The Quad Cinema in New York will be continuing its Chang Cheh retrospective – “Vengeance Is His: Chang Cheh’s Martial Lore” – over Memorial Weekend. There are still lots of great films to see, including the stone cold classic Five Deadly Venoms, which combines the athleticism of the Venoms Mob with solid murder mystery plotting.
Golden Swallow is decent, but a poor follow-up to King Hu’s Come Drink With Me – never particularly interested in female characters, Chang turns Cheng Pei-Pei into a supporting character in her own series. Better to get your Jimmy Wang Yu fix from the trendsetting One Armed Swordsman, though I’ve always preferred the sequel.
Fans looking for something more obscure should turn to the horror-tinged Masked Avengers or Vengeance, but for a real barnstormer, there’s always Shaolin Temple, an insane epic starring just about every major player in the Chang Cheh canon.
You can find the complete program here.