Snake Shadow Lama Fist (1976)

Chi Kuan Chun’s family is murdered by three crooks and he sets out to get revenge first by killing one and then attempting to frame the leader for sleeping with the local governor’s wife. When that fails he challenges the remaining two in a fight to the death.

While Chi Kuan Chun has starred in a number of good kung fu titles including Eagle’s Claw (1977), Snake Shadow Lama Fist is an utter waste of time except for the last ten minutes which features a number of animal styles in the final fight.

The plot is very similar to Thunder Kick (1974) where a martial arts master plots this elaborate and unnecessary revenge against three gangsters before killing them in a fight. In SSLF, Chi Kuan Chun is getting revenge for the murder of his family. He busts one of the criminals out of jail who had gotten himself caught for another crime. Kuan Chun pummels him for information leading to the whereabouts of his two brothers. After dispatching with him, Kuan Chun discovers that the leader of the group has become a “legitimate” businessman. After witnessing the severe nature of the region’s new governor when doling out criminal sentences, Kuan Chun plots to make it appear as if the gang leader is sleeping with the governor’s wife. Too bad that she’s actually fooling around with the leader’s brother. That brother has managed to become the governor’s deputy. While buying time for his elder brother, he figures out who Kuan Chun is in an unlikely circumstance – hiding underneath the governess’s bed. The two make a beeline for the door, leaving the confused governor behind with his adulterous wife. They agree to meet at a set location to duke it out. But as the fight begins, the elder brother joins his partner in crime to give Kuan Chun’s various animal styles a real test.

Usually a film that is only 69 minutes long would be reason to complain, but I would not care to endure a full 90 minutes of this one. The film doesn’t waste any time killing off Kuan Chun’s family in the first five minutes. His brother uses a ridiculous cat style and goes so far as to die like one too with “paws” up. The next 55 minutes is filled with hideously dubbed chatter, rudimentary situational comedy with lame sexual references, and three or four fights which take place at night and are nearly impossible to see. I will say that there was one mildly entertaining scene Kuan Chun witnesses when the governor commands an accused felon to bat his accomplice over the head. If the second felon manages to dodge the stick, he’ll be set free. It has nothing to do with story aside from showing how idiotic the governor is, but then maybe that’s why I enjoyed it.

Finally at the end, Kuan Chun shows off some of his skills in a fight with the two remaining killers. Not surprisingly, he uses several animal styles including Eagle’s Claw, Tiger’s Claw, and a Cobra Fist. This is the best scene in the whole film and really the only one worth watching. Sadly, Ground Zero’s abysmal DVD manages to make even this last scene now worth the effort. My recommendation is to steer clear of this title at all costs. It’ll only cause you pain.