Soul Brothers of Kung Fu (1977)

This is one of those movies that the title alone stopped me in my tracks. I mean Soul Brothers of Kung Fu. I must watch this! When I realized that it also starred Bruce Li (note the spelling) that only made it even more of a must watch. In case you were uninformed after the death of Bruce Lee there were a lot of knock offs that paid “homage” to the man. Bruce Li was one of the if not the best of them. Toss in some Blaxploitation vibes and I’m sold.

The movie opens with a couple of men and a woman on a raft at sea. They are stranded and in dire need of help. The next scene is them on a boat rescued. Then later they are living in Hong Kong and Wong, the Bruce Li character, keeps getting in fights and losing his job. But all the fights are righteous because he is just trying to do right. This includes saving a young black man named Tom from a beating. He becomes the fourth friend, and they train him in Kung Fu. I’m thinking that is how they got the title.

Wong ends up annoying a crime boss or maybe just a Kung Fu guy, I’m not sure. Regardless that man sends his three best after Wong. During the fight they kill his wife and cripple him. Tom sticks with him and helps him rehab while the other man from the boat, Chin, becomes a bad guy. This leads to some Kung Fu revenge as Wong puts everything right. Heh… yeah, I did that on purpose. In the end there is only one man standing and he has lost everything. That is kind of a bummer ending that I didn’t see coming.

Other than the inclusion of the Tom character and some racist bad guys this movie isn’t as much of a Blaxploitation movie as it is a Kung Fu flick made to appeal to the urban grindhouses. But then to be fair there isn’t much to this story to fit it into any specific category. The plot is paper thin and there are no explanations as to character motivations. Not only that but there are characters that drop in and out as needed including one that just sort of disappears never to be seen again. At best the story and those non-Kung Fu fighting parts are there just to bridge the many scenes of ass kicking. I think that I’m okay with that.

The fights are many and take up most of the runtime. They are inventive with some happening in the ring, others in a park, and yet more in a lumber mill. These are just a few of the plentiful sequences of mayhem that we are treated to. The actors are all very good martial artists and execute the solid choreography perfectly. When I watch a movie like Soul Brothers of Kung Fu I want to see a lot of punches and kicks being thrown and boy howdy do we get that with this one. Movie you had one job and you delivered the goods.

This isn’t a great movie and I’ve already stated that the plot and characters leave a lot to be desired. But I still liked it. Based on feedback from earlier reviews of Kung Fu movies I also feel the need to say the following. If you aren’t a fan of such things, then you probably won’t like this movie. Seriously I’ve had these conversations in the past. On the other hand, if you dig some Martial Arts and want to see gravity defying moves then Soul Brothers of Kung Fu is for you.

 

© Copyright 2023 John Shatzer

Wolf Devil Woman (1982)

I don’t think that I’ve covered a Kung Fu movie here at the site before (I now realize that I had - John) so I thought that a movie like Wolf Devil Woman would be a good place to start. I mean I think that there is a sort of werewolf/horror twist to it. But I’m not sure since this seems to be a rather obscure flick and one that I’ve not seen before. Might as well jump in and see what I’ve gotten myself into.

The movie begins with a masked guy torturing a guy by doing horrible things to a voodoo doll of him. Some folks are watching on in horror, including a young couple and their infant child. Then we see them running away while being chased by a bad guy in a rubber mask and some ninjas. There is some Kung Fu fighting and realizing they are no match the couple stabs each other and then smash their heads on a mountain to cause an avalanche. They are going to leave the fate of their infant daughter up to the mountain.

The baby survives and is raised by wolves so that she is more animal than human. That also means she has wolf style Kung Fu and stuff. Another Kung Fu guy comes along to do battle with the Demon (the bad guy from earlier) and the now grown-up woman crosses his path. Some stuff happens and then they do battle with the Demon. There is a twist, but the bad guy is still defeated. The now less than animalistic wolf woman, the Kung Fu guy, and his comic sidekick all live happily ever after… at least I think so.

