Death Duel of the Mantis (1978)
Similar movies
Three North Shaolin teachers (Lu Feng, Chang Sheng, and Sun Chien) are called on by the Manchus to teach their soldiers and are urged to challenge the current South Shaolin teachers. They defeat the South Shaolin teachers and, that night, the head general (Wang Lung Wei) kills the South Shaolin teachers and blames their death on the North Shaolin teachers. The South Shaolin master sends more of his pupils, who are killed accidentally by the North Shaolin teachers. He finally sends two more (Wei Pai and Lo Meng) of his students to train with old masters and trains one student (Kuo Chui) himself with the goal of finally defeating the North Shaolin experts.
The mainly evil Mantis Fist school and the righteous Eagle Claw have fought out a bitter rivalry over many years. The culmination in this progressive clash is the death of the Eagle's Claw school master due to a severe beating by his savage, eccentric rival. With the school now in turmoil, the dying master leaves the responsibilities of his legacy to his second most senior pupil (Wong Tao) while ignoring the quietly seething senior student (Chi Kwan Chun). The forgotten man cannot contain his rage for long though and storms off to the Mantis Fist school out of spite. While at his new school, the senior student begins to attract the attention of his new master's daughter and makes strong progress in the Mantis Fist school. However, his former friends continue to harbor resentment after his sudden exit and refuse to let the rivalry end. All is not as obvious as it seems though and the real motives of each character is revealed before the classic fight finale.
A year after training young Jackie Chan in the Drunken Fist, Sam the Seed discovers he has a son, Foggy. He tries to train Foggy but to no avail. Foggy is then trained in Drunken Fist from his uncle as he must face his father's rival, Rubber Legs, another Drunken Fist master who combines it with Mantis Fist to create a deadly style.
A one-armed martial arts master is being stalked by an Imperial assassin, the master of two fighters (the Tibetan Lamas) who were killed in the previous film. When the One-Armed Boxer is invited to attend a martial arts tournament, his efforts to lay low are unsuccessful, and the assassin soon tracks him down with the help of his three subordinates competing in the tournament: a Thai boxer, a yoga master, and a kobojutsu user.
Chi Mo Sai (Yuen Wah) meets Wong (Roger Kwok) in Auntie Fei's (Yuen Qiu) cafe and learns that Wong has photographic memory. He decides to exploit this skill by teaching Wong how to play Mahjong, but Fei, Wong's boss, strongly objects to it. Despite Fei's objections, Wong learns Mahjong from compulsive gambler Chi Mo Sai. He impresses triad boss Tin Kau Ko (Wong Jing). Wong falls in love with Tin's mistress (Theresa Fu) and is beaten by Tin's men. Wong then becomes crazy. Luckily, Fei cured him using Mahjong. Fei wanted Wong to beat Tin in the "King of Mahjong" competition and be the King of Mahjong. The film ends with a climactic "King of Mahjong" Competition. It is the only film made in 2005 to boast of having a sequel made in 2005.
A "Dragon Claw" master returns from Manchuria where he became a traitor to China. He's after the coveted Dragon Claw Golden Tablet that will force people to bow down to him. He challenges the Grand-master who has a checkered past of his own. The Grand-master happens to suffers from a terminal chronic injury related to his evil past. The traitor kills the grand-master, causing his wife and son the go into hiding. The wife seems to really be the Dragon Claw master in the family and she vows to train her son the kung fu secrets. The son finds that one of his friends has learned a strange style of kung fu from a filthy medicine man. The son seeks him out to improve his kung fu and defeat the traitor.
A fugitive christian "saint" (female, of course!) and a sadistic drug-addled princess both have their eye on Kyoshiro. The fact that a bunch of ruthless smugglers also want him dead is the least of his problems!
Skilled martial arts director Lau Ka Leung offers you another Kung Fu treat! this Asian classic introduces viewers to the Shaolin Mantis way of fighting! The tale takes you back to the Qing dynasty & Wei Feng, the son of a Qing official who tries to unveil facts about a revolt. The grand daughter of the farmer community where his investigation takes him, sacrifices her life to save him in the end. Managing to escape unscathed, he promises to hunt down the girl's killer and therefore creates the effective technique of Shaolin Mantis. Â
Two friends who long to be heroes join the fight against a Ching warlord and his students. They get help from a Kung Fu student and a rebel. They also save Hung Si Quan's life.
The melancholy, homely Kamimura is a hit man who takes a job to kill a mob boss who's gotten greedy..
When the boss of a ruling Hong Kong triad is arrested and executed in China for counterfeiting money, mayhem ensues as the mob's leading contenders circle the throne.
