Guest Tosh Posted April 6, 2007 Share Posted April 6, 2007 I believe this was the last Venoms movie I haven't seen, all I can say is... WTF?:lol I really liked it, but was it suppose to be more like a theatrical play? I thought this was more of a Fu Sheng movie, and was surprised it was more about Lee I-Min (did he have any other leading parts at SB? I can only remember him in Shaolin Temple). Lee-I-Min plus the Venoms could have equaled some crazy acrobatic kung fu ala the Daredevils, sadly it was supressed a bit, shame to because of the setting, but none the less, this movie is just one of the reasons I love Shaws so much, I'd love to have that NFL tank top Lo Meng was wearing:lol . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peringaten Posted April 6, 2007 Share Posted April 6, 2007 Lee I Min was in 7 Man Army if I remember correctly. I like Heaven & Hell - a funny, odd film... I don't even know what to say about it... Those hell sequences crack me up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BKarza Posted April 6, 2007 Share Posted April 6, 2007 I too am drawn to this. It's very different. CC really stepped out there on this one. While I don't like the whole thing, some of it is very interesting. Heaven was cool with all of the Taiwan boys getting down together with a liberal use of Peking opera rhythm. DC came out ooking good as well. FS and Jenny and Chiang Tao have a kind of West side story thing happening. Dancing fu with an appearance by Lau Ka Wing. No sfx in the fights was an interesting touch. The sets used during that sequence where also interesting choices. Hell was where things come apart a bit. It certainly does show the bloody vastness of the Shaw studio. It would have been interesting to see what the Venoms would have looked like had Yi Min stayed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest venomchamber Posted April 6, 2007 Share Posted April 6, 2007 This interesting film oddity has a complicated background! This film could be considered the missing link in Chang's film career as it closed one era and ushered in another. This would be the last time Chang would work with Liu Chia-Yung, Chiang Tao, Tang Yen Tsan and Li Yi-Min. It started production as THE HELL over at Chang's Film Company in Taiwan between filming 7 Man Army, The Fantastic Magic Baby and Shaolin Temple- Chang's return film for Shaws. This was during Chang's Peking Opera phase which explains why it looked more like a play than a movie. Originally, Li Yi-Min meets up with Shih Szu as "Red Dress" and they rescue Fu Sheng & Jenny from hell to become reincarnated. No Wang Lung-Wei, and the venoms mob were only stuntmen. The film was shelved for several years and upon Chang's return to Shaws in '77 was completed there during the same time period as The Chinatown Kid and The Call-Girls*. (*Chang Cheh, Li Yi-Min and Lin Chen-Chi are all interviewed on the set of Heaven And Hell at the start of this film, which also used much of the same music soundtrack!) For whatever reason, Shih Szu was out and Red Dress was recast by Shaw's newest star at the time, Lin Chen-Chi- fresh from The Snake Prince. This is why Liu Chia-Yung can be seen throughout as a knife-weilding thug, and Chiang Tao suddenly needs a haircut when he meets with Wang Lung-Wei! You'll also notice the only time there are sound effects during the "Earth" scequence are during the scenes filmed at Shaws with Wang Lung-Wei. (Of course the finale with the Venoms mob was entirely reshot at Shaws as well!) Its release was delayed further (for reasons unknown to me) until 1980 by which time the film looked terribly dated to filmgoers. Its an uneven hodgepodge of a film, but very enjoyable nevertheless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vengeanceofhumanlanterns Posted April 7, 2007 Share Posted April 7, 2007 Some damn good venom vs venom fights in this film. Especially the Kuo Chui vs Lu Feng recollected fight scene. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest morgoth Posted August 20, 2007 Share Posted August 20, 2007 I finally got around to seeing this. It wasn't very good, but I liked the fights. Fu Sheng's big fight scene was fun and I spotted Lau Kar Wing as one of the guy's with a knife. That was a very weird fight. And I liked how there was no undercranking at all in the movie. That sword fight between Kuo Chui and Lu feng is definitely the highlight. The only thing I was disappointed in was that Lung Wei and Fu Sheng should have gone at it longer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest killer meteor Posted August 20, 2007 Share Posted August 20, 2007 I want to see this. It looks like the sort of wacky thing I'd enjoy and the clip I saw featured a very sweet duet between Fu Sheng and Jenny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest morgoth Posted August 20, 2007 Share Posted August 20, 2007 It is a pretty fun movie. I watched it a second time and I liked it even more. I give it a 6/10. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kung Fu Zombie Posted August 22, 2007 Share Posted August 22, 2007 I think it's a beautiful trainwreck. A bizarro cult movie with 5 genres smashed into one. And the fighting's good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest morgoth Posted August 22, 2007 Share Posted August 22, 2007 I remember a thread on this movie a while ago. does anyone know when this movie was made? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest killer meteor Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 1980 I think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BKarza Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Most likely '77 or very early '78. Li Yi Min was gone from Shaw by Five Venoms in '78. