BLADE OF DOOM (1982)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical*

This cheap Taiwanese chopsocky enjoyed about half a dozen different titles, so I chose to watch the one entitled BLADE OF DOOM because the promos claimed that heroic martial artist Snowy White (Tien Peng) had a special sword that other swordsmen wished to steal. But it seemed to me that the sword played only an incidental role. 

BLADE is one of many dozens of flicks in which the hero has something or does something that draws a dozen or so opponents into his orbit, usually trying to kill him. BLADE's only distinction is that three separate characters (Tien Ho, Chan Sing and Chi Kuan Chun) want to duel Snowy just to avenge past defeats, with scant reference to his formidable weapon. There's also a gang of thieves, "the Weirdo Gang," who want a martial arts book in Snowy's possession. One of Snowy's few allies is swordswoman Windy (Shih Szu), and some of the men who want Snowy dead are willing to fight to protect him so that they get to kill him later.

Some effects in this incoherent mishmash are uncanny, like a blowpipe that projects mini-grenades. Others are clearly marvelous, like a female vampire who touches a soldier so that he apparently explodes (it's hard to judge because of the director's swift cutaway). In fact, for all the action-elements, director Chang Peng never succeeds in getting across even basic excitement here. He did somewhat better five years earlier with the equally random but somewhat more compelling SHAOLIN KUNG FU MYSTAGOGUE.

I must admit there's an unintentionally funny scene toward the end, when Windy finds her own father initially caring for, and then trying to kill, the vampire girl, and the dad claims that the vampiress is Windy's "stepsister." Nothing much comes of the revelation, not even a particularly good fight between Snowy White and the vampire (whose name is also "Snowy!") Tien Peng is the only redeeming element in the whole mess.