Rating: 
Summary: Excellent plot, excellent film
Review: this film is a classic. the plot is good and the kung fu is inventive.
I starts off with the intro about a dying master who tells his last pupil of the venom styles he taught. The centipede style is very fast and agile, this is my fave. The snake style, (which looks really strange and isn't the snake style used in real kung fu) is fast and nimble, the scorpion uses his legs like scorpion pincers. The lizard can climb walls, (this is the worst part of the film) and the toad can resist any weapon peircing his skin (this is the secnd worst part of the film).
The last pupil goes to check on these five masters becasue the teacher was scared they might target an old school mate and steal his money.
shortly after Yan tieh arrives in the town where they are all living, Tang Sao Quai (Centipede) and Wei Pai (Snake) kill an entire family and wreck the house looking for the money. Then Ma (Scorpion) sneaks in after them and steals the map for the money that they didn't find.
The murder is reported to the court and the judge orders his two police officers Ho Yun Sin (Lizard) and Ma (Scorpion)to capture the killers. Ho meets up with Lie Ho (toad) and they capture the centipede for the murder.
However the snake and scorpion bribe the judge to frame the toad for the killing and they everntually, after an amazing fight scene between Wei Pai and Lo Mang kill the toad and pretend he committed suicide.
The Lizard was away during all this and when he comes back he is outraged. The two witnesses Lin Quan and Won Far have been killed by the centipede and snake so Yan Tieh teams up with the lizard to kill the two. In an amazing end fight scene, the scorpion kills the snake and the snake kills the scorpion and the Lizard and Yan Tieh kill the centipede. So the good guys win after all.
It took me a few goes to actually understand the plot but it was worth it. Five stars!
Rating:
Summary: Have You Seen RETURN OF THE 5 DEADLY VENOMS?
Review: I too used to watch this movie on saturday kung-fu theater (i had to have been 5 or 6 at the time). I could still remember the scene where two of the five are attcking SNAKE and one goes high the other goes low. That was some great s#!+ If you've seen this flick, but haven't seen RETURN OF... then you are missing out. RETURN OF... right from the start grabs your attention and keeps it throughout. It begins with three men breaking into the home of one of their enemies to get revenge. He's not there, but his wife and son are. The three men kill his wife and cut his son's hands off. That's when daddy gets home and the story picks up... I don't want to spoil anything for you guys, but I'll say this: there's a pretty big twist right after the intro that you'll never expect (5 stars for this flick)
Rating: 
Summary: as good as it was twenty years ago
Review: I first saw this movie in early eighties and just saw it again in DVD. My comment: I liked it twenty years ago and I like it today. I don't have comments on this DVD edition, but if like the movie, better look for its newly remastered DVD available from Celestial Pictures.
Rating:
Summary: A must for any martial arts film lover ( A MUST!)
Review: If you collect kung fu films and don't own this, your collection is worthless. One of the most amazing, and most entertaining martial arts films to be released. 5 masters each with their own styles: snake, toad, lizard, centipede, scorpion. All suspected of using their martial arts skills for evil by there one time master. Before he dies he orders his final student to go out and find these venoms and stop their rain of terror. The only way he can hope to stop the group of martial arts gods, is to team up with one of them, the only problem is where are they , and can any of them be trusted? spectacular styles and fight scenes along with a great story line make this an instant classic.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent flick. Excellent pace.