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest venomchamber Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 I have been fascinated by this film's long history ever since I first enountered an English dubbed bootleg 17 years ago! Evolution: It started at Chang's Film Company in 1975 about the same time as Marco Polo and was originally just titled THE HELL. The film had newcomers Li Yi-Min and Fu Sheng protecting Shih Szu in said inferno, whose costumes and sets looked remarkably like those in The Fantastic Magic Baby. (I have considered these two films as companion pieces due to their bizarre and surreal nature.) The film was shelved for future use after Chang Cheh and Liu Chia-Liang broke-up their successful partnership. In 1976 Shih Szu was out and the film was modified to accomodate Fu Sheng's fiance Jenny Tseng as his love interest and was retitled HEAVEN AND HELL GATE. The film was shelved again until 1978 after Chang returned to Shaws. This time Wang Lung-Wei was added to the cast replacing Chiang Tao as the main villain on Earth. (Note Chiang Tao looks different when he is briefly seen speaking to Wang Lung-Wei. Fu Sheng & Jenny now look considerably older during the car sequence as well.) Gone also is Liu Chia-Yung and other early 70s stuntmen (who moved to Liu's camp for Spiritual Boxer) and are replaced by the 'venoms mob' in multiple roles. What's more, the silent surrealness is gone at this point and the musical acts are now minimized with one song abruptly cut short! The latter 70s sound fx are now present and the film begins to look more and more like The Chinatown Kid. David Chiang and Maggie Li Lin-Lin's characters are never seen or mentioned again as they were unavailable to work on this project under such an irregular "on again/off again" basis. The film is shelved again due to Fu Sheng's injuries and is finally released as Heaven And Hell, with the focus now shifted primarily on Lin Chen-Chi and the innocent souls of characters played by Sun Chien, Tang Yen-Tsan, Lo Mang and Kuo Chui in 1980. The result is an interesting piece of psychodelia encompassing various focal points of Chang's time with the Shaws. But still, if you enjoyed Ho Meng-Hua's Monkey films as well as Lo Chen's The Snake Prince, then this film is for you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest morgoth Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Thanks:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Steve Barr Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 With all the title changes I think they missed the most accurate one: Boring as Hell. Fantastic Magic Baby is much stranger/more interesting, IMO. HaH has some charms, but not enough for me to recommend it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tosh Posted August 25, 2007 Share Posted August 25, 2007 This was one strange movie, you can't deny the cast, almost like a Kung Fu acid trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest killer meteor Posted October 3, 2007 Share Posted October 3, 2007 Saw it today. Terrific fun in my book. Not for the faint-hearted - how they got Chiang Sheng into that costume I'll never know! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest drunkenmantis13 Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 Watched it last night. I wasn't sure when i saw the intro, but it got interesting. Really is a crazy mix of horror, cult trash, kung-fu, CC heroic bloodshed, drama, musical...NUTS! But it's great fun. The film really seems to be one for the first half hour, and another one for the final hour. Actually the first half hour is like many different movies, and the last hour is a crazed out Venoms flick. I totally bursted in laughter when i saw Chiang Sheng... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest killer meteor Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 I think Dick Wei had a similar costume - if it was him, that's the HK equivilant of putting R. Lee Emery in drag Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member mantis FIST Posted September 2, 2008 Member Share Posted September 2, 2008 was about what? I just watched it. CC must have taken some really strong ACID! I have to say it was one of the worst shaws I have seen. I don't even know what the movie was about. Seems like Dc was in it for 2 seconds and same goes for Fu Sheng. I think he was there just to sing with Jenny. Did anyone enjoy this? I am now watching kung-fu instructor. A far superior film! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator KUNG FU BOB Posted September 2, 2008 Administrator Share Posted September 2, 2008 BAD acid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Morgoth Bauglir Posted September 2, 2008 Member Share Posted September 2, 2008 For some reason I really liked Fu Sheng's dance/fight scenes. I enjoyed pretty much the whole movie, with the flashback fight between Kuo Choi and Lu Feng being the highlight! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Bravery Posted September 2, 2008 Member Share Posted September 2, 2008 I'll probably be in the minority with this, but I actually like this movie. I thought it was a really creative movie. And, I think the action in this movie is pretty good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member bobo Posted September 2, 2008 Member Share Posted September 2, 2008 i've got the english dub version of this and i watched it once---i'll probably never watch it again. the only thing good about it were the flashback fights--the rest was a waste of talent -time and money. i guess when you make as many movies as the shaws did your bound to make a few duds--but thats just my opinion.;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member vengeanceofhumanlanterns Posted September 2, 2008 Member Share Posted September 2, 2008 "Especially the Kuo Chui vs Lu Feng recollected fight scene." This highlight in the film is good enough reason for any Venom fan to pick up the film. Otherwise it is just a 'hodge podge' of fragmented filming throughout a few years of shelving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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