Retired mob boss Du-heon enrolls in a cooking class with the hopes of making a fresh start as a restaurant owner. In the class he meets a quirky girl, Se-bin, and finds himself drawn to her. Despite his determination to wipe the slate clean, Du-heon is summoned back into the criminal fold by his old colleagues.
Despite its stand-alone title, this mixture of martial arts and exploitation is a semi-sequel to Shaw Brothers's Flying Guillotine series. This time, the focus is Rong Qui-yan (Chen Ping), a kung fu student turned dutiful wife whose life falls apart when her husband is murdered by a squad of government operatives led by the duplicitous Jin Gang-Feng (Lo Lieh). Qui-yan is forced to go into hiding as she plots her revenge and finds allies in fellow fugitive Ma Seng (Tsui Siu Keung) and ex-lover Wang-jun (Yueh Hua). Meanwhile, Jin Gang-Feng sends out an array of killers to track them down. Complicating things further is the fact that Qui-yan is pregnant and struggling to keep her unborn child safe while fighting her way to safety.
A barkeeper saves a Yakuza boss' life and thus makes his way up in the organization. However, his fear of nothing soon causes problems.
To infiltrate a criminal organization responsible for the death of one of his colleagues, the Detective Tajima adopts the behavior of of a brutal thug and plays opposing yakuza bosses against each other.
The plot has Fu Sheng as Xiao Yu Erh, separated from his twin as a baby, after his parents are murdered, and taken by a family friend to "Villains Valley," where he's raised to be a "villain" by a host of outlaws, each of whom has a special skill. When he's old enough (and grows up to be Fu Sheng), he devises clever means to trap each of his "uncles" and escape the valley to head off into the outside world. A chance encounter with a beautiful girl dressed as a man leads to a treasure hunt and eventually a confrontation with the Princess of Yi Hua Palace, the one who'd murdered Xiao's parents in the first place. Eventually, a reunion with his twin occur.
The swordsman Zhang Zhen is injured in a misadventure and rescued by Eldest Sister of Changchun Sect, who has a crush on him. However, Zhang falls in love with the maid Yuenu instead, and conceives twins with her. The couple are killed by a group of evil pugilists later. The Eldest Sister is angry with Zhang Zhen for not accepting her and plans to make Zhang's children kill each other as revenge. The baby girl (Xiaolu'er) is saved by Zhang's friend, Lian Lanyan, while the male infant (Hua Yuchun) is taken away by the Eldest Sister. Lian Lanyan encounters the Ten Villains when he passes through Villains' Valley. He is overwhelmed by them and knocked out in a fight. The baby Xiaolu'er is taken away by the Villains, who surprisingly do not harm her, and instead intend to groom her to become the greatest villain ever. Eighteen years later, the twins meet each other by coincidence.
In an attempt to save his village from being taken over by brutes, Wah is beaten to a pulp & his mother brutally murdered. Determined to take revenge, Wah learns the art of Wing Chun & enters in a showdown with the nasty villains.
After four years overseas, Shozo returns to Japan to avenge his yakuza boss who was assassinated by his own treacherous top man, Kurawaki. The resulting battle leaves both men severely injured, and Shozo awakens in a mysterious medical facility to find his arm replaced with an M61 Vulcan cannon and his leg replaced with a rocket launcher. Meanwhile, Kurawaki has been fitted with mechanical augmentations of his own. Get ready for the second round.
Jimmy and Tiger are members of the Chinese national wushu team. The two are in Los Angeles to perform exhibitions. However, for Tiger, he plans to defect to L.A. to make a name for himself. When Jimmy learns of Tigers plan to defect, an attempt to stop him fails and Jimmy ends up missing his flight to China. Now a fish out of water, Jimmy's only hope is Andy, a wisecracking youngster in L.A. Meanwhile, Tiger works for a mafia boss. When Tiger loses a fortune in cocaine in a detergent box that Andy accidentally took, Andy and Jimmy soon have no choice but to face the wrath of Tiger and his men. Their only ally is Penny, the girlfriend of Tiger's boss. Two men who were once best friends have now become bitter enemies.
A Japanese assassin stranded in Taiwan must take work from a local crime boss to make ends meet when suddenly a woman from his past delivers a son to him.
Monkey King, Pig and Friar Sand must rescue his master Buddhist monk from seven witches / spiders who believe themselves to be immortal if they eat the monk's flesh. The third part of the Shaw Brothers film series about Monkey King after the novel "Journey to the West."
