Powerful

Please don't spend money on this.

Admirable film.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

I had only just watched "Clan of the White Lotus" a month or two back, which could be seen (well in my eyes) as a more accomplished rehash of this particular period martial arts enterprise. Nonetheless the similarities in the story's structure (which is hard to pass by) doesn't matter because the Shaw Brothers and director Chia-Liang Liu along with actor Lieh Lo as the Kung Fu Master Pai Mei and minor cameo by Chia Hui Liu makes this one very enjoyable, downright flamboyant and utterly unique cult martial arts feature with a good sense of humour abound and dashing action. Pai Mei had just killed a Shoalin priest and surviving students led by Hung Hsi Kuan (ably acted by Kuan Tai Chen) vow vengeance for their master's death and that of fellow students. And it's no rush either. As Hung happily marries a strong-minded lady (a perfectly pitched Lily Li) who's well developed in the crane-style fighting and has a son while spending many years perfecting the skills and stamina of the tiger-style fighting before taking on master white brow. Cheng Kang-Yeh provides a cheeky performance as one the Shoalin students and Wang Yu is quite good as the grown up son. The pacing can be rather bumpy (especially in the leisured midsection concentrating more on the trivial aspects in the character dramas that hold the narrative), but when it came down to the atypical fighting it was excitingly displayed with verve-like camera-work working around the smooth, but tough choreography with numerous, long encounters. Maybe repetitive but never dull, although the ending is a little disappointing in the way it just seems to finish hastily.

Executioners from Shoalin This is a great Shaw brothers epic that has some of the best martial arts fights of the seventies. Just one year before Lau Kar Leung unleashed the 36th chamber was on the world this classic of Shoalin martial arts is a must have for true Kung Fu movie geeks. Forget that dubbed c**p. If you have a region 3(or all region) DVD you must see the new re-mastered original language re-issue from the awesome Celestial pictures series. The Celestial series is the best way to see Shaw bros. movies. This movie is the epic tale of a man who vows to avenge his master who was killed by a white browed monk who is referred to only as `white brow'. White seems invincible and what follows is a movie that follows years of training and a whole family working together to make the vengeance happen. Great film. Anytime A big time Holly wood filmmaker pays tribute to lesser know classics they become more known for the tribute factor. Kill Bill Vol.2 quotes this movie and when people see it now they are going to know the monk grabbing the foot when kicked in the balls and crushing the foot. That fact is QT has good taste in kung fu movies.

EXECUTIONERS FROM SHAOLIN is director LIU CHIA-LIANG (LAU KAR-LEUNG) very different contribution to the Shaolin Temple series, begun by CHANG CHEH. Unlike CHANG who seems to have a strong dislike for women, and actresses, LIU provides LILY LI the opportunity to portray a strong, complex female role.From her very first scenes as a travelling street entertainer who defends her turf in a duel with the famous Shaolin fighter HONG XIOGUAN (aka HUNG SZE KUAN); marries him but keeps him at bay on their wedding night using her martial arts, FANG YUNG is a match for her vengeance obsessed husband.HONG is one of the few Shaolin monks to survive the earlier massacre. In fact he and his men escaped an ambush only because one of his friends - Brother Tong - sacrifices himself to give them all time to escape.And the same thing happens again, when he challenges ABBOT PAI MEI (aka "White Brows"), even though he is clearly no match for him. He rejects his wife's advice, seemingly because she is a woman. And using the same pigheaded logic, he makes the terrible decision not to learn her crane style.Thankfully the son stands up to his father, and learns from his mother. When Hong returns to fight White Brows a second time, there is a sense of inevitability. The son fights to stop his father, who dissuades him with empty rhetoric, and then goes to his death.In this film this is very significant because the filmmakers have gone to great trouble to establish a strong family unit, only to have it torn asunder because the father is too set in his ways to change. Thus the audience really does feel a sense of loss, and are saddened that the wife and son cannot put the love they have for Hong into words. The need to seek vengeance has become very personal.The film itself has a wonderful mix of combat and training sequences; sizeable dollops of romance and humour (Cantonese style), and enough plot to hang everything together.Best of all, it actually has something to say: the film ends, abruptly, leaving you with very mixed emotions.I first saw this on a Southgate video. The new 2004 Celestial Pictures Region 3 DVD in 2.35 widescreen with rich saturated colours makes you want to watch the film over and over (it also has some very intriguing extras). And it does help to hear the film in its original Mandarin, rather than dubbed!8.5/10 * a 4 star martial arts classic.

I loved this film...I too saw it on TV in the early 80's, and have been looking for it almost ever since. A great display of varied styles of Kung Fu, and a lot of awesome action. If this one is on VHS I would love to know how to get hold of it. My favorite was the dude with the metal whip-thing.