Here is your bad guy... really... not joking

I’m not being dismissive or sarcastic when trying to give you all a plot synopsis. This is about the best that I could do to make sense of it because Wolf Devil Woman is a complete mess of a movie. There are multiple jumps in time that are only noticeable because the girl goes from infant to toddler to adult. Though none of this is explained or even acknowledged. Seriously if you had looked away for a minute you might not even realize that it is supposed to be the same character. I’m also not entirely sure why the Demon is so obsessed with her because she apparently was just a few miles away growing up and he didn’t go looking for her, though he sure as hell wanted her captured or maybe dead at the start and at the end. Why? I wish they would have tried to explain that.

Now this sort of odd narrative is fairly common in Kung Fu movies. But what is unforgivable for this kind of flick is terrible fight choreography, which we sadly get here. There aren’t that many fights and what we do see are not put together or presented in an engaging or interesting way. I had hoped for the occasional bit of Kung Fu to spice things up but instead they are as boring as the rest of Wolf Devil Woman. Movie you had one job that could have saved the day… and you failed!

Toss in some bad dubbing, even for a movie from this genre, as well as some odd costume choices (she wears a stuffed animal on her head) and you end up with a painfully slow way to kill an hour and a half. I’ve seen much better and hope to cover some of them for Crappy Movie Reviews in the future. Until then all I can say is skip this one. You will thank me.

 

© Copyright 2022 John Shatzer

Death Promise (1977)

A voiceover tells us about the plight of the poor who are being screwed over by rich landlords all while a couple guys are out jogging. One of them is named Charley and he returns to his apartment to find that the power, water, and gas has been turned off. He hears a scuffle in the hallway and finds his father fighting with some men. Here we see that Charley is a badass karate dude and kicks their butts. Charley then goes to his dojo and practices his karate before kicking some more butt when the minions of the landlord try to release rats in the building. All of this is to drive the tenants out so they can tear the building down for some new construction to further line their pockets with cash. 

When they can’t drive them out “legally” they decide to get a bit more violent. This leads to Charley’s Dad getting killed and in turn him going to China to learn better karate to come back and kill all those responsible. After some training montages he comes back and gets his revenge. See he made a death promise… see how that works in with the title? There is a final big twist at the end with the secret identity of the head bad guy being revealed and more karate happens. 

This isn’t what I would call a good movie. The plot is very thin, and the movie plays out like this. Karate fight, training montage, some dialogue poorly delivered to move the plot along, more karate, and even more training rinse and repeat. It gets somewhat annoying after a while and I’ll admit that at times the movie drags a bit. But I have a soft spot for Death Promise as it checks off two big boxes for me. One is karate/Kungfu/martial arts which it has a lot of. Not only that but it is decent as the cast has some skills. Don’t expect Shaw Brothers awesome, but for an American low budget flick it was solid. And most importantly it was plentiful. This was a strength of the movie and the filmmakers lean heavily on it. That was a smart decision. 

Training Montage!

The other box it checks off is the setting of New York City. This is another fine example of guerilla filmmaking as they are clearly shooting on the streets of the city without permission. You can see people stopping and starring as the actors run down the street and fight in the park. Not only that the movie captures the streets, buildings, and stores of seventies New York City in a way that I really dig. I’ve said it before, and I don’t want to come off like a broken record but there is nothing quite like the city in seventies and early eighties. It is a character itself and brings a flavor to anything shot there in this style. 

Until recently I hadn’t heard of Death Promise but I’m glad that I found it sitting in a stack of stuff I’ve been meaning to watch. Not sure where it came from and how I got it, but it makes me want to dig into the pile some more. Again, this isn’t a great movie but it scratched that itch for me and I think if you are in the right mood it will do the same for you. With that caveat I recommend Death Promise. 

© Copyright 2021 John Shatzer

Devil’s Express (aka. Gang Wars) (1976)

I’ve been an avid consumer of bad and cheesy movies for most of my nearly fifty years on this planet. After all that time you would think that I’ve seen them all, but you’d be wrong. I stumbled over this one while digging deep on Amazon and was intrigued by the brief synopsis. A martial artist has to do battle with a demon in the subways of New York City… Sign me up!

Things get kicked off in China in 200 BC. Some monks are taking a crate and hiding it in a cave. After that they are killed, by one of the guards who kills himself after everyone else is dead. I suppose this is to keep some terrible secret safe. Which we find out later was a demon locked in the crate by a magic talisman.

