Official Score = 3 Devils[/caption]One of the areas of the world of movies that I have to admit that I am not all of the familiar with is foreign films... Just never really in my wheelhouse... That is until recenlty...
You see, although this isn't my first foreign film that I have ever seen, last year I was doing a guest recommendation on AwesomeBMovies.com, and decided to do a Martial Arts B Movie... (Something that I had up to that point never really done,) and I ended up coming across the Shaw Brothers classic, The Flying Guilotine (1975)!
Well of course I had heard of the, 'Shaw Brothers', and the fact that they are the geniuses behind some of the best Chinese B movies to come out of China in the 1970s... I had never seen any of their work though... And when I did, well I have to say that I was extremely impressed!
You see, one of the great things about 70s martial art films is just the universal cult status that is generally (and unfortunately) ignored by the mainstream due to the low budget nature that lends itself to bad dubbing, incredulous special effects, and stories that (unless you are able to suspend your disbelief ) are usually considered to be pretty bad...
Well the truth is, is I found that, that was a lot of the charm of, The Flying Guillotine, and it was also a lot of the charm of the next Shaw Brother's film that I saw, but the other thing that I was really impressed with about this movie is the fact that this movie had a great story to fall back on, some awesome talent, and the special effects all considering were pretty top drawer in this movie... This movie being the B movie adaption of the classic, 'King Kong' movie, The Mightly Peking Man (1977):
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A fantastic Chinese Sci-fi/Horror movie![/caption]Written by: Kuang Ni (Five Deadly Venoms) & Directed by: Meng Huo Ho (The Flying Guilotine). Starring: Evelyn Kraft (Lady Dracula), Danny Lee (The Killer) & Feng Ku (Sien Nui Yau Wan Il Yan Gaan Do).
Known as, 'Goliathon' in the United States, this movie was made following on the coat tails of the popularity that was following, 'King Kong' at the time, and told the story of how Johnnie Fang (Danny Lee) is a down and out explorer, who well to say the least was having some girl problems...
Well when it looks like the fabled, 'Peking Man' is discovered in the jungles of the, 'Himalayas', he is contracted with a team that includes Lu Tiem (Feng Ku) (who is Johnnie's employer, who wants to go in to the jungle to find this illusive beast and bring him back to Hong Kong as an attraction to make money...)
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Johnnie Fang & Lu Tiem as they are beginning their journey in search of, 'The Peking Man.'[/caption]Well of course the expedition starts off bad, when at one of the local villages, a herd of Elephants stampedes in and starts killing off his team bit by bit... It will take Johnnie and his team shooting some of them down to stop that.
Well the carnage on the expedition continues with a lion attack, as well as some of the members of the expedition falling off a cliff! Well Lu and the rest of the team decide that it is not safe enough and take off, leaving Johnnie to fend for himself...
And to make matters worse, when Johnnie does end up finding the, 'Peking Man', it turns out that it is a giant ape (the size of some tall buildings), and that this beast nearly kills him. The beast stops though when his friend (a girl by the name of, 'Samantha', who had been living in the jungle since her parent's plane had crash landed there as a kid,) intervenes.
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The Peking Man finds Johnnie...[/caption]Well after nursing his wounds, Johnnie makes the fateful decision to convince Samantha to have the both of them, and her larger then life furry friend return to Hong Kong together... This is a mistake that the people of Hong Kong will never forget... And this trip to Hong Kong will be one that, 'Johnnie', 'Samantha' and, 'The Mighty Peking Man' will never forget either!
I mentioned above what I liked about this movie, now here is what I didn't... The main problem that I had with this movie is it is a little slow moving at first... Fortunately though when it picks up, it really does and carries through out the rest of the movie real nicely...
In the end though, if you are more in to mainstream sci-fi or horror, then this one probably isn't for you, but if you like the B movie versions of these genre's, then I think you guys might enjoy this one!
http://youtu.be/kWFnvRHa1EQ
