days when new kung fu films were ten a penny, and cinemas used to buy reels, show them for a fortnight, then bin them, because there was no point in keeping them. Similarly, small studios did the same. Videos didn't really exist, so they just chucked out stuff they could make no more money from, as archives were too costly to maintain.

Loads of these discs are labours of love. They are custom subtitled, or uncut spliced versions knocked up from multiple sources, or have dubbing tracks and original language.

They're nearly all highly obscure titles. I've watched 3 of them so far.

[chojin]

One Armed Magic Nun and Which is Stronger - Karate or Tiger?... no idea what they are but the titles would have me watching them first

[wakka]

That is awesome Prinny!

[prinnysquad]

One Armed Magic Nun is a wuxia film from Taiwan, 1969. It was custom subtitled a couple of years ago by an American fan called Howard Zinman. The choreography is pretty basic and very much of its time, but it seems to be an amusing little number from the clips I've watched.

Which is Stronger - Karate of Tiger? Is a 1976 basher- type exploitation film produced by Toei studios. Kung fu legend Yasuaki Kurata fights a real tiger in it.

[prinnysquad]

Latest buys from my German mate:


S.D.U. Mission in Mission
Fox Hunter
The Killer Has No Return
Lady Supercops
The Big Score
The Slaughter in Xian
Black Panther
Dragon From Shaolin
Butcher Wing
The Victim
The Legend of Peach Blossom


Some more modern stuff (80s and 90s) amongst that lot.

[QualityChimp]

Just thinking that! A bit modern for you, Prin! I have S.D.U., Lady Supercops and Black Panther to watch too!

[prinnysquad]

Dunno why I've started to warm to moderns a bit more. Just liked the look of some of the clips, I guess. Cheesy, yet the action is still excellent for its era.

I've watched the first hour of Slaughter in Xian.
Highlights include:
A long Chinese opera sequence involving prancing, leaping and shapes.
A Chang Cheh special slo-mo bromance cuddle scene with two guys rolling on the floor.
A slow anal impalement scene, where a dude gets his legs spread and lowered onto a spike through the starfish, with blood spurting arl owa.
A cheesy motorbike chase scene where two guys are trading gun shots at a ridiculously close range, but missing. Like that scene with the snow bikes in Die Hard 2, but without the switched ammo.

Tremendous!

[QualityChimp]

[prinnysquad]

Skillz.

That film I watched ended with a load of brayings and shootings. Was canny, and fascinating to see Chang Cheh clinging onto the same stylistic choices that made his name 20-odd years previously.

[bash]

http://deadline.com/2015/05/lionsgate-selling-john-wick-sequel-at-cannes-1201420556/

Not really the right place for this but some of you might be happy to see that a John Wick sequel is being planned

[QualityChimp]

It's as good a place as any, Bash! Great news.

Best filmed action I've seen this year.

[bash]

Couldnt agree more QC, loved the fighting and gun choreography. Hope they put a bigger budget to good use

[monel]

Has everyone seen Kungfu Jungle, the recent Donnie Yen film? I think it's being sold really cheap at the UK supermarkets. I thought it was quite good, one of the best recent films I've seen. Daredevil, the recent tv series was extremely enjoyable, too. Loved it.