The Five Deadly Venoms

release year: 1978
genre: martial arts
viewing setting: home DVD, 1/4/05

synopsis: A dying martial arts master sends his last pupil out to find five previous students who may have gone bad.

impressions: This DVD was tough to watch because it was dubbed at varying audio quality, and without subtitles (i.e. it's CHEAP!) Good fight scenes, good plot, good analogies of five animals to fighting styles (lizard, snake, toad, centipede, scorpion.) I think I would have enjoyed this more if it had offered subtitles - that would have made things easier to follow.

things to watch for: When there's finally a big fight (it takes almost an hour.)

something this movie has that no other movie has: A guy whose kung-fu defenses must be "beaten" before he can be put in an iron maiden to be tortured.

acting: I don't like to describe acting when dubbing is involved, but everyone (good guys and bad) did a good job.

final word: I didn't find it to be one of the greatest martial arts movies ever filmed, but it was worth watching and had good action and plot/suspense.

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