Review: This one is a simple story that can get confusing, but has just the right stuff to keep the audience on track. Instead of a revenge theme like we so commonly see in the kung-fu flicks. Not that revenge themes are bad but it gives us a new taste to a different type of film. Basically, a master has taught his pupils 5 deadly arts of Kung-fu all of which fit the the title 5 deadly venoms because the styles mimic animals that are poisonous. The centipede, snake, toad, lizard, scorpion. Hence the name "poison clan". The master teaches all of these to pupils at different times and is only explained by the master as a sort of flashback but more of a background builder. Each pupil mastered a specific style within the clan but do not know anything besides that style. However, they know their own style very well. Each style has it's own weaknesses but if one can know how to do them all they essetially complement each other and then one can have no weaknesses. The master is telling this story to his pupil Yan Tieh who actually has a small role in the film even though his role is rather important because it actually sets things in motion. The reason is the master has taught all of the tecniques to Yan but he doesnt know anyone technique very well and therefore he can be easily beaten by anyone of the 5 previous pupils. His mission is to check up on the 5 pupils to see if they are doing good deeds with their skills. As the story unfolds there are 2 who are obviously bad and are after a treasure and killing people left and right. Only they screw up and use their skills and leave death marks of special kung-fu on the people they killed. PLus to add to all the fun some innocent bystander witness thee murders. 2 others are less noticeable but are good and one later reveals himself who is actually an officer of the law (but you kind of figure this out because he get the lead role in the film). The officer hides himself by using the Toad who is his friend to help caputure the bad guys which are centipede style and later the snake who actually has a feels sorry for his murders and centipde who could careless and wants to keep using his skills to kill people for money and status. They succeed and a chain of events leads to an ultimate battle at the end because the scorpion actually finds the map to the treasure and later reveals himself as the wild card of the stack and plots to kill all of the clan members so he can be the most powerful and have all the gold. Yan teams up with the officer who has the lizard skills and teaches Yan his style. The toad is tortured to death because Snake and Centipede styles are behind the whole thing and have semi-control over the governing body. Toad: strengths are iron skin style (it does exist in real life but well over dramatic in the movie of course). The iron skin does not allow weapons and hand to hand combat strikes to cause damage to the person who trained toad style. His weakness is his temples. Lizard: Strengths are able to do wall kung-fu. Able to strike like a lizard while standing on the wall. Centipede: Speed of attack is best of all the techniques and rest of the styles. Snake: It's awkward floor (fighting while on the ground) and hand speed and cunning is its strengths. Scorpion: Able to smash objects with great efficiency. The powerhouse of the techniques. You can tell putting all these together makes you basically invincible. The wall-to-wall action makes the pace of the film fast and furious. The unique kung-fu is fun to watch and the coreography is brilliant. The best thing is the actors are very talented and very fast with their fighting. Everyhing here looks very well done. Acting: B
Actor Performance: A+
Action: A+
Coreography: A+
Entertaning value: A+
Replay value: A+
Storyline: A-
Directing: A Overall: A
Rating: 
Summary: UNWATCHABLE
Review: I bought this DVD based on the Amazon customer reviews and the Kill Bill connection. The 10 minutes intrigued me with it's potential supernatural elements but by the time it got going into the actual plot I was bored to tears. My guess is this is one of those movies you could only love because you watched it when you were a kid hyped up on Captain Crunch.
Rating:
Summary: the strange, indefinable quality of the five deadly venoms
Review: Like so many others on Amazon.com, I used to watch weekend Kung Fu theatre programs on TV. Many movies I remember fondly (Kid With The Golden Arm and Shaolin Master Killer [aka 36th Chamber of Shaolin] come to mind) but one in particular stands out: Five Deadly Venoms. I caught it one rainy Saturday afternoon as a teenager and it has stayed with me ever since. Set in "old" China and featuring a suspenseful plot (a mystery, no less), garish (yet not overly lavish) costumes/set design, and some great old school combat/camera work, this may not even be the best film from either the legendary Shaw Brothers or famed director Chang Cheh himself but there's just something about the pacing of the story which is in no hurry to go anywhere too soon. AND THAT'S A GOOD THING. It is creepy and the tension builds...perhaps not remarkable qualities for a vintage Kung Fu flick but this picture makes the most of it. Another thing about the movie deserves praise: the absolutely fantastic score! It is austere AND comical, spare, seductive, and sinister without being cheesy. Extraordinary music! - even if it IS "borrowed" from other movies as some say....so be it. To me, the score is what really puts you in the world of 5DV. PLEASE READ: I own both the DVD and the VHS video (the Steeplechase/Martial Arts Video versions) and they are flippin' LOUSY, with the DVD having a marginally better picture/bad sound and the video having much clearer sound/a horrible picture tracking