Dante Lam to direct ‘Flying Guillotine’ remake

News | Film News | by Mark Pollard

Shaw Brothers’ martial arts classic THE FLYING GUILLOTINE (1975) is going to see new life in a $6-8 million remake directed by Dante Lam. The news comes as start-up production and financing company Cinema Popular unveils four new projects at Cannes.

Other titles include fantasy superhero movie JUNG KU – THE MAN FROM 18TH HELL with director Peter Ho attached, serial-killer thriller QUEEN’S ROAD RIPPER, and contemporary comedy GOD OF WEALTH.

Lam’s most recently released film, the long-delayed gunplay actioner THE SNIPER, arrives on DVD and VCD in Hong Kong on May 27th courtesy of Kam & Ronson. Lam will begin shooting THE FLYING GUILLOTINE in November after completing the action thriller OUT OF LEASH for Media Asia.

Directed by Ho Meng-hua, THE FLYING GUILLOTINE (1975) originally starred martial arts actor Chen Kuan-tai as a former member of a secret, royal Qing-era hit squad specializing in the use of a “flying guillotine,” an elaborate thrown weapon attached to a chain that chops off the head of its victim. After being ordered to kill the entire family of a political opposition leader, the protagonist attempts to leave the squad and is branded an outlaw. He goes into hiding but is hunted down by his former comrades and must face the dreaded flying guillotine himself.

The 1975 film was popular enough to spawn a sequel and several independently produced spinoffs. The most notable was Jimmy Wang Yu’s cult hit MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE.

Source: Screen Daily via Wuxiasociety.org

Tags: Dante Lam, The Flying Guillotine (2010), upcoming

Kung Fu Movies Rock!

This one should be interesting. One of the greatest of the Shaw Brothers productions. Whenever I hear the words "re-make" I usually cringe, but there is such a wealth of Shaw Brothers movies that could be remade....could go a long way to revitalize the Shaw legacy.

Daniel Zelter

BTW, I'm still surprised the DVD for 'Guillotine looks so much better than the alleged "remastered" print they put out in limited release a few years back.

Daniel Zelter

Hopefully, it'll make up for that "remake" with Go Go Yubari in Kill Bill.

Milkyway

My choice of director would be Wilson Yip, or perhaps Andrew Lau. These guys have more tricks up their sleeves and both has done pretty much every kind of movie.

Rhythm-X

Dante Lam is awesome. He co-directed BEAST COPS and his JIANG HU: THE TRIAD ZONE remains one of the most underrated Hong Kong films of the last 10 years or so. That other movie called JIANG HU that had Edison Chen in it came out a couple of years later, which probably didn't help matters any.

However, none of that makes me think he's automatically the right guy to be remaking FLYING GUILLOTINE.