The Web of Death (1976)

November 18, 2016

I watched The Web of Death on Yahoo View, which now runs Hulu’s freeview.  It was the Celestial Pictures Limited remastered edition but only in the original English Dubbed and with no subtitles.  I can not express how annoying the English Dubbing is.  They don’t bother naming any of the characters except a few such as Fei Ying Xiang, his brother Fei Yingie, Hong Susu, and a few others.  The rest of the time people are just addressed as “My Lord” or “My Daughter” or even more annoying “Oh it’s you”.  I must get a copy of this film so I can watch it as its intended with the original Cantonese and hope the English subtitles are better than the dubbing.  Even the subtitles in the trailer above are better than the dubbing.

I’ve been wanting to watch Web of Death for some time now but kept putting it off.  Maybe it was the title, I’m not sure why.  Well the first five minutes and I was getting worried that this was going to be a pretty cheesey film, however within 15 minutes I was hooked.  This is a really fun story, great plot, and a wonderful cast of characters.  Sure the Spider Clan’s, or Venom Clan depending on what version of subtitling/dubbing you get, set is pretty cheesey and the sets in the movie are nowhere as nice or realistic as those from movies like the Brave Archer series or even One-Armed Swordsman trilogy.  They used the same fort for the Black Pine Men as they did for the bandits in New One-Armed Swordsman as well.  Even though they didn’t appear to spend a lot of money on the props the costumes were nice and the acting was great. Action Directors Tong Kai and Yuen Cheung-Yan certainly helped make the movie entertaining.

Some very good actors in the film starting with everyone’s favorite villain Lo Lieh, our hero Yuen Hua, also Lily Li, and Norman Chu Siu-Keung.

Chor Yuen (The Sentimental Swordsman, Full Moon Scimitar, Pursuit of Vengeance), Director

Tong Kai (Green Snake, Story of the White-Haired Demon Girl, The Avenging Eagle) Action Director

Yuen Cheung-Yan (18 Fatal Strikes, The Trail of the Broken Blade, Dragon Inn),  Action Director

Yueh Hua (Princess Iron Fan, Come Drink with Me, Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon) as Fei Ying Xiang

Lo Lieh (Born Invincible, The Idiot Swordsman, Return of the Bastard Swordsman) as Liu Shen

Ching Li (Killer Clans, Shaolin and Wu Tang, The Brave Archer Part III ) as Hong Susu

Wang Hsieh (The Swordmates, The 14 Amazons, Legend of the Drunken Tiger) as 5 Venom Clan chief

Angela Yu Chien as 5 Venom Clan chief’s wife

Wong Chung (King of Beggars, Cantonen Iron Kung Fu, Shaolin Temple) as Fei Yingjie

Lily Li Li-Li (Princess Iron Fan, Lonely Famous Sword, White Lotus Cult) as Qiuxin

Cheng Miu (The Flying Dagger, The Imperial Swordsman, Disciples of the 36th Chamber) as Priest Tian Suan

Ku Feng (The Supreme Swordsman, The Hidden Power of the Dragon Sabre, The Lady Assassin) as Master Wenkong

Kong Yeung (Thunder Storm Sword, The Flying Guillotine, Iron Neck Li) as Golden Dragon Security Chief Xie

Wang Han-Chen (The Master of Kung Fu, The Brave Archer, Return of the Bastard Swordsman) as Golden Dragon Security member

Ko Hung (The Master, Killer Clans, Boxer from Shantung) as Golden Dragon Security member

Norman Chu Siu-Keung (The Flying Guillotine, Zu: The Warriors from the Magic Mountain, The Duel) as Qianmeng

Chan Shen (The Spiritual Boxer, The Sentimental Swordsman, Return of the Bastard Swordsman) as 5 Venom Clan centipede chief

Liu Wai (Young Flying Hero, The Imperial Swordsman, Flying Sword Lee) as 5 Venom Clan toad chief

Tung Choi-Bo (Executioners from Shaolin, The Blood Brothers, The Deadly Knives) as 5 Venom Clan scorpion chief

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