Feng Lu
Crippled Avengers
The “godfather of the kung-fu film”, Chang Cheh, hit upon a winning formula when he combined three Taiwanese Opera artists with a muscular Chinese and a Korean kicker. Their first “official” film as stars, "The Five Venoms" was a hit, so the director/co-writer decided to launch a series with the same actors in different roles. Supporting this beloved sequel was real-life kung-fu champion Chen Kuan-tai, who Chang Cheh had already made a star. He plays a martial arts master (driven insane by his wife’s death and his son’s dismemberment), who replaces his child’s missing hands with metal versions, then proceeds to blind, deafen, render retarded, and chop off the feet of anyone who even mildly annoys him. The abused bystanders band together and brilliantly train to take their revenge. The result is a totally unbelievable, but totally awesome, super heroic delight.
Apple TV
Apple iTunes
The Kid With The Golden Arm
When directors in the late '70s began jumping on the kung-fu comedy bandwagon renowned director Chang Cheh stuck to his guns of traditional brotherhood and moral code films made popular by him in the '60s. So in keeping with the spirit of the venomous success of the cultish The Five Venoms, Chang reunites the "Five Venoms" in arguably his second biggest cult hit in the West, "The Kid With The Golden Arm". As the film's lead martial arts instructor and one of the stars, it's also one of Lo Meng's finest moments on screen playing the righteous villain Golden Arms whose eventual showdown with the drunkard Hai Tao (Kuo Chue, fight choreographer for "Brotherhood Of The Wolf") is graphically artsy and balletically violent. You won’t be disappointed.
Apple TVApple iTunes
Shaolin Rescuers
The "Venoms" are back in action in this thriller of Shaolin versus corrupt Ching soldiers, with the help of the Lama, Black Tiger and Mantis clans, headquartered at a pugilism school, a dyeing mill, and a beancurd shop. The five men that were made famous - by director Chang Cheh, in more than a dozen similar high-flying, blood-splattered adventures (starting with The Five Venoms) - are all here. There’s the Taiwanese opera artist Kuo Chue, his fellow light-skill acrobat Chiang Sheng, the evil Lu Feng, the Chinese muscleman Lo Mang, and Korean kicker Sun Chien, whose skills are specially spotlighted in this production. Together they create another wonderfully fun kung-fu showcase, filled with show-stopping sequences of martial arts expertise.
Apple TVApple iTunes
The Flag of Iron
The Flag of Iron is one of 20 movies that he directed featuring the utterly flabbergasting and physically exhausting action bits created by these five dudes. You have the good guys from the righteous clan versus the bad guys from the villainous clan and it's so filled with "don't-blink-or-you-will-miss-something" gags, you will need to watch it over and over again so you can see the things you missed.
Apple TVApple iTunes
The Masked Avengers
The "godfather of the kung-fu film," Chang Cheh, started a winning streak by making the internationally renowned "The Five Venoms". He followed that hit with many more high-flying "bloody good" entertainments featuring the same cast in new roles. But of all the "Venom" movies, this one stands out as perhaps the most chilling. Masked killers are wreaking havoc and instilling terror with their vicious weapons of choice: razor-sharp, gut-shattering tridents. Only three fearless fighters dare investigate, leading to mass murder and magnificent martial arts. Chien Hsiao-hou, future co-star of Yuen Woo-ping’s "The Tai-chi" Master joins the trio to get tri-pierced. The core "Venoms" themselves handle the intricate, always impressive, sometimes awe-inspiring, choreography in this unforgettable exercise in "grand guignol gung-fu."
Apple TVApple iTunes
Two Champions of Shaolin
A team that ranks high in the pantheon of cult Kung fu flicks is a quintet of martial artists who burst upon the screen in The Five Venoms, followed by Crippled Avengers and other cult classics. The "five venoms" are reunited in Two Champions of Shaolin, with four of the fab five wreaking havoc on screen and the fifth venom active behind the camera as action choreographer.
Amazon Prime VideoApple TVApple iTunes
Invincible Shaolin
Master of the "brotherhood" films, award winning director Chang Cheh has always had a good eye for martial art talent and in "Invincible Shaolin" he re-introduces what was to become known as the The "Five Venoms" to the world of heroic bloodshed. Chang intelligently weaves a mythical tale of treachery centered around the historic attempts of the Ching Dynasty trying to destroy the Shaolin Monasteries. It's a story of misunderstanding, revenge and doomed heroes who finally realize their error in judgment through the sanctity of their martial arts. The various fighting styles used are choreographed with such amazing precision and insanity, that it's hard to believe that all this psychotic stylish action was shot and made up as they went along. It's marvelous to behold.
Apple TVApple iTunes
House of Traps
It all started with The Five Venoms, the internationally loved kung-fu thriller which introduced director Chang Cheh’s recurring cast of martial arts masters. It continued through more than a dozen high-flying, bloody good entertainment movies featuring the same action actors in pairs, trios, quartets, and, most memorably, quintets. While this is considered the last official “Venoms” movie, what a film it is.
Apple TVApple iTunes
Life Gamble
Legendary director Chang Cheh was in a transitional period. The men he had made stars (Jimmy Wang Yu, Ti Lung, and David Chiang among them), had moved on to their own projects. Soon his new star, international idol Alexander Fu Sheng, would also look for other productions. So Chang used this opportunity to test the star power of some new talent, namely a Taiwanese Opera artist (Kuo Chui) and a powerful Chinese muscleman (Lo Mang) – who were soon to become the foundation for his internationally popular “Venom” series. Teaming the trio with the top supporting actors (Ku Feng and Wang Lung-wei) and the prettiest starlets (Lin Chun-chi, Shirley Yu, and Hui Ying-hung), he told an entertaining and exciting tale of a kung-fu blacksmith taking on four famous robbers while a villainous gambling boss plots to destroy them. The resulting thriller was another winner for the vaunted filmmaker.
Apple TVApple iTunes
The Sword Stained with Royal Blood
The “godfather of the kung-fu film”, Chang Cheh, has made many famous films. He was also famous for creating the “Venom” film series, starting with The Five Venoms and ending with House Of Traps. But one of the most treasured and beloved of his later films is this unusual “semi-Venom” film – in that it showcased only three of the standard five venoms. The spectacular action and intrigue starts when Kuo Chue, as the only son of an executed anti-Ching patriot, uncovers a sword, training manual, treasure map, and a secret message. The kung-fu which ensues is as impressive as it is glorious.
Amazon Prime VideoApple TVApple iTunes