Iron Fisted Monk, heavyweight HK superstar Sammo Hung's directorial debut, is a powerful old school kung fu movie which sees the portly one at his physical peak on screen as well as calling the shots behind the camera. Husker (Sammo) is a student of the Shaolin monks, learning kung fu so that he can avenge his uncle, who was murdered by the nasty Manchus who control the province. He leaves his training early, desperate to teach the killers a lesson and teams up with a martial artist monk (Chan Sing) who is teaching a group of factory workers how to defend themselves. When the Manchus attack the factory and kill everyone there, Husker and his Buddhist pal decide it's time to even the score.
Chang Yi plays Chan Chao, a knight of justice, who thwarts the plans of Minister Peng to assassinate the revered Judge Pao Cheng over and over again. Lo Lieh gives Chang a good run for his money as the evil and sinister henchman of Minister Peng.
John Liu stars as Shao Yu Pai, master of the "northern kick" kung-fu, still seeking revenge for the death of his brother. Evidence mounts that Lu Tung Chung (Alexander Lo), master of the "southern fist" kung-fu, is the culprit. What Shao doesn't realize, however, is that the true villain is subtly manipulating both the martial artists behind the scenes, hoping to force them into a confrontation and have the dirty work done for him.
As a valiant Chinese general and his men battle Tartar invaders, patriot swordsmen attempt to stop the delivery of 12 medallions sent by a traitor that could spell the doom of the Sung Dynasty. When a powerful kung fu master assumes responsibility for the deliveries, his daughter and a former student turn against him in order to save China.
Soon-to-be legendary director Chu Yuan had just joined the Shaw Brothers when he helmed this thriller of bickering bandits. Audiences loved watching three pairs of cunning male and female crooks trying to steal a million gold taels from the Fu Lai Treasury House...not knowing that one of them is actually an undercover hero. Even without him, there's no honor amongst thieves, so the double-crosses and deadly duels come fast and furious, all choreographed by Hsu Erh-niu.
On a television show billed as âthe greatest fight show on Earth,â eager amateurs with lots to prove boldly step into the ring and expect to leave bloody but victorious. The ratings hungry producers seek out âlegendaryâ but largely forgotten streetfighters and mine their desperation for recaptured glory and redemption into ratings gold.
Due to his own extreme ideals, famed swordsman Li has lost everyone dear to him. After his life is saved by a rival swordsman, Li's overwhelming pride means he forsakes the woman he loves and lets her marry his saviour. Li's only comfort is alcohol and the simple life he has now accepted. On one such journey, the lonely swordsman befriends the exceptionally skilled, yet secretive Fei who has his own pressures to contend with. The person behind Li's troubles proves to be elusive, though all the clues seem to point to the legendary 'Plum Blossom Bandit', a disguised figure whose identity has long proved elusive to the martial world.
A businessman, Tsuda, runs into a childhood friend, Tajuki, on the subway. Tajuki is working as a semiprofessional boxer. Tsuda soon begins to suspect that Tajuki might be having an affair with his fiance Hizuru. After an altercation, Tsuda begins training rigorously himself, leading to an extremely bloody, violent confrontation.
"Fist of Dragon" tells the story of Li, who comes to South East Asia by the request of his father to help out his uncle who has been facing financial difficulties. Li, upon arriving in the town, feels out of place due to the differences in cultures of the people here. When he discovers that his uncle has been facing many hardships posed by the local mobsters, Li decided to stay and to help his uncle and get rid of them. However, Li encounter numerous resistances from the locals as Li's action brings the wrath of the triad and drags the whole town into turmoil. Moreover, his uncle's daughter, Lily is on the triad side, and their relationship is badly affected when the confrontation between the two groups reach its peak.
The Real Bruce Lee is a martial arts documentary. It begins with a brief biography of Bruce Lee, and shows scenes from four of his childhood films, Bad Boy, Orphan Sam, Kid Cheung, and The Carnival, each sepia-toned and dubbed to English. Next, there is a three-minute highlight reel of Lee imitator Bruce Li. Finally, there is a feature-length film starring Lee imitator Dragon Lee, which is obviously modeled after Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury.
The Angry Guest is a direct sequel to Duel of Fists which had two long-separated brothers, Ti Lung and David Chiang, reuniting in Bangkok and running afoul of the local mob after Ti Lung, a boxer, beats the local favorite in the ring. In this film, the action shifts from Bangkok to Hong Kong to Japan and then back to HK as the brothers contend with a Japanese mob led by crime boss Yamaguchi, who is played by the film's director, Chang Cheh, in a rare screen appearance.
A skinny troublemaker and his good-natured, bemuscled sidekick find trouble in Hong Kong.
