Rent The Five Venoms / Crippled Avengers (1978)
3.6 of 5 from 50 ratings
3h 21min
- General info
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- Synopsis:
After an undisputed reign at the peak of Hong Kong's film industry in the 1960's, Shaw Brothers (the studio founded by real-life brothers Run Run and Runme Shaw) found their dominance challenged by up-and-coming rivals in the early 1970's.
The Five Venoms (1978)The School of Five Venoms is notorious among martial artists for the evil deeds of its disciples. The master of the school Huang Yen has retired from the martial world for years. Before he dies, he feels so guilty about all the evils associated with the name of their school that he orders his youngest disciple Yang Te (Sheng Chiang) to go and stop the other disciples from carrying on with their wicked ways eliminating them if necessary. There are five disciples of the Five Venoms active in the martial world, each of them excelling in a special kind of kung fu named after a venomous animal. These five disciples are Tang, who represents the Centipede, Hung the Snake, Ma the Scorpion, He the Lizard, and Li the Toad. These five disciples from the same school never show their real identities and they do not all know each other. And Yang De, whose mission is first of all to find the five of them, has never even met them or known their real name. Yang De was told by the master before his death that he could find these other five disciples through Yuan, a former classmate of the master who is hoarding some treasures that belong to the school. And the master predicted that those five disciples would be after Yuan and the treasure. Two of the disciples, Ma and He, have become constables, and another disciple Hung is a rich celebrity in town. Hong joins the first disciple Tang in forcing Yuan to hand over the treasures. When Yuan refuses to do so, they kill him and his whole family. When Ma arrives at the scene, he accidentally finds the map which shows where the treasure is hidden. When Yang De arrives in town, he picks up clues suggesting that Tang might be the killer of Yuan's case, and reports it to He at the yamen. With the help of Ma's friend Li, the two constables Ma and He arrest Tang. Through their kung fu styles, Yang recognizes Tang as the first disciple the Centipede, and Li the fifth disciple the Toad. Ma is actually in league with Hong and Tang to rob Yuan of the hidden treasure. So Ma and Hong bribe the judge and the trial for Tang is put off. Meanwhile, they try to frame Li up as the real murderer...Li resists when Ma tries to arrest him, so that Ma has to use his secret weapon 'the Scorpion darts' thus exposing his identity as the third disciple of the School of the Five Venoms. The observant Yang De by this time realizes that Tang, Hong, Ma, He and Li are the other five disciples he is looking for. Since Li is dead, and He is the only righteous one among the four left, Yang teams up with He and eventually gets rid of Tang, Hong and Ma, thereby accomplishing his mission.
Crippled Avengers (1978)
The character of Du Tiandao (Kuan Tai Chen), a great martial artist, changes greatly from kind into cruel and cold-hearted after his wife is brutally murdered by an unlawful society, the Three Tigers of the South. The Tigers also chop off the arms of his beloved son, Du Chang, in the same attack. Since then, Du Tiandou has hated everyone he comes across and, together with his son who he has fitted with two metal arms, cruelly abuses anyone who offends them. One day, as Du Tiandou and Du Chang have a meal in a restaurant, they hear someone making a speech nearby. As they approach, the speechmaker Wei Datie luckily manages to escape. But a hawker standing nearby, Chen Shun, who had applauded the speech, attracts the attention of Du Tiandao, who gouges out his two eyes. When they return home, Du Tiandao orders his servants to bring Wei Datie to him. When Wei arrives, Du Tiandao forces him to drink a cup of poison and then claps his hands hard over his ears, leaving Wei deaf and dumb. As Chen is blind and unable to make a living, Wei lets him to stay in his metal shop. Soon after, disaster befalls another young man, Hu Agui. As he quarrels with his boss, he shouts that as long as he has his hands, he would not die of starvation. But, Du Chang overhears him and, thinking that Hu is mocking his armless state, chops the man's legs off with his powerful metal arms. Later, Hu is also given shelter by Wei Datie (Meng Lo). Finding out that his crippled victims are staying at Wei's, Du Tiandao sends his servants to attack Wei's metal shop. He also warns the local peasants to isolate the three crippled men. One day, a young, warm-hearted martial artist, Wang Yi (Sheng Chiang), visits the town. When he discovers what has happened to the three men, he promises to avenge them. However, Du Tiandao and his son defeat Wang, forcing him to wear a special vice-like crown which leaves him brain damaged. By chance, the three other victims learn that Wang Yi is a disciple of Li Zhengying, a highly renowned martial artist. Wei Datie, Hu Agui and Chen Shun accompany Wang Yi to see Li Zhengying, who promises to teach them martial arts so that they can take revenge on Du Tiandao and Du Chang. After practicing for three years, Li finally decides that the four men are ready to deal with the Du family. The four abused and crippled men return to the village and wreak their revenge on the vicious Du and his son.- Actors:
- Sheng Chiang, Chien Sun, Phillip Chung-Fung Kwok, Meng Lo, Pai Wei, Feng Lu, Lung Wei Wang, Feng Ku, Dick Wei, Shu Pei Sun, Huang-hsi Liu, Hui Huang Lin, Ching Ho Wang, Lao Shen, Han Chen Wang, Yu Lung Hsiao, Chih-Lu Chen, Chen-Tu Tan, You-Hsing Lai, Hung Chen
- Directors:
- Cheh Chang
- Producers:
- Mona Fong, Runme Shaw
- Writers:
- Kuang Ni, Cheh Chang
- Aka:
- Wu du (Pick Your Poison / The Five Deadly Venoms) / Can que (Crippled Heroes / Return of the 5 Deadly Venoms / Mortal Combat)
- Genres:
- Action & Adventure, Classics, Drama
- Collections:
- Cinema Paradiso's 2023 Centenary Club: Part 1
- Countries:
- Hong Kong
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 20/12/2021
- Run Time:
- 209 minutes
- Languages:
- Cantonese Dolby Digital 1.0, Dubbed, English Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono, Mandarin Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono
- Subtitles:
- English, English Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 2.35:1
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- Brand new commentary on 'The Five Venoms' by critic Simon Abrams
- Interview with star Lo Meng, filmed in 2003 by Frederic Ambroisine
- Chang Cheh: The Master, a featurette about the director produced by Celestial Pictures in 2003
- Hong Kong and US theatrical trailers for 'The Five Venoms'
- Hong Kong theatrical trailer for 'Crippled Avengers'
- Image galleries for both films