Flash forward to the groovy seventies and we meet Luke and his buddy Rodan practicing martial arts in New York City. After talking about the neighborhood and the gangs that infest it they head to China for some training. Rodan isn’t that into it and stumbles on the cave, accidentally letting out what was in the box when he picks up the talisman that was keeping the demon contained! It follows the pair home and starts to hunt in the subways of the city. After the bodies pile up a bit Luke eventually has a showdown with the demon.

I can’t say that this is a good movie. It has no budget, which is apparent as it tries to pass off various parks in New York as rural China. There is a distinct feel of guerilla filmmaking as many of the street scenes are filled with people who appear surprised by the camera and actors walking down the street. Also, many of the exterior scenes in the movie have no dialogue as all we get is loud music playing. This is a common trick when you either don’t have the proper gear to capture sound or can’t loop the actors in later. Devil’s Express clearly has some technical issues, most of which can certainly be blamed on the budget.

I can forgive money related deficiencies. What is difficult is when I see problems that more money wouldn’t fix. While some of the actors have martial arts skills the fight choreography isn’t up to what you would get from a Kung Fu movie that was actually made in China rather than this one that was clearly inspired by them. If you are making a movie like this, you really need the fights to pop and be interesting. Another problem plaguing Devil’s Express is the pacing. The story plods along with a few interesting bits here and there. Most of the parts that I liked had to do with the gang war between the African Americans and the Asians. Sadly, this is relegated to filler as the slow as molasses demon in the subway plot line gets most of the attention.

In the end I think that I liked the idea of Devil’s Express more than I liked the movie itself. Unless you are obsessed with checking out every Kung Fu or Blaxploitation movie you can find, like I am, this movie is one you should skip. Not recommended.

  © Copyright 2018 John Shatzer

Movie Review - Black Magic (1975)

I like horror movies and I like Kung Fu movies so Black Magic seemed like a no  brainer. Hell, it was made by the masters of Kung Fu cinema, the Shaw Brothers. But somehow it took me almost thirty years to track it down and watch. But I did finally pick up a copy on DVD and pop it in the player a few months later.

I won’t confuse you with a bunch of names you will have trouble keeping track of anyway. The story here involves black magic and using it to create love potions and killing off those that you dislike. There is an evil magician who gets hired to cast a love potion so that a man can seduce a wealthy widow and take her money. It works, but only for a single night. The next morning the woman wakes up and figures out what happened. Instead of being angry she forces him to take her to see the magician so he can cast a love spell for her on a married man she is obsessing over. He does and she steals him away from his wife and friends. As if that isn’t enough she has him cast a death spell on the wife so that she will stop trying to get her husband back. The death spell is brought to the attention of a good magician who saves her and enters the battle so set things right. This sets the scene for an epic showdown. Good vs Evil on the top floor of a skyscraper.

Okay so first thing first, there is no Kung Fu in this movie. The battles are chanting and casting spells so that was a bit disappointing. I thought we would get some traditional martial arts but it isn’t that kind of Shaw Brothers flick. The other thing that I found a bit annoying was the pacing of the movie. It starts off with a bang and ends with a great sequence, but there are times in between that it drags. It isn’t terrible but I think there is some padding to stretch things out.

In spite of what I mentioned above Black Magic does have a lot going for it. It has a sleazy vibe that I didn’t expect from a Shaw Brothers movie. You get some nudity and the first love spell cast on screen is disturbing. I honestly had no idea you could cook rice like that! The death scenes involve a good amount of fake blood and we get several bodies breaking down to skeletal dust. I also thought the battle at the end between the magicians was fun. The effects work is a bit dated and don’t expect Savini level gore (Tom Savini is my gold standard you see) but for 1975 it isn’t bad.

While the end credits are rolling I always sit and try to get a grip on how I feel about a movie. Yeah, I know the Shaw Brothers don’t have end credits but the DVD menu works fine too. I enjoyed watching Black Magic, but I don’t know that I need to see it again. Maybe I might show it to friends but this isn’t going to go into my rotation of movies that I watch every couple of years. If you can find a copy on the cheap (I paid 5 bucks for mine) or get a chance to rent/stream it I think it is worth some of your time.

© Copyright 2017 John Shatzer