Story of Ricky (1991)
Gonzo Splatter/Ultra-Tough Future Prison
An outrageous Hong Kong prison film that comes filled with mind-bogglingly over-the-top splatter effects
Martial Arts
Martial Arts cinema was a genre that began in Hong Kong in the late 1960s, featuring people using forms of unarmed combat such as karate and kung fu. In recent years, kickboxing and MMA combat have been added to the mix.
The martial arts film gained a huge boost with the hit of Enter the Dragon (1973), which made a star out of Bruce Lee. Lee died at the height of his fame but there was a large body of imitators. The genre has produced other stars such as Jackie Chan and Jet Li.
Martial arts entered the American Action Film soon after and made stars out of names like Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Don ‘The Dragon’ Wilson and others. The video action film of the 1990s readily mixed martial arts with killer cyborgs, time travel and post-apocalyptic action. The genre gained a whole new popularity after the massive hit of The Matrix (1999).
The Guyver (1991)
Power-Suit Superhero
US-made live-action adaptation of a popular manga/anime about a power-suit superhero. Directed by two makeup effects artists mostly as a vehicle for their creature creations
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991)
Comic-Book Superheroes
The second live-action Turtles film is a disappointment. The Turtles are infectiously enjoyable characters but the script has an indifferent laziness, while parental concerns over violence have mandated that the fight scenes be watered down to an absurd level
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
Comic-Book Superheroes
The first live-action spinoff of the comic-book and animated series still holds up well two decades later. Little of the manic barrage of pop culture has dated, there are some excellent animatronics that allow the Turtles to engage in a series of high-energy fights and more importantly emerge as distinctive characters
Swordsman (1990)
Hong Kong Flying Swordsmen Fantasy
The first in a highly enjoyable series of flying swordsman films produced by Tsui Hark. The series hit its peak with the second film but this is an enjoyably energetic and busy effort in its own
Omega Cop (1990)
Post-Holocaust Action
A low-budget post-apocalyptic action film featuring the almost completely forgotten martial arts and (non)-actor Ron Marchini who must venture out into the ruined city to rescue three girls
The Magic Legs (1989)
Chinese Martial Arts
A rare venture into kung fu cinema made in Mainland China
Cyborg (1989)
Post-Holocaust Kickboxing
The first of Albert Pyun’s kickboxing killer cyborg films featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme who was largely unknown at the time. Pyun creates wall-to-wall action but there is almost nothing else to the film
Demon City Shinjuku (1988)
Anime/Suburb of Tokyo Taken Over by Demonic Forces
Anime from Yoshiaki Kawajiri, director of Wicked City and Ninja Scroll, concerning a suburb of Tokyo that is transformed into a borderland zone inhabited by demonic forces
Peacock King (1988)
Wu Xia Film
Hong Kong-made Wu Xia based on a Japanese manga about warrior monks fighting to stop the opening of portals to Hell. This seems uninspired when it comes to the flights of fantasy the genre specialises in, although picks up when it comes to the vigour of its cheap makeup effects scenes
Hero and the Terror (1988)
Cop vs Psycho
One of Chuck Norris’s action films made for Cannon Films during his 1980s heyday. This is a rather forgettable police procedural where Chuck is cast as a detective hunting an escaped serial killer
Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
Chinese Supernatural/Martial Arts Fantasy
John Carpenter film that was marketed as a Raiders of the Lost Ark copy but is more Carpenter trying to emulate Hong Kong’s Wu Xia cinema, which was largely unknown in the West at the time. All with highly enjoyable conic results.
