Master of the Flying Guillotine

Set during the 1700s during China's Qing Dynasty, MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE opens with the title character, an old blind man (Kong Kam) who learns that his two disciples have been slain by a One-Armed Boxer. Seeking revenge, he takes the notorious flying guillotine (equal parts yo-yo, beekeeper's hat and buzzsaw) out of retirement and hits the road in search of the man who killed his acolytes, decapitating any slob he finds who is unfortunate enough to possess only one torso appendage.

Meanwhile, the head of the Eagle Claw school is planning a martial arts tournament. The One-Armed Boxer (Jimmy Wang Yu) takes time away from training his students in such martial arts as basket-jumping and wall-walking to attend the festivities, but refuses to participate himself - as he's a Ming rebel, he doesn't want to attract any undue attention.

After much one-on-one dueling at the competition, the blind man arrives to disrupt things on his quest for vengeance, and the One-Armed Boxer flees. The blind man recruits some peculiar cohorts from the tournament (including a Thai kickboxer and a pugnacious yogi who can stretch his limbs) and eventually catches up to him, leading to an epic throwdown supreme in a coffin store.

Written and directed by the One-Armed Boxer himself, former Shaw Brothers star Jimmy Wang Yu's creative vision gives MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE a unique tone thanks to some effective camera tricks (and dig that groovy red-hued flashback battle sequence). Wang Yu, also previously singularly-limbed in the ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN flicks, is no Jackie Chan or Sonny Chiba, nor does he try to be… his One-Armed Boxer uses his noggin as much as his lone fist, luring his foes "A-Team"-style into various booby-trapped settings before ultimately pummeling them.

The story, like most kung fu flicks, exists as an excuse to have a fight scene every five minutes, and by the great ghost of Bruce Lee this one doesn't disappoint. The acting by comparison is surprisingly well done and the highly kinetic battles are superbly choreographed and captured, particularly (and appropriately) the climactic slugfest. The tournament itself lasts about 25 minutes, and features distinctive combatants in everything from monkey-style to pole-fighters to mustachioed Mongolians, all knocking seven shades of shit out of each other.

Anyone with even a passing interest in "old school" style martial arts movies, cheese cinema or beheadings should be at least moderately entertained by MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE, perhaps the greatest of the "tournament" martial arts movies. The influence of MASTER can't be denied - elements of the flick have appeared in videogames and movies like STREET FIGHTER, MORTAL KOMBAT and even THE MATRIX.