Secret Message (1979)
A young boy holds the secret to the coveted kung fu manual. A martial clan lead by Pai Ying hunt mercilessly for the book. Blind but not out, Lung Jun Er saves the boy and defeats the aggressors.
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A Disappointing Continuation
The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.
It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.
Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
THE SECRET MESSAGE is an amusingly cheap Taiwanese wuxia story with a plot centred around the Poison Clan and the struggle for control after the clan's leader goes missing. Mainly it's a hodge podge of genre tropes and ideas, with a blind swordswoman kicking up a fuss and various encounters in the woods between rival characters. The film has a low key magical aspect to it so you get magic weapons and characters flying through the air as well as a couple of cheesy creations. The cast is generally undistinguished, but there are smaller parts for genre regulars Chen Sing and Phillip Ko, both of whom needed more screen time.
ej's kung-fu capsule review for films of the chop-socky old-school - 1. basic plot type - historical; clan vs. clan; revenge; some weapons; some magic 'fu; some political intrigue; broken-hearted romance.2. plot construction - poor; confused and listless.3. dramatic - tries to be.4. funny - not at all.5. dialog - poor.6. cast performance - just so-so.7. crew performance - competent at best.8. amount of fighting - lots.9. quality of fighting - good.10. any special cast or crew notes - none.11. big positive - good fights.12. big negative - two annoying child-actors. bottom-line - who should see this movie - only a kung-fu cultist with a Saturday afternoon to waste.
This movie beats Manos Hand of Fate.Highlights include: exploding German Shepards (in Feudal Japan), keychain-studded scimitar, long-lost relatives who just appear with no introduction or explanation, dissolving ninjas, and a cameo appearance by a magical monkey.Buy this movie. You will laugh until you cry tears of blood.