Brand new factory sealed dvd, limited widescreen edition first issued dubbed in English. This could be letterboxed which means you might have to use your zoom mode on newer TVs.
In the fifteenth century, a dying teacher taught five masked students the deadliest forms of kung-fu known--Snake, Centipede, Lizard, Toad, and Scorpion. None of the students knew each other at the time, but now several had teamed to become criminals. The teacher tells his last student, who knows a bit of all five arts, to find the students and stop their crimes.
From this simple premise comes martial arts extremism. The villains practice individual, nasty killing styles. They defeat each other with a solid gold, knife-lined casket, pins in noses, knives in ears, as well as their own unbelievable skills. In the finale, when the Venoms fight, the heroes literally walk up the walls and stand there. It is all done with bold, unapologetic style.
This team of actors (see cover) were the main unit for at least ten adventures that were unique in their extremism with this being their first film. Kuo Chui was always the main hero, and always played a street-smart supreme fighter who hid behind a guise of a beggar, transient or criminal. Chiang Sheng is known by fans as "cutie-pie", and indeed he is small in stature, but almost always playing the acrobatic partner to Chui. Sun Shein was the kicker; sometimes hero, sometimes villain. Lo Meng is the thick-headed muscleman, and Lu Feng is almost always the insidious traitor who lures heroes into his traps.