Just read this IMDB synopsis and tell me you don’t want to watch this: “In the year 1900, China was being invaded by an eight-nation alliance (Japan, Russia, England, France, Germany, the United States, Italy and Austria-Hungary). Meanwhile, three martial artists join a xenophobic kung fu cult, with a large following, whose leader claims that he can teach his followers how to become bulletproof.”

Chi Kuan-chun, Alexander Fu Sheng and Leung Kar-yan play the three brothers who have been taken in by The Boxers and seek to battle the foreign forces that have taken over their country.

Directed by Chang Cheh, this has brave men believing that Taoist magic can protect them from bullets. It goes about as great as that sounds. It has two and a half hours of story, a cast of nearly thousands — and one Richard Harrison  — and if you know Chang Cheh, plenty of people get stabbed.

When this came out in the UK, 45 minutes were cut out — the anti-foreigner elements had to go and it became Spiritual Fists. This upset its director, who believed that it was the best artistic statement he’d made in his career. It’s a big movie but not one afraid to just stop and show you a martial arts demo. If you love Shaw Brothers, you’ll be ready for that.

All four films on the Horrible History box set from Eureka are presented on Blu-ray from HD masters supplied by Celestial Pictures. Extras include two new commentaries by East Asian film expert Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival) and martial artist and filmmaker Michael Worth, two new commentaries by action cinema experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema, interviews and essays on these films, an O-Card slipcase featuring new artwork by Grégory Sacré with a collector’s booklet featuring new writing on all four films in this set by writer and critic James Oliver. It’s all limited to 2,000 copies and you can get it from MVD.