Mediocre at best

I have to agree--I was underwhelmed by "The Five Venoms". Chang Cheh's late '70s/early '80s films aren't my favorites anyhow (they're cartoonish to the point of absurdity), but "Avenging Warriors of Shaolin" was a far more entertaining vehicle for the director's much-loved Second Team. (Apologies to anyone who insists on calling them the 'Venoms Mob', but I just can't go along with that. I don't subscribe to the deliberately boneheaded, Wu Tang Clan approach to martial arts films; it ain't Shakespeare, but there's no reason the genre can't be discussed intelligently.)

I disagree. It's not supposed to be a breakneck-paced film like Jackie Chan or Jet Li. I love those kinds of films, but I also have a love for silly, violent kung fu movies that don't even have very much fighting; I wouldn't quite put Five Deadly Venoms in that category, but it's close. I thought the plot was amazing. You pretty much know what's going to happen with the identity of the Venoms, but there's only so much they can do. Other than that, this film is pure dirty fun. It gives you torture, deception, backstabbing, mass murder, witness tampering, police cover-ups, and more. Even when I knew who the Scorpion was, I was still surprised by the way things played out. There was so much more viciousness than I expected, like the way they tortured the Toad, or killed Menfa and the constable. Good entertainment!


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I wasn't particularly I'm,pressed either.

The opening scene is so overloaded with exposition it was painful. The story was meandering and contrived.

There was a lot of potential here with the The Five Venoms and their styles and how they could be used but the only things to recommend this movie is the cool training montage showing each of the styles and the end fight scene but even that isn't particularly great.

Overall I found it average and was a little disappointed in it considering its reputation. 6/10 for me.

This film is a classic and one of the greats though not on a strict Martial Arts basis or choreography basis so yes when comparing it to films like those it doesn't compare, though it beats the majority on the story alone. Considering those films you list are considered amongst the top ranks of anyone who know's what they're talking about, you also have to consider the LARGE amount and I mean LARGE amount of generic martial arts movies from the 70s/80s period. SB films like this stand head above the majority of 'Revenge for my dead master' plot-like films.

It's always been my view with Shaw Bros films that they have very strong stories(as this one does) but were never as focused on the martal arts side or choreography, especially if you compare to Golden Harvest back then or other independent studios. I've always thought SB had strong stories with weak choreography and vis-versa for Golden Harvest(Sammo is the choreo king bar none IMO)

So to that end, Ive not seen every Asian Martial Arts movie(That would take a LONG time) but I've seen every relevant one from every decade and then a good few more and I wouldn't rank this on any chart as a pure Martial Arts movie, the choreography is mediocre, static as usual but as a film as a whole it is great..

So I would probably agree with your rating in relation to those other films as far as choreography goes but otherwise I would simply not categorise it beside them.

This movie was great...back in the early 80's when I was kid, lol. Watching it now was such a let down to fond memories. God this movie sucked. I swear, the choreography in Charlie's Angels is light years ahead of this movie. Funny how this movie is one of the most talked about/famous of all time kung fu flicks if you ask anybody over the age of 40.

Now Iron Monkey on the other hand, that movie is bad ass. Definitely in my top 5 favorite martial arts movies.

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