Welcome to another one of Geek Soul Brother’s FLASHBACK FRIDAY! This is my blog series where I suggest old Movies and Television shows for all you ‘younger’ geek brothers and sisters to watch. You may think they are just old and corny, but if you give them a chance, you might find yourself really diggin’ them.
Growing up in the 70′s, you were bound to get acquainted with some kind of kungfu or karate or even ninja movie. The Asian Cinema was hitting the states hard with Saturday shows like ‘Kung-Fu Theater’. And of course there was Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris popularizing the martial arts all over with their action films.
One film really hit me when I was young. It spoke to me on a geek and kung-fu level. It’s called FIVE DEADLY VENOMS.
Geeks are usually attracted to super human powers. I don’t know, it’s the way we’re built (hmmm… another topic). Martial Artist are super human, kinda. At least in the movies, everyone definitely has powers. Super strong and fast, jumping 20 or 30 feet, able to fight 50 or 100 men at a time. Not to mention the fights. Dances of death on screen. FIVE DEADLY VENOMS put an extra element into all of that. As the name implies, it was about 5 martial artists that had selective techniques based on poisonous animals – Centipede, Snake, Lizard, Scorpion and Toad. That alone hooked me in big time. But the story was also cool and engaging.
The story centered on a sixth student Yang (Sheng Chiang) taught by the master of the venom techniques. The master sends Yang out to find out what the others were doing and if they were up to no good. Unfortunately, the master couldn’t tell his young student what the others looked like, because they all wore masks. But he would recognize their techniques.
The Centipede (Feng Lu) and Snake (Pai Wei) became associates in crime. But the Lizard (Philip Kwok) and Toad (Meng Lo) were friends with Lizard working as a policeman. The Scorpion (Chien Sun) was the only one that remained a mystery to all of them.
The fights were spectacular for a 70′s martial arts classic. And the drama and intrigue kept the story going. I looked forward to each of the ‘venoms’ showing off their particular technique and what it could do. This was a Top Notched Shaw Brothers production. They produced literally hundreds of movies, but VENOMS was one of my favorites. It’s actually movies like this that got me into studying martial arts. I think Kung-fu movies fit well within a geek’s world. After all, it’s fantasy, and all fantasy is good fantasy I say! Check it out and holla back.
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