I think I’ve watched more Cheh Chang this year than any other director, and I have no complaints. This one is great, as it features three mini-films for each hero, culminating in them coming together. It’s like a Gardner Fox superhero team story!

Fong Sai-Yuk (Fu Sheng) wants to leave the Shaolin Temple, but no one just walks out. You have to go through the alley of death, a long journey through several death traps. To make things worse, once he does get out, he comes home just in time to learn that an evil fighter has taken over his town, fighting men to the death atop poles and sharpened sticks.

Hu Wei-Chien (Chi Kuan-Chun) keeps trying to protect his town from bullies, only to get his ass kicked every time. That’s when Fong Sai-Yuk tells him to go to the Shaolin Temple and learn for himself how to fight. Three years later, the two of them return and take care of this gang once and for all.

In the third episode, Hung Sze-Kwan (Chen Kuan-Tai) realizes that he can’t stop the Ching army all by himself, so he joins up with Fong Sai-Yuk and Hu Wei-Chien. Seeing as this is a Shaolin movie, you just know the temple is going to burn down, which it does, just in time for the last story.

Now, the three men and the Temple survivors come together to train, readying themselves for a battle to the death against the Ching force. Don’t get too chummy with any of our heroes, because if you know Cheh Chang, not all of them will make it out alive.

I love how this plays with the form of the Shaolin films, as well as how the deaths happen in red or black and white. The last part is all fighting, and the characters are unafraid to just gorily dispatch everyone.

This Eureka release has a commentary track by film critic David West. You can get it from MVD.