Arriving in December from Severin Films is the Blu-ray for Master of the Flying Guillotine (aka One Armed Boxer 2 or One-armed Boxer vs. the Flying Guillotine), a 1976 cult kung fu classic from director, writer and star, Jimmy Wang Yu (The Beheaded 1000, The One-Armed Swordsman).
A one-armed martial arts master (Wang Yu) is being stalked by an Imperial assassin, the master of two fighters killed in the previous film (1971’s One-Armed Boxer). When the One-Armed Boxer is invited to attend a martial arts tournament, his efforts to lay low are unsuccessful, and the assassin soon tracks him down with the help of his three subordinates: a Thai boxer, a yoga master, and a kobojutsu user.
Master of the Flying Guillotine also stars Chin Kang (The Shaolin Plot), Doris Lung Chun-Erh (Evil Hits Evil), Sham Chin-Bo (The Lama Avenger), Lung Fei (Beach of the War Gods), Wang Yung-Sheng (The Old Master), Hsueh Han (Bravest Revenge) and Lau Kar-Wing (Dirty Kung Fu).
Chinese film insider Frank Djeng announced the release last year, hinting the following features (via Disc Connected):
- Newly restored in 4K, just in time for the film’s 50th Anniversary!
- Audio commentary by kung fu film insiders Michael Worth and Frank Djeng
- Jimmy Wang Yu’s Lifetime Achievement Award appearance at the New York Asian Film Festival, moderated by kung fu film expert Grady Hendrix
🔥 Footnote: Master of the Flying Guillotine helped pioneer the iconic cinematic “tournament arc,” throwing an international lineup of fighters into the same arena and inspiring countless movies and video games that followed, including Bloodsport and the Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat video game franchises. The film features everything from a stretchy-armed Indian yogi master to a Thai kickboxer and, of course, the titular flying guillotine weapon itself.
Since someone heard me, now we need the uncut Shaolin Soccer, the uncut Hero, the uncut Brother from Kitano, the uncut SPL, the uncut Ong-Bak, and the uncut Grandmaster.
Frank Djeng talks too fast, and with his accent I find him very hard to listen to. And to show I’m not just racist I feel similar about James Mudge as well.
Just get Bey Logan back to do commentaries and be done with it.