This was and is one of my favorite movies. It was shown back in the late 70s as the B movie to some other movie I don't even remember now. But the theater got quiet, really quiet, people were glued to the movie - and then this movie became a classic. Theaters would be filled every time it played. I saw this movie over 50 times! Wei Pai, the snake, was my favorite - he is beautiful. When he sits on his chair when the cops come to see him, he recalls to mind Batu Khan, even if Wei Pai is not a Tatar! He was also in 2 more Shaw movies with the same characters as the Venoms - unbelievable fighting in all of them, I think Kid with the Golden Arm and 10 Tigers of Kwangtong or also called N and S. Shaolin. The other actors were in more films, but Wei Pai had left for Golden Harvest. I loved the Snake because, IMO, he is beautiful. I was saddened to find that Wei Pai left Shaw Brothers and moved to Golden Harvest where, IMO, his first film with them was overshadowed by Jackie Chan. He was also in Last Hurrah for Chivalry, but again, he's not the star. This movie is a must see for anyone. Heck, I ran into a professor that ranked this as his favorite movie and he wasn't even into martial arts.

Five Deadly Venoms is a movie which never pretends to be more than it is. A rock-em sock-em, poorly dubbed Chinese Kung Fu masterpiece. The poster and cover draw a fairly clear idea of what the film inside contains, and anyone pulling this item from the shelves should know that full and well going in.On top of being exactly what you expect (and hopefully ergo, what you wanted to watch) the story line and plot points are generally well put together, unlike a lot of movies of this era which tend to draw cob-web patterns of politics which become a headache to keep up with.One of my personal favorite things about this film (and others like it) is the quintessential "slap" sound effect that happens just about any time a person makes skin-to-skin contact. You'll find just about every typical Kung-Fu trope at some point along the story and anyone who's surprised by that fact probably shouldn't have jammed this 97 minute thrill-ride into their players in the first place.

A dying Kung Fu master sends out his last student in order to track down what happened to the previous five students who were members of the banned Poison Clan.He is to see if they are acting for good and if not he his to stop them The master also wants the student to find another member of the clan who ran off with the clans money which the master wants used for good. The earlier students were all taught in a different style snake, centipede, scorpion, lizard, toad, while the last student was taught a little in each style. All of the students end up in one town looking for the old man with all of the money,and soon everyone is battling to get the money.Classic martial arts film has title that even many non-fans know. I've spoken with a couple of casual fans and this seems to be the one film that sticks in their head. Its a very good movie, though I'm not really sure why this film stays with people when for my money there are other films that are better from the Shaw studio (One armed Swordmen or the Brave Archer series for example). This isn't to sell the film short, its not, since the film is structured like a mystery, our hero has no clue who anyone is and the Venoms themselves only know at best who two of the others is. We're given the identity of four but we still have to work out who the fifth really is. The film is also odd in that for a martial arts film, other than a training sequence at the start and the killing of the old man and his family for the money, there is really no action for about 40 or 45 minutes. Its a bold move to do it but it pays off since the plot and the performances hold your attention. (The film is also odd in that its the first martial arts film I think I've ever seen where there are no women. I don't think one has a speaking role and I'm pretty sure that none appear in the background. Its indicative of nothing, its just something that struck me.) This is a good solid little film that may not live up to the reputation it has in some circles, but is still a really good film to curl up with on your couch.Around 7 out of 10.

"In the world of old-school kung fu movies, where revenge pictures came a dime a dozen, it took a lot for a film to stand out -- and even more to make it a fan favorite after all these years. What is arguably Chang Cheh's finest movie continues to hold influence over the Hong Kong movie industry, from the themes of loyalty, brotherhood and revenge as explored by John Woo (who got his start in the HK movie industry working for Chang) during the heyday of heroic bloodshed during the late 1980's, to more modern movies like A Man Called Hero, which sports a character in a costume inspired by this film. The influence has also carried into other areas as well, from music such as the Wu-Tang Clan, TV commercials for Sprite and video games such as "Mortal Kombat." So what makes this movie so special? The plot -- on the surface -- is pretty simple. It deals with members of a rogue group known as the "Poison Clan" who are searching for a treasure hidden by their sifu. All of the members of the clan have extraordinary kung fu abilities, denoted by their animal styles, or "venoms" (the lizard can climb walls, the scorpion has a deadly strike, etc.). The twist is that since the clan always wears masks, not all of them known who the others are. Thus a simple plot becomes almost a suspense thriller. We're not talking The Usual Suspects here, but it's far above many other kung fu movies of the time. Supposedly, Golden Harvest was not too happy with Chang's script -- like most of his movies, they felt it was too dark and violent -- and they actually wanted him to add broad comic relief to it. Thankfully, Chang stuck to his guns and stayed with his original script, which has since has become revered as one of the best for the films of its time, if not ever, completing an almost perfect dramatic arc and providing the perfect backbone for the extraordinary action sequences.But what really solidifies the movie are the venoms themselves. Chang Cheh hit upon a magical formula with the cast -- not only did he gain talented martial artists (whose moves, competed without the aid of wires or other special effects, put most modern martial artists to shame) but great actors as well. The formula proved so popular that Chang usually had one or more of the venoms in his later movies. Getting back to matters at hand, in most old-school movies, the actors seem to playing out cardboard cutouts, but here the actors actually create characters. It seems that everyone has a favorite venom (mine is Philip Kwok -- best known to many as Mad Dog from Hard-Boiled -- as Lizard) and it is this personal connection to the characters that The Five Deadly Venoms generates which makes it a true classic of the genre. Even if you're normally not a fan of old-school movies, you need to check The Five Deadly Venoms out, if for nothing else to see where modern movies got their inspiration from."