Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain (Shu shan, 1983)
Woah... man, this is what I imagine an acid trip must be like. So, basically, there's this big war where everyone's fighting each other, and Yuen Biao's soldier is trying to run away from it all when he stumbles into the magic mountain where there's lots of flying people and evil spirits and Sammo Hung sporting some kung fu-fighting eyebrows. Oh, and laughing fish. Pardon my French, but this is some fucked up shit! In a good way, mind you, more or less, even if the "special effects" are less than special and the wire fu's pretty cheesy.
Still, the movie does have a sense of humor, Yuen Biao's adorable, and there's some cute slashy subtext between his character (called, heh, "virgin boy" quite a few times) and the student of a monk who's also fighting on the side of good, trying to stop an evil demon from coming into power and destroying everything. When the two good young lads get possession of the twin swords and must "act as one" in order to control their mighty weapons...well, the whole dialog is enough to give a slash fan a good case of the giggles.
It's cute. Watch it when you're in a silly mood. Better yet, watch it when you're drunk.
SUMMARY:
Overall rating: B Crazy fantasy fun with cute boys and lovely ladies.
Droolworthiness: A-
Slashiness: B+ The two young heroes make a pretty sweet couple...
Action: C Lots of flying people and bad special effects. Those looking for serious martial arts surely should look elsewhere!
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