The Eight Masters (1977)

"Keep the peace, have patience, forgive an offense" and watch out for those hopping vampires!

Carter Wong took on The 8 Masters, bronze men, as well as a room full of hopping vampires. What more could you ask for in a kung fu flick?

When his father is killed by the 8 Masters, young Chu Shiao Chieh is rushed to a Shaolin temple by his father’s dying friend, Chou. The monks take Chu in and teach him the art of kung fu. When he matures, he is tested by deadly traps and the notorious bronze men. After passing the tests he is released into the world to pay his debt to Chou’s family for the sacrifice he made. The wise monk admonishes him to, “Keep the peace, have patience, forgive an offense.” When Chu returns home, he finds that his mother is blind and Chou’s daughter is living with his mother. Chu doesn’t even have time to unpack his suitcase before the 8 come calling, all wanting a duel to settle their debts with his father. How long can he hold out before granting their demands?

Carter Wong was never a great actor, but he was fun to watch and not too stiff in this role. The movie started out promising with kung fu training and the fights during his Shaolin trials. Once he left the temple the energy dropped precipitously. Watching him beaten and refusing to fight repeatedly until tragedy struck became tiresome. When he finally took on the 8 Masters one at a time during the last 30 minutes the movie picked up again. He battled Phillip Ko Fei, Lu Ping, hopping vampires, and Chia Ling to name a few. Chia’s character held a secret, key to the movie as did Doris Lung Erh’s. I gave the movie a .5 bump for the cast and the hopping vampires.

Director Joseph Kuo filmed much of the first half of the movie in night scenes making it hard to see what was happening. When Chu finally relented and took on the masters, viewers were given a scenic tour of the area-a mountaintop, the beach, a river, and forest. The version I watched was cropped and dubbed, none of which was the filmmaker’s fault. When movies have been cropped, dubbing is sometimes a necessary evil as the subtitles tend to run off the screen.

The fights used a variety of weapons even when Chu took on everyone without one. There were times with the camera zoomed in too close and the fights undercranked, the action was blurred and the moves obscured. I much preferred when the scenes played out where the different styles could be observed.

The 8 Masters would have been a much better film if Kuo could have kept the pacing up throughout the story instead of bringing it to a screeching halt in the middle. Despite the lull, it was nice to have a loving mother-son story, a rarity in kung fu flicks. And if nothing else, there were bronze men and hopping vampires to shake things up.

10/16/23

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This is a Carter Wong vehicle about a young man who has to fight the 8 Masters as punishment for his father's misdeeds.

When Chu is younger he is taken to a Shaolin monastary to protect him from his father's enemies. While there his training and studies begin, and he grows into a skilled fighter. When he's older he goes back to the village to find his mother and to live in peace but once the 8 masters find out he's left the monastary. They all still want to fight and make him pay for his father's misdeeds. He adamantly refuses and takes beatings constantly.

Ultimately, he fights the 8 masters and learns that one is significant to him. The fight scenes were really good.

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