Great Massacre (1982)

A secret society is out to ruin a nobleman’s reputation and destroy those closest to him while a swordsman returns to find himself embroiled in the plot after discovering that the nobleman has married his childhood love.

Hong Kong kung fu stars Leung Kar Yan and Mang Fei join a cast of unknown Taiwanese actors for a well written, if only moderately exciting wuxia tale of romance and swordplay action.

Sporting a unflattering wig, Mang Fei escapes his commonly exuberant and boyish roles to play Rocky, a master swordsman who leaves Cherry, his childhood love to make a name for himself. He returns to find that she has already married a well-to-do fighter named Willow (Leung Kar Yan). While Rocky was away, Willow had killed Iron Head (also called Iron Star at the beginning), a villain who tried to make advances on Cherry. Having learned of this, Iron Head’s brother forms a secret society called the Chung who devises an elaborate plan to discredit Willow as revenge. Part of this entails killing off Willow’s allies and framing Rocky for the murders and even making it appear that Rocky has had an affair with Cherry. While the latter nearly comes true, the truth is discovered after the Chung society attack Willow’s home while he’s locked in combat with Rocky. The two race back to find Cherry has killed herself after being taken advantage of by Iron Head’s brother. They join forces to kill him and Rocky proves to Willow in the end that although born of common stock, he is a nobleman at heart.

There are some stories that deserve better treatment on screen and Great Massacre is one of them. Taking place in the mythical world of the Chinese knight-errant, the story is fairly well fleshed out and easy to follow which is rare in these low budget Taiwanese films. Although you’ll find the usual elements such as valiant swordsmen battling it out, female seductresses and assassins, and plenty of colorful or downright gaudy costumes, it’s the central theme of justice prevailing that stands out. In most kung fu films, the idea is for the hero to avenge the death of someone close to him by killing the bad guy. And while the villain definitely gets it in the end, its the sacrifice that Mang Fei’s character makes that not only defines this swordplay sub-genre, but is also a little more compelling.

It’s a shame that the story is ripped apart by bad acting and even worse dubbing. Mang Fei is not much of an actor to begin with, despite the fact that he’s a capable comical martial arts star. He’s simply out of place with a bad wig in a role that someone like Ti Lung is much more suited for, being the noble hero. Leung Kar Yan whose physical skills are equally good, if not better is more convincing in his role, but never displays enough emotion until the very end. He frustratingly shrugs off rumors of his wife’s infidelity and his own inability to deal with it. There are three main female characters all presumably played by Taiwanese actresses. The lead is Cherry, who is your typical damsel in distress who seems to be able to fight only at certain moments. The other two include Su Jade, a seductress who is Mang Fei’s friend and predictably falls in love with him. Her role is downright perplexing as attempts to carry her away while still in her bath (!?) and later poison her seems to have little to do with the main plot, aside from an opportunity to see her scamper around in nothing but soap suds. The third gal is the tomboyish lead grunt in the secret society who keeps trying to kidnap Cherry. She has an erratic quality that seems to indicate less a character trait than an inability by the filmmakers to figure out what to do with her as she floats in and out of scenes spouting ridiculous dialogue.

Speaking of dialogue, the English dubbing is just plain bad and not in a funny sort of way. It simply sounds as though the dubbers used a poor translation of the original track and adlibbed much of it. There are also numerous scenes where characters’ thoughts are verbally spoken on a grade school level. Its like reading an old Marvel comic book where the superhero is repeatedly speaking the obvious in the middle of a battle. And what’s with Anglo names? Not only do we have to put up with Rocky, Willow, and Cherry but Leung’s right-hand man is named Woody!

Great Massacre is a film that has two good leads, supporting stars that at least look good even if they can’t act, decent martial arts action, and a better than average tale. If only everything else were even remotely as good. Sadly, with poor acting, overly theatrical costumes, and hideous dubbing, this effort tries to live up to its title in more ways than one.