Li Yueh (Jimmy Wang Yu) gets revenge on the man who killed his father. That killer? A high-ranking official, who gets a price on his head and needs him to go into hiding. He doesn’t even tell his girlfriend, Liu (Ping Chin), that he’s disappearing. Later, she meets Fang Chun-chao, a swordsman who defends her from the Flying Fish gang. Fang is hired to train her in swordplay and ends up pining for her. She’s still in love with Li Yueh, however. Because Fang believes in honor, he decides to find her missing love.

The Flying Fish return to hunt down Fang, who is saved by his friend, a lowly stable worker. Of course, that person is Li Yueh. Together, they work to stop the threat of the different gang members. But if you’re a hero — or anyone, really — in a Chang Cheh movie, you may not make it to the end alive.

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

Taoist Priest Yu Ji (Cheng Tien-Chi) is asked to go to the people and perform miracles, healing them of sickness by pulling green slime from their bodies. He’s soon executed by General Sun Ce (Chiu Gwok) thanks to the advice of Prime Minister Xu Gong (Wong Lik), as neither wants the people worshipping a god on Earth. They need to get working in the fields, right? As for Yu Ji, his students find his body and reunite it with his severed head, bringing him back as a spirit.

It gets confusing — is Yu Ji supposed to be Jesus? Is the general a bad guy or is the prime minister? Was Chang Cheh trying to make movies like the new fantasy films that had taken over Hong Kong? Isn’t it cool how Yu Ji can become a woman, the possessed mistress, and cause so much craziness?

Taken from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, this would be the last film Cheh made for Shaw Brothers.

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

Based on Wu Cheng’en’s novel Journey to the West — specifically the story of Red Boy — The Fantastic Magic Baby. Chang Cheh pretty much makes Peking opera — there’s even an entire filmed version of one after the main movie — in which Red Boy (Ting Wa-Chung) comes to collect a tribute from the humans who worship the gods Princess Iron Fan and Ox Demon King, who are his parents. He ends up kidnapping Tripitaka (Teng Jue-Jen), a monk whose flesh is said to add thousands of years to your life when consumed, which means that Monkey King (Lau Chung-Chun) and Pigsy (Chen I-Ho) need to fix things.

I tell you that synopsis and it doesn’t matter, because this is basically an hour of long fights, musical sequences, little speaking, wild costumes — stone men and tree people! — and gorgeous visuals filmed against solid colored backgrounds. There’s also so much fog that Lucio Fulci would say, “This is almost enough fog.”

This just washed over me, delighting my senses with its gorgeous visuals and athletic fights. It moves so quickly that you can just sit back and take it all in and feel good in the knowledge that you’re seeing something unlike any other film out there. I love that so many Shaw Brothers movies are shot on sets and this is the extreme version of that, as there’s not even an actual physical location as much as these are shot within a candy colored, misty wonderland.

With fights put together by Peking opera star Li Tong-Chun and Lau Kar-Leung, this is all the action you want in addition to all that arty feel. You can tell people you’re watching high culture.

This Eureka release has two commentary tracks, one by action cinema experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema and the other by Frank Djeng. You can get it from MVD.

Directed by Chang Cheh and Pao Hsueh-li and written by Ni Kuang, this is about Wang Wu (Chen Kuan-Tai), the head of a bodyguard company. The work he does is noticed by Tan Si-Tong (Yueh Hua), who watches from a restaurant. As Wang Wu becomes more politically aware, Tan teams up with him to try to reform the laws of the Empress Dowager, who, of course, has none of that.

Tan and the reformists are eventually arrested and sentenced to be executed, with Wang Wu leading his fighting bodyguards in a daring rescue. This scene echoes the historical six gentlemen of the Hundred Days’ Reform, including Tan Si-Tong, who were all beheaded in 1898.

This was remade by Sammo Hung as Blade of Fury.

This Eureka release has a commentary track by East Asian film expert Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival) and martial artist and filmmaker Michael Worth. You can get it from MVD.

Best Christmas Movies Ever! is a movie I’m shocked hasn’t been created before: a talking head doc all about Christmas movies like Home Alone, Elf, The Santa Clause, Miracle on 34th Street, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s a Wonderful Life and many more with experts like Denise Crosby, Steven de Souza, Shawn Edwards, Mitch Glazer, Mick Foley and Terry Farrell.

Directed by Mark A. Altman, this even features Jeremiah S. Chechik, who directed National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, talking about holiday films, as well as Ms. Moviefone Grae Drake, Torn Hearts director Brea Grant, and Kury Fuller.

There’s also a section on whether or not films like Die Hard are Christmas movies.

If you love the holidays and movies — or know someone who does — this is perfect.

Extras include a director commentary, deleted and extended scenes, a convention panel, a trailer, a collectible mini-poster and a slipcover. You can get it from MVD.

King Eagle is Jin Fei (Ti Lung), and he’s a wandering swordsman who runs into the Tien Yi Tong clan, who are dealing with their leader being killed. Martial artists from around the world come to try out to be the new leader, but First Chief (Cheung Pooi-Saan) has the edge, seeing as how he killed the original leader. King Eagle learns this and just wants to be left alone, but keeps getting brought into politics and intrigue, like all the killers hired to keep him from revealing the secret.

The guy just wants to be left alone and has no problem throwing a sword through a tree or a person to make his point.

Directed by Chang Cheh, this was his eleventh movie for Shaw Brothers. This features a love interest for our hero in Yuk Lin (Li Ching, who plays a twin role, as she is also the evil sister who helped First Chief with his schemes). Ah, King Eagle, you’re a good dude, even if you drag people behind your horse and set them on fire. You do save a child from being crushed, so you’re like an Italian Western hero.

This Eureka release has a commentary track by action cinema experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema. You can get it from MVD.

When the ruling dynasty of China sends soldiers to destroy the Shaolin Temple during a turbulent historical period, they never count on the students of the smaller encampments to defend their school. Alexander Fu Sheng, Gordon Liu, Chi Kuan Chun and Lau Kar Wing are four of their number who must face off with Johnny Wang and Beardy, so-called invincible fighters. Well, education usually gets you pretty far in the martial world, so perhaps learning a new style will help them. But how do you defend against someone with steel skin who can block any attack?

Wing Chun and eagle claw may fail, but the legendary one-inch punch and the fierce tiger and crane techniques remind us of martial arts mastery. Directed by Cheng Cheh and choreographed by Lau Kar-Leung, this film celebrates heroic sacrifices that resonate deeply with fans of classic martial arts cinema.

By the way, if you want to learn the eagle claw, you must sit on the edge of a river and punch your way into the water to knock out fish. The ways of the Shaolin are impenetrable, my friend.

This Eureka release has a commentary track by East Asian film expert Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival) and martial artist and filmmaker Michael Worth. You can get it from MVD.

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.