HUMAN LANTERNS

Written by Puño Estupendo

It's pretty rare, but every so often I see an older movie that I didn't know anything about, and then immediately ask, "Where the hell has this been my whole life?!" I am very pleased to announce that Human Lanterns is one of those movies.

I make no secret about the fact that I get down right giddy every time I see the Shawscope logo pop up before a film. It doesn't mean that the film is going to be good, but I'm just a huge fan of the genre, and the Shaw Brothers studio is almost on par with England's Hammer Studios as far as I'm concerned. It's no coincidence that the two companies worked together at one point, but that's for another time.

Human Lanterns has carried a rep about itself, kind of an infamy. I've always read mention of it here and there but no copy was ever to be found. All the tales about it being a kung-fu/horror movie (and just slightly crazy) have had me curious about it for a long time. It mixes genres very well, much better than others that have tried. It's definitely a kung-fu flick with period costumes, clangy swords, and swoosh sound effects, but here's the rub: they decided to throw a serial killer into it.

Two of a village's upper class are constantly trying to outdo each other. Lung and Tan seem to have everything you can have except for self control when the other is around. Both are obnoxious, but both are likable enough as well. During an argument the two are having during a big social to-do, there's mention of the annual lantern contest, and both vow to rub the other's face in it after they've won. To help insure his victory by having the most bad-assed lantern the village has ever seen, Lung starts a series of events that will eventually bring horror upon everyone involved (including himself). A madman starts playing the two against each other, all the while perfecting the art of making lanterns from the skin of the women closest to Tan and Lung.

I fucking loved it!

Don't let the age of this film fool you. Though it came out in 1982 and looks like a normal kung-fu movie on the outside, this is definitely a nasty piece of work. It's very exploitive in ways that I'm not used to seeing from Shaw Studios. Director Sun Chung doesn't shy away from the nastiness at all. The actions in this movie are mean, with scenes of women having their skin removed and even a rape, the latter of which was really jarring. Not because of its graphic nature (because it's not very graphic), but because it was in there in the first place. Usually such a thing is only insinuated in the world of kung-fu and so I was kind of shocked with what he showed on screen. But Sun Chung gives fans of exploitation cinema something very rare here, he gives them a wonderfully twisted tale, full of blood and fighting, but he delivers the goods on the look as well.

The colors in Human Lanterns are fantastic. The cinematography gives the film a real thick texture which reminded me (once again) of the Hammer Films. This makes for the one-two punch as far as I'm concerned, and this one is joining my collection as a "must show" to friends that enjoy cult cinema.

THE MAGIC BLADE

Written by Musgo Del Jefe

After 5 Fingers Of Death, 36th Chamber Of Shaolin and The 5 Deadly Venoms, The Magic Blade typifies all that is right with the Wuxia genre of the mid-Seventies. Just a few years after Bruce Lee brought the genre to new heights, the Shaw Bros. pushed the genre forward with high quality sets, lush cinematography, and classic fights with a talented crew of actors and actresses.

The film stars two very familiar faces to fans of Hong Kong films. We first meet our hero Fu Hung-Hsueh (Ti Lung). You'll recognize the young, Ti Lung from many other Shaw Bros. films and especially from his career role in John Woo's A Better Tomorrow. Fu meets up with Yen Nan-Fei (Lo Lieh). Lo Lieh seems to have been in every Shaw Bros. film ever made - including a memorable role in 36th Chamber Of Shaolin. The two talented swordsmen restart a fight of a previously unfinished duel. During their fight, Yen is attacked by a Master Yu. Fu's life is saved by Yen and the two put aside their differences to stop Master Yu from acquiring the deadly weapon called the Peacock Dart.

The Wuxia genre had a huge influence on the Western genre. In this movie, the Western genre pays the Wuxia genre back. From the original fight onward, the movie plays out like a classic Spaghetti Western. Both Fu and Yen wear ponchos like Clint Eastwood in A Fistful Of Dollars. The cities that our heroes travel through are bare and dusty like the classic Western village. The swordsmen carry their weapons like the classic gunfighters would going into a High Noon showdown.

The movie unfolds not unlike many other Wuxia films and not too far from the Kill Bill formula. Master Yu exists unseen in the shadows. He dispatches assassin after more deadly assassin to steal the Peacock Dart and ultimately to kill our heroes. After finding the Peacock Dart, they acquire the typical damsel in distress (played by the atypical beauty, Ching Li). Our heroes eventually get separated. That allows a romantic relationship to develop between Fu and our damsel.

The plot does not go off in any wild, crazy tangents. The assassins' attempt to get the Peacock Dart only serves to slow down the march towards a final battle between our heroes and the evil Master Yu. Throw in an unusual amount of blood for a Shaw Bros. film and a short but exploitive lesbian scene that seems out of place. But out of place is what makes these films stand out over other films of their day. There's a killer named the Devil Grandma and there's a battle on a life-sized chess board. The final showdown is quick by today's standards of "final showdowns" but it brings nice closure to the story.

Viewed as a return of the Western traditions to Eastern cinema, The Magic Blade is a complete package. The two foes become reluctant partners against a greater evil. The sword battles are equivalent to gun fights. The restaurants even double as the Western saloon. And what better tradition than the lone gunman (or two gunmen in this case) against the evil Boss and his never ending henchmen.

There are limited bonus features on this disc. The biggest is the Original Mandarin soundtrack with English subtitles. I've watched these movies for years with the same painful English dubbed soundtrack, so it's tempting to watch it that way again for nostalgia, but hearing the original language is a revelation. The sound effects and score are not buried like they are in the dub version. The disc also includes trailers for 16 other Shaw Bros. classics, so get your pen and paper ready to start your next shopping list.