Eliminators (1986)
Action Team vs Mad Scientist
One of the more enjoyable films from Charles Band’s Empire Productions, a comic-book of a film that assembles an action team of various abilities on an adventure up against a mad scientist
Future Hunters (1986)
Action Adventure/Time Travel/Quest for a Mystical Object
Undeniably entertaining Filipino action film that tries to throw in everything including time travel, post-holocaust action, adventure quests, magical artifacts, lost worlds, Nazis and dwarves
Mutant Hunt (1986)
Androids Amok
Laughably badly made ripoff of Blade Runner and The Terminator with a mercenary hunting amok androids
No Retreat, No Surrender (1986)
Martial Arts/Ghost of Bruce Lee
Martial arts film about a bullied teenager who gets aid from the ghost of Bruce Lee. A shabby effort lifted by the dynamic presence of a then unknown Jean-Claude Van Damme
The Last Dragon (1985)
Gonzo Martial Arts/Disco Film
A completely insane film that reads as a disco version of The Karate Kid via the 1970s Blaxploitation fad with the addition of mystical martial arts and played so over-the-top it defies belief
Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985)
Martial Arts Super-Spy
Film adaptation of the popular Destroyer novels about a martial arts super-spy that proves enjoyably tongue-in-cheek. Clearly launched as an attempt to make another James Bond type series, this was not successful but is so appealing you wish had it been
Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain (1983)
Wu Xia Film
The modern beginnings of Wu Xia and the flying swordsman film. Tsui Hark creates a totally nutso film filled with wild martial arts battles with demonic forces. The results are out of this world
The Lost Empire (1983)
Girl Action Team vs Super-Villain
The first film from low-budget hack Jim Wynorski. How can you resist the absurd B-budget mix of a trio of very well-endowed women kicking ass, martial arts action, women’s prison scenes and mad scientist super-villains
Duel to the Death (1983)
Hong Kong Martial Arts Fantasy
An early entry in the Wu Xia genre, filled with wildly over-the-top martial arts and swordplay sequences. One of the first films from Ching Siu-Tung, later a major Hong Kong action choreographer.
Silent Rage (1982)
Action Film/Resurrected Psycho
A Chuck Norris horror film! One of his earlier films where Chuck is pitted against a psycho who is resurrected from the dead and becomes a near-invincible killing machine
Kung Fu from Beyond the Grave (1982)
Martial Arts vs Evil Sorcerer
Hong Kong kung fu films of the 1970/80s contains some bizarre crosshatches in a search for novelty. Here a kung fu practitioner takes on a sorcerer who raises ghosts and even Count Dracula to fight
Kung Fu Zombie (1981)
Hong Kong Comedy/Kung Fu vs Supernatural
One of the weird mash-ups of horror and martial arts popular in Hong Kong during the late 70s/80s. Despite a great title, this suffers from an emphasis on frenetic slapstick and caricatures
Kill and Kill Again (1981)
Martial Arts Film/Mind Control Drug
From they heyday of the 1970s martial arts film, karate champion James Ryan must reunite the old gang to take on a super-villain who wants to enslave the world with a mind control drug derived from potatoes
The Clones of Bruce Lee (1980)
Clones of Martial Arts Star
Bruce Lee popularised the kung fu genre but then died. Welcome to the Brucespolitation phenomenon where for several years we had Bruce lookalikes appearing in copycat works. Several Bruce imitators appear here as his clones
The Silent Flute (1978)
Zen Quest
Bizarre Bruce Lee conceived conceived martial arts film, a bizarre allegorical work of philosophy steeped in inscrutable Zen epigrams
Death Dimension (1978)
Action Film/Weather Control Device
One of the film from legendary bad movie maker Al Adamson. While it has some SF elements, this is mostly an action film where Adamson has set out to mine the burgeoning Blaxploitation and kung fu genres of the day
Infra Man (1976)
Hong Kong Superheroics
A deranged madcap film produced by the Shaw Brothers featuring an enhanced superhero fighting off a bizarre menagerie of monsters commanded by an alien princess
The Green Hornet (1974)
Masked Superhero
The Green Hornet was a tv series based on the radio and serial masked hero. Following Bruce Lee’s ascent to superstardom, three episodes of the series were re-edited as a feature film
The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974)
Hammer Dracula/Kung Fu Vampires
The last of Hammer’s Dracula films made after Christopher Lee departed. A co-production with Hong Kong’s Shaw Brothers that shows Hammer trying to jump aboard the 1970s kung fu fad
Come Drink With Me (1966)
Hong Kong Flying Swordsmen Fantasy
A classic from Hong Kong’s Shaw Brothers that is credited with being the first flying swordsman film. This contains some great action scenes even if the flying swordplay element is minor
The Magic Flying Mouse
Chinese Flying Swordsmen Fantasy
China. ????) Plot China during the Song Dynasty. The Emperor Kang is kidnapped by Jin bandits. The martial arts warrior Li Ma and two swordmaster sisters head to the Jin stronghold on Lying Mountain to rescue him. Captured, they learn of the Jin scheme to substitute a double for Kang. They try to make an […]