Director: Wong Jing, Sammo Kam-Bo Hung (uncredited)
Screenplay: Wong Jing
Based on a Novel by: Louis Cha (as Jin Yong)
Starring: Jet Li, Sharla Cheung, Chingmy Yau, Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Richard Ng, Leung Kar-yan
Country: Hong Kong
Running Time: 103 min
Year: 1993
BBFC Certificate: 15
The veritable torrent of Wong Jing films that have been receiving the spit and polish treatment from the boutique Blu-ray companies over the past year or two continues this month with Eureka setting their sights on one of the director’s less successful titles, Kung Fu Cult Master (a.k.a. Yi tin to lung gei: Moh gaau gaau jue, Evil Cult or Lord of the Wu Tang).
Like Jing’s Royal Tramp films, which were released a year prior, Kung Fu Cult Master is based on a book by Louis Cha (writing under the name Jin Yong), this time ‘The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber’. The book was the third part of Cha’s ‘Condor Trilogy’ and was originally released as a serial in the early 60s.
Coming off the success of the Royal Tramp films and the rapidly rising fame of star Jet Li, Jing was so confident in Kung Fu Cult Master being a hit that he planned for it to be the first instalment of a trilogy.
However, perhaps due to the fact the film deviates a good deal from the hugely popular source material, Kung Fu Cult Master flopped at the Hong Kong box office and the sequels were called off.
Confusingly retitled and often poor-quality VHS and DVD releases of the film in the West haven’t helped the film’s popularity but, in recent years, Kung Fu Cult Master has been reappraised, with many claiming it’s an under-appreciated wuxia classic. I can’t remember being greatly impressed by the old DVD copy I’d seen in the past but I thought I’d give Eureka the benefit of the doubt when they offered me the chance to review their new Blu-ray release of the film.
Kung Fu Cult Master is set in the Yuen Dynasty and sees rival martial arts factions vying for possession of a pair of golden swords, which are believed to be able to grant the owner dominance over the world of martial arts.
Xie Xun (Yan Huaili) manages to get his hands on the sword but goes into hiding. When Xie Xun’s godson Zhang Wuji and his parents travel to Mount Wudang to celebrate his master Zhang Sanfeng’s (Sammo Hung) 100th birthday, the heads of the martial arts factions converge to pressure Wuji’s parents to tell them where Xie Xun is.
Wuji’s parents refuse to give up the master’s location though and commit suicide in order to protect the secret and keep their son from harm. However, Wuji is badly injured by a pair of scheming martial artists. Sanfeng saves his life and takes him in but Wuji’s delicate condition means he is forbidden to ever train in martial arts.
Once grown up, however, Wuji vows to avenge his parents and a chance meeting with a disgruntled monk who knows the special stance that can cure his disability allows him to put his plans into action.
Wuji is joined by Xiaozhao (Chingmy Yau), a mysterious young woman that takes a shine to him and they both get embroiled in a complex tale of treachery and power.
It’s a lot to take in, particularly the opening narration, which whizzes through the plots of Louis Cha’s first two hefty volumes of his Condor Trilogy in a matter of minutes. I won’t lie, I got lost on numerous occasions and there are far too many characters to keep on top of but, thankfully, the basic premise, that everyone wants to find Xie Xun for the magic swords and that Zhang Wuji wants revenge for the death of his parents, is clear enough for you to sit back and enjoy the ride.
Also helping win me over on Kung Fu Cult Master, which had little impact on me on initial viewing, is the action. The great Sammo Hung handled this side of the film, which is why some consider him an uncredited co-director. He packs the film with crazy physics-defying ‘wire-fu’ and weapon combat. This is often fast-cutting with plenty of camera movement, so it’s wildly energetic but never so much as to lose track of what’s going on in the scene.
Colour and artificial light are put to good use too, with Jing putting the presumably sizable budget on screen, making for a visual treat. Granted, some of the props, sets and costumes look a little cheap by Hollywood standards but for a Hong Kong period move of the era it’s pretty impressive.
The film has a great cast too, with Li proving himself a strong lead as usual, Sammo making for a great ageing master and Richard Ng showing up as some kind of bizarre wuxia Batman!
So, whilst Kung Fu Cult Master is over-stuffed to a dizzying degree, Jing’s wild epic has more than enough fast-paced, far-fetched wuxia mayhem to keep genre fans happy.
Film: 
Kung Fu Cult Master is out on 29th January on Blu-Ray in the UK, released by Eureka as part of their Eureka Classics series. The picture has pleasingly strong colours and is very clean, though I found it had a slightly artificial look in places. It sounds great though.
LIMITED EDITION SPECIAL FEATURES
– Limited Edition O-Card slipcase featuring new artwork by Darren Wheeling [2000 copies]
– 1080p HD presentation on Blu-ray of the original Hong Kong theatrical cut from a new restoration of the original film elements
– Original Cantonese mono audio
– Optional English dubbed mono audio
– Optional English Subtitles
– Brand new feature-length audio commentary by Asian film expert Frank Djeng
– Archival Interview with Sammo Hung from 2004 by Frédéric Ambroisine
– Trailer
– A Limited Edition collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Simon Abrams [2000 copies]
Frank Djeng provides a commentary. He spends much of the time describing the differences and similarities between the film and the source novel. As is the norm for Djeng’s commentaries, you can tell he’s done his homework and it also made me frustrated that so few of Louis Cha’s novels have been translated into English.
On top of this, you get an archival interview with Sammo Hung. In this, the Hong Kong film industry legend talks about his career overall, rather than focussing on Kung Fu Cult Master in particular, but it’s still an interesting watch. In the interview, Sammo Hung treats his work as just that. He’s a consummate professional who tries to do his job to the best of his abilities.
I haven’t been sent the booklet to comment on that, but Eureka’s booklets are usually a valuable addition to the set.
Overall, the disc is not quite as loaded as some of Eureka’s Hong Kong releases but Djeng’s commentary adds a lot of value and the film is a lot of fun, so it still gets our recommendation.
Disc/Package:
Leave a Reply