36th Chamber

It should come as no surprise that I am a huge fan of kung fu movies. I love everything from Drunken Master and its overstated spin offs to artistic treatments like Hero and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. I think I may have even met the director of House of Flying Daggers  (long story). The one film I've yet to see though is a doozy. It's considered one of the most influential movies of the genre. It has inspired many great films after it. It even inspired a whole album from one of my favorite rap groups. I'm talking of course about the "36th Chamber of Shaolin." I haven't seen it, but a great burning desire was stoked within me ever since I saw that the sequel was on netflix. Also, it's a Shaw Brothers Production, and as far as kung fu films go, they were the top dog studio back in the day.  You can find a really cool podcast regarding the history of Sir Run Run Shaw of Shaw Brothers' fame here by Lazlo Montgomery. I'm quite the fan of his China History Podcast and would love to host my own podcast in a similar vein one day. You should check out some of his other episodes. If you love kung fu or wuxia  (that essentially means martial arts tales) then you'll love hearing about the great Guan Yu of the Three Kingdoms period. He and his guan dao, named "the Green Dragon Crescent Blade," would defend the innocent against hordes of enemies, often times taking on scores of men at once. Well anyways, I'll leave you with the trailer for the 36th Chamber below. Hopefully it will whet your appetite enough to go to your local used music and video store to buy. I'll probably post a review later on. By the way, if you're looking for the best selection of new kung fu films as well as trashy old ones, that's the place to go. Mine is called Rasputin's. How's that for cool?

Since I'm still working out some technical kinks, I'll link you to the trailer rather than embed it. Sorry.