7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 3.8 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.6 |
The dying master of the powerful Poison Clan assigns his final martial arts student one last, epic quest find his 5 most mysterious and dangerous disciples, each trained in a different fighting style, and bring them together to root out a conspiracy that could divide and destroy the entire clan.
Starring: Sheng Chiang, Meng Lo, Phillip Chung-Fung Kwok, Chien Sun, Feng LuForeign | 100% |
Martial arts | 43% |
Action | 3% |
Period | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.37:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Mandarin: Dolby Digital 2.0
English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (192 kbps)
Mandarin track is 192kbps
English, English SDH, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
The Golden Age of Hollywood saw the rise and dominance of a handful of major studios, each with their own stable of stars and technicians and each with their own particular style and strength. With the advent of anti-trust laws and the burgeoning phenomenon of television, the Hollywood majors started their slow, steady decline in the late 1940’s and 1950’s until by the 1960’s they were mere shadows of their former selves. Younger audiences who today either go to theatrical presentations or buy or rent home video products and see one “major” logo after another on any given production may not understand why older folks kind of scratch their head when confronted by co-productions of, say, 20th Century Fox and Universal. Such things were unheard of until economic realities made them a necessity. Hong Kong cinema commentator Bey Logan (who contributes a madcap commentary to The Five Deadly Venoms) makes a good point that by the 1970’s if you wanted to experience something akin to the vaunted Hollywood studio system of days of yore you really had to look to the Shaw Brothers. As Logan mentions, the Shaw Brothers weren’t hobbled by those pesky American anti-trust laws, and they didn’t just have their own studio, they did their own post-production work and they also owned their own theaters to exhibit their product. Virtually all of their major stars were under contract to the studio, as was the incredible roster of technicians, making Shaw Brothers the closest thing to the way things used to be in Hollywood at the apex of the film production in the 1930’s and early 1940’s. That also meant that there was an identifiable “feel” and certainly look to a lot of Shaw Brothers product, and there’s probably no finer example of what a mid-1970’s Shaw Brothers film was than the iconic cult sensation The Five Deadly Venoms. (The film actually exists under a number of alternate titles), Entertainment Weekly listed The Five Deadly Venoms as one of the most “important” cult classics of all time, for whatever that’s worth, but even less portentous (and pretentious) observers would be hard pressed to find a more enjoyable, if often sillier than silly, film experience within the confines of Hong Kong martial arts flicks.
The Five Deadly Venoms features the typically lurid Shaw Brothers mid-1970's palette, maybe even more than usual for a Shaw Brothers film, and that bright, colorful look is really beautifully presented on this AVC encoded 1080p presentation (in 2.37:1). This is certainly the sharpest and clearest The Five Deadly Venoms has looked on any home video release, with a gorgeously saturated palette that really pops off the screen. Fine detail is certainly increased, if not quite at spectacular levels. Some of the film has always looked soft, and that ambience isn't changed very dramatically in this new Blu-ray incarnation. But black levels and contrast are outstanding, and the film simply is a riot of color and a lot of fun to watch in this new high definition presentation.
Two lossy mono tracks are offered in Dolby Digital 2.0 presentations, the original Mandarin and the English dub. The Mandarin is fairly spry sounding, though copious looping is more than obvious at times, with fairly apparent ambience changes throughout various voice work. Sound effects have reasonable impact and the original language soundtrack doesn't suffer from any egregious damage or even unbearable hiss. It's obviously narrow and suffers from typical Dolby compression at the high and low ends of the spectrum, but it suffices fairly well for these proceedings. The English dub is a satisfactory runner-up for those who can't stand to read subtitles, but my recommendation is to stick with the original language track if at all possible.
Feature Commentary by Hong Kong Cinema Expert Bey Logan. Logan is always informative, but he either had a lot of Red Bull or this film just gets his juices flowing more than usual, because he does a variety of rather strange voices throughout this commentary. As always, his views are very informative and entertaining—maybe more than usual this time out.
The Five Deadly Venoms is completely over the top, out there, silly fun. It also has a decent mystery at its core which helps to offset the lunatic elements of the story, characterizations and execution of the film. This is a film that has maintained a legendary luster for well on 30 years now, helping to influence a whole generation of filmmakers. This new Blu-ray looks fantastic, and while the audio leaves something to be desired, it's an attractive package that any Shaw Brothers fan is surely going to want in their personal collections. Highly recommended.
Five Fingers of Death / Tian xia di yi quan
1972
Return of the 5 Deadly Venoms
1978
The Executioners of Death / Hong Xi Guan
1977
1978
少林三十六房 / Shao lin san shi liu fang
1978
Tang shan wu hu / 唐山五虎
1979
Shǎo lín sì / 少林寺
1976
5 Masters of Death
1974
Liu A-Cai yu Huang Fei-Hong
1976
Lan tou He
1979
1972
Goliathon / Xing xing wang
1977
Feng hou / 瘋猴
1979
1977
Jin bi tong / 金臂童
1979
少林搭棚大師 / Shao Lin da peng da shi
1980
Pi li shi jie / 霹靂十傑
1985
Nan bei Shao Lin / 南北少林
1986
Chi jiao xiao zi / Chik geuk siu ji / 赤腳小子
1993
Nan Shao Lin yu bei Shao Lin / 南少林與北少林
1978