Sharda (Raakhee) vows vengeance when her husband is murdered by his two evil cousins, Bhishamber (Amrish Puri) and Bhanu (Paresh Rawal), and she and her two young sons are thrown out on the street. Those sons grow into the upstanding police officer Ram (Jackie Schroff) and the easily tempted dreamer Lakhan (Anil Kapoor). If the family is to be avenged, Ram will have to lead his brother away from the path of corruption he's strayed onto, and protect him from the influence of Bhanu and Bhishamber.
Near the end of the nineteenth century, as the balance of power shifts from Shogunate towards the Emperor, Japan restlessly awaits the dawning of a new age. But not all are content...The Shinsengumi, a small army of samurai, farmers and peasants, band together to do battle against the tide of history. Their leader, Isami Kondo (Mifune) is a man who rises from farmer to fighter to head the fierce Shinsengumi brigade. Using a stern hand and a heart of gold, he rallies his men in defense of the tottering Shogunate. But bloodshed and treachery lurk around every corner.
Zatoichi is mentored by the blind leader of a secret organization as he contends with both the Yakuza and a jealous husband.
Two thieves, a magician, a computer hacker, a wannabe actor and a explosives expert plan a robbery to fulfill the dream of Victor Braganza. Will they be successful or will destiny have something different for them?
Kaal is based around the story of a wildlife expert, his wife and a group of friends who battle against supernatural creatures in the Jim Corbett National Park for their lives.
After the death of his first wife, wealthy Raja Aditya Pratap Singh, re-marries another woman, simply known as Chhoti Rani, who subsequently becomes mentally unstable. His father's former mistress, Badi Rani, controls the wealth, while he himself has a mistress. Unable to procure contracts through Mantri Prabhu Tiwari, he decides to stand for elections, while his rival, Ghenda Singh, recruits an assassin, Babalu, who is also the nephew of Sunder, Chhoti Rani's chauffeur, to kill Aditya. After Sunder is unable to drive due to an injury, he recommends Babalu, and Aditya hires him. Babalu settles down in his new job, attempts to get accepted by everyone, including Chhoti Rani, who he finds attractive. He soon finds out that she, too, has feelings for him, and then starts making plans of not only carrying out his assigned task but also becoming the next Saheb.
Wang Chin-chin, who is both the 11th prince and an expert fighterm has fun secretly subverting a local con-man, the inept Ho Chi (Wong Yue), but blackmails the crook into becoming his student after making it look like a B-girl named Choi Hung (Kara Hui) has poisoned Ho and beaten him up in a nightclub.
Lei Ming, a noble young martial arts student who doesn't know the meaning of giving up. He faces a treacherous, blood-thirsty Japanese karate expert, which leads to many memorable battles as well as several unforgettable training sequences.
In this first film of the Lone Wolf and Cub series, adapted from the manga by Kazuo Koike, we are told the story of the Lone Wolf and Cub's origin. Ogami Itto, the official Shogunate executioner, has been framed for disloyalty to the Shogunate by the Yagyu clan, against whom he now is waging a one-man war, along with his infant son, Daigoro.
The film revolves around five individual characters and the events in their life, that, on the one hand, changes everything in their respective lives, which the film's title refers to, and, on the other hand, also brings together these people. It is an anthology film, that contains two parallel moving stories, which are connected by a freak accident in Chennai. A young architect, falls in love with a young beautiful pediatric doctor, runs after her and tries to convince her to marry her, while, simultaneously, a morose ex-football coach troubles a software engineer by vowing to kill his eight-year-old son. How these characters get connected and confronted through the accident forms the crux of the story.
Rin a young high school student is your everyday awkward girl who gets bullied by her fellow students. On her 16th birthday, Rin gets an unexpected surprise: she finds out that she is, on her father's side, a half-mutant.
Martial arts purists -- not to mention fans of miniskirt-clad, high-kicking karate girls -- will welcome the tightly choreographed fight scenes and slow-motion scuffles in this film about a teenage karate phenom eager to take down her older peers. High schooler Kei Tsuchiya joins The Destroyers when she decides that her longtime karate master is holding her back. She realizes her mistake but it's too late.
A rich man's son (Yuen Biao) believes himself to be the best kung fu fighter in Canton. Unfortunately, his father, anxious for his son's safety, bribes all his opponents to lose. After a humiliating defeat at the hands of an actor in a traveling theatre company, the son resolves to find a better teacher. Furious kung fu battles and slapstick comedy.
A police officer adopts the son and sole survivor of a family he has massacred while pursuing a terrorist. After some time the foster son finds out what the stepfather did.
