Watch The Five Venoms For Free

Sadly Over-hyped

As Good As It Gets

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

dubbed kung fu film of a young student who's master is dying and makes a final request of the student to track down the earlier students and ensure none are using their skills for evil. If you liked Kung Fu Theater on the USA channel growing up, this is is a surprisingly good one - primarily based on the construction of the story and how it unfolds. The earlier students each learned a venomous skills set (Toad=indestructable skin, Snake=Great Agility, Centipede=speed of hand and foot, etc). Only 2 of the students ever knew each other and may still be in contact. Last student, charged with tracking them, learned all their skills but not as well and therefore cannot overcome any one of them on his own, he must choose one to team up with to defeat any others who may be villains. As a viewer, we get to watch the story unfold and keep guessing who the students may be, and where they fit into the good/bad side of things as everyone is searching for the teacher's old friend who may have a sum of money hidden away. The action is on par with the genre, as is the dialogue, so you know it's not great but you get what you expect. I have to say the storyline alone was very well done, almost to the point of watching again.

Yang Tieh of the Poison Clan (Sheng Chiang) is instructed by his dying master to seek out the venoms—five former pupils known for their particular styles of kung fu—to see if they have turned bad. Yang is also instructed to find wealthy ex-Poison Clan teacher Mr. Yuen to try and convince him to donate his money to good causes. Unfortunately, Yuen falls victim to two of the five venoms, Snake and Centipede, who are keen to get their hands on his fortune. What follows is a tale of deception, betrayal, torture, and murder, with Yang caught in the middle. But not much fighting.Directed by the legendary Chang Cheh, The Five Venoms is often cited as one of Shaw Brothers' best martial arts films by those in the know, which made it rather disappointing for me to discover that there is actually very little kung fu until the inevitable final battle between the heroes and the bad guys, intrigue and suspense taking precedence over punching, kicking, jumping and flipping. This mightn't have been so bad if the mystery had been utterly compelling, but to be honest, I just wasn't gripped by the whole 'who are the venoms and what has happened to the money?' storyline.The aforementioned showdown between the goodies, Yang and Lizard, and the baddies, Snake, Centipede and Scorpion, is certainly a lot of fun, each fighters signature move allowing for some creative choreography, but getting there… not so much.4.5 out of 10, rounded up to 5 for the 'iron coat' torture scene. Nasty!

One of the more enjoyable aspects of Asian cinema (or, indeed, most anything done outside these holier-than-thou United States) are the permutations that crop up. In post-World War Two Japanese manga (comics), for instance, are to be found a veritable endless variety of subjects, many of them handled in uniquely imaginative fashion. The same thing happens in genre film-making, as well; though, again, I'm referring to movies made outside the U.$. (where we're just too "sophisticated" in our close-mindedness to appreciate anything that isn't about or by US). Would an American company, for instance, back not one but a series of movies featuring a masked professional wrestler (El Santo) or a werewolf (Paul Naschy) or a real-life martial artist (Bruce Lee)...? As for television: forget it. While I still love the KUNG FU series that starred the late David Carradine, I've always felt that the Americanized version of Asian martial arts was- how to put it kindly- a bit lacking. To this very day, there hasn't been a pay-per-view channel to feature Asian martial artists playing Asian martial artists in Asia. (There are lots of soft-core porn masquerading as entertainment shows, but the so-called Action Channel, for instance, has yet to import or to produce a True Martial Arts teleseries.) Before Brother Cadfile was investigating murders on the BBC, there was, of all things, at least one Kung Fu movie that featured a group of martial artists more or less involved in a murder mystery: THE 5 DEADLY VENOMS. In its own right as fascinating as any other genre-based whodunit (western, cop show, etc.), this martial arts masterpiece stands out as a truly superior piece of work. It's now available from Dragon Dynasty and the print is beautiful and the DVD commentary by Bey Logan is EXACTLY the kind of intelligent, thoughtful analysis these gems truly deserve. If you're a martial arts movie fan, rejoice: one of the greatest movie genres of all time (specifically, the martial arts movies of the 1970s and early 1980s) are getting a long-overdue second life (and greatly appreciated second look) on DVD.

I rarely write reviews for IMDb.com, but I feel compelled to warn potential viewers that this movie is terrible. Just terrible. I like Shaw Bros. movies (I'm not a hater.), and I had high expectations for this one since I found it listed on many "10 Best Kung Fu/Martial Arts Movies" websites. (I'm now convinced that those 10 Best lists are all cut-and-paste jobs.) First of all, there's barely any action in the film. Most of the movie consists of talking about the plot, which is an amazing feat because it's thin at best. And the action itself may have been impressive back in 1978, but it's routine by today's standards. A special warning to Netflix users: the DVD they ship is terrible; the picture is horrendous and it's not even 16:9 enhanced.