Fuzzy movie poster is not representative of movie quality

The Nine Venoms

Well, it the second week of December, and Kung Fu Christmas continues! Or starts, depending on how you look at it. This is a minor classic which has a man who goes to Hell, bargains with the Devil to return to earth for vengeance, and is given a bunch of demon/vampires helpers who hide as a skull necklace (and lovely matching bracelets!) when not in use.
The demons are a troop of young Chinese acrobats who are given several opportunities during the feature to show off their skill. I must say, they are the cheeriest bunch of blood sucking vampires I have ever seen.
This was originally entitled The Nine Demons, but was retitled to cash in on the popularity of the Shaw Brothers venom films. As a result it is often mistaken for The Five Deadly Venoms, which was an official Shaw Brothers movie and starred the entire venom squad. This does have two members of the famous venom squad, Chiang Sheng and Lu Feng, so it will seem familiar. It also has a lot of the same bright colors and filmography as the Shaw Brothers films. That would be because the director is Chang Cheh, who spent most of his career at the Shaw Brothers directing the venom squad. I would say the big difference is that the Shaw Brothers venom films generally took a stronger grounding in reality over The Nine Venoms, which has flying blood sucking skulls, wild supernatural deaths, and that entire troop of aforementioned young acrobats.

Sadly this is one of the last times you will see Chiang Sheng in any film. I sometimes feel that The Nine Venoms may have been an attempt to bring Chiang Sheng back to filmmaking with a few of his old friends. When the venom group disbanded in 1981, three of the venoms went to form a production company, another went to Hong Kong, and Chiang Sheng chose to remain distant. I am not sure I believe the line about his wife wanting Chiang to not participate in any more projects – I think it was probably Chiang’s drinking issues starting up. Chiang Sheng was in five more films before he was found dead from a heart attack (at the age of 40) in his house in 1991.

We have two more Thursdays before Christmas. Next week, Kung Fu Christmas continues with a stocking full of Kung Fu from Beyond the Grave. Zombies and smirks abound!
After that, we will break our fast from Kung Fu Movies and we will have a very special Glibertarians Holiday Special about hope and the human spirit. The Hebrew Hammer.

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(h/t: The Hyperbole)