San suk san geen hap (1983)

Director:

Hark Tsui

Writers:

Shui Chung Yuet (writer)
Jerrold Mundis (writer)

Release Date:

5 February 1983 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Horror | Adventure | Action | Fantasy

Plot:

Chinese soldiers in an ancient civil war get caught up in a fantastical quest to save the universe.

Plot Keywords:

Ancient China | Floating | Good Versus Evil | Surreal | Hong Kong China

Awards:

5 nominations

Cast

Biao Yuen	...	Ti Ming Chi
Hoi Mang	...	Yi Chen (as Hoi Man)
Adam Cheng	...	Ting Yin
Moon Lee	...	Mu Sang, Countess's Guard
Brigitte Lin	...	Countess
Damian Lau	...	Abbott Hsiao Yu
Sammo Hung Kam-Bo	...	Fat Man / Chang Mei
Judy Ongg	...	Li I chi
Norman Chu	...	Heaven's Blade
Hark Tsui	...	Guy fighting Fat Man
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hark-On Fung	...	Evil Disciple
Kwan-Li Shen	...	Chi Wu-Shuang

Also Known As:

Warriors from the Magic Mountain
Xin shu shan jian xia (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)
Zu Mountain: New Legend of the Zu Mountain Swordsmen (Hong Kong: English title) (literal title)
Zu Time Warrior (International: English title) (dubbed version)
Zu Warriors
Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain (Hong Kong: English title)

Runtime:

USA:95 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

South Korea:15 (2006) | UK:PG | Australia:PG | USA:Unrated

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Best of the Martial Arts Films (1990)

This is a freaky bit of fun

This film illustrates the major difference between Western and Eastern fantasy films. A western version of this same film would attempt for some level of realism, some element of grittiness and angst. This film ignores realism entirely. Hey, its a fantasy already! Swordsman and monks float and dive in aerial battle, an old man's eyebrows are deadly weapons, whole armies of guys in brightly colored uniforms run about attacking each other for very poorly explained reasons, and blue eyed jawa clones swoop about the inside of evil temples. Although the ending is almost unintelligible, the first hour of the film is just one cool scene after another. The editing of this film would certainly make an epileptic have a seizure, but after five minutes you stop caring about the plot and dialogue and just start enjoying the wacky surreal action. I wish I could see this one on the big screen.