New York is a contemporary story of friendship set against the larger than life backdrop of a city often described as the centre of the world. Omar has gone abroad for the first time in his life and soon enough he begins to see and love America through the eyes of his American friends - Sam and Maya. It is the story of these three friends discovering a new world together.
The film revolves around two brothers, the elder being sensitive to violence and the younger being a jobless rogue, settled in Thoothukudi. After the death of their father, a police officer, the elder brother takes on the same job by request of the younger. The older brother rises to fame in his job by having his younger brother secretly punish suspects and save victims for him. This angers two of the village's biggest mob bosses, who begin to seek revenge on the elder brother. After getting severely beaten by them, the elder brother loses his fear and becomes physically stronger through training from his younger brother. How the brothers get back at two gangs and protect their families form the rest of the story. The film was released worldwide on 13 January 2012 to mixed reviews
Major Jaidev Rajvansh (Anil Kapoor) and his fellow officer Hussein (Om Puri) manage to rescue a leading politician as well as capture his kidnapper, Abhrush (Danny Denzongpa). The terrorist has been wanted for years and he is finally captured by the two officers. Jai returns to a joyous welcome, and is declared a national hero. He takes a break from the army and returns to his hometown. There he meets his childhood friend Anjali (Madhuri Dixit) who has always harboured love for Jai. Anjali is determined to make sure she and Jai stay together 24/7. At a party, he meets Miss India, Pooja Mallapa (Namrata Shirodkar). As they spend more time together, he begins to love her and she too begins to love him. In the mean time, Jai's parents are arranging his marriage to Anjali but when they find out about Jai's love for Pooja, they realise that they have to tell Anjali everything.
When a stranger, Thaddeus, is found badly wounded near the village, miner Li Kung and his wife Ah Ni offer him refuge. As he heals, he becomes entrenched in a conflict that pits the townsfolk against the evil Master Ho, his nefarious Beetle Clan and the terrifying Lord Pi.
Everyone abuses and humiliates a downtrodden orphan (Chan) until he befriends an old man, who turns out to be the last master of the "snake fist" fighting style. Jackie becomes the old man's student and finds himself in battle with the master of the "eagle's claw" style, who has vowed to destroy the snake fist clan.
An American teenager who is obsessed with Hong Kong cinema and kung-fu classics makes an extraordinary discovery in a Chinatown pawnshop: the legendary stick weapon of the Chinese sage and warrior, the Monkey King. With the lost relic in hand, the teenager unexpectedly finds himself travelling back to ancient China to join a crew of warriors from martial arts lore on a dangerous quest to free the imprisoned Monkey King.
A story of lost love, young love, a legendary sword and one last opportunity at redemption.
Ah Chi (Ka-Yan Leung) is obsessed with the martial arts and, more often than not, his kung-fu clowning gets him into trouble. Ending up facing Hsia (Eddie Ko) of the notorious Jade Brotherhood is inevitable. As a result, Hsia forces Chi's martial arts master to expel him. Masterless and working for a fish vendor, Chi meets a crafty kid (Yat Lung Wong), whose uncle Chow Tung (Chin Yuet Sang) is a master of the Insane Mantis style. The Jade Brotherhood aims for control of the small town but Chi is training with a new Master and will not accept bullies in the neighbourhood.
A village is being oppressed by a four villains lead by chow chung until a beggar comes to town and teaches a young man and woman the 7 star grand mantis style of fighting. They stomp out the gangs businesses and then have to fight them to a finish.
A silk dealer and a princess are traveling in the China country, when they are attacked by a group of Falcon bandits. The bandits kidnap the princess and steal the silk. The princess's father makes an effort to free his daughter, but fails, and the bandits demand a ransom. Meanwhile, the silk dealer goes to a Shaolin temple, and trains to learn Mantis kung fu. After much intense training, he goes after the bandits.
Continuing his "legendary adventures of awesomeness", Po must face two hugely epic, but different threats: one supernatural and the other a little closer to his home.
As Japan gears up for the 1964 Olympic games, the cops start to crack down under pressure from the public and the press, adding a new dimension in the war for power among the yakuza families of Hiroshima. Akira Kobayashi's Takeda tries to keep a lid on things, but hotheaded underlings create chaos, with one boss whacked in neutral territory, and the craven boss, Uchimoto, informing on an assassination attempt by his own minions. While the police round up hundreds of yakuza foot soldiers, Bunta Sugawara's Shozo Hirono plots to finally take out longtime nemesis, boss Yamamori.
© Valossa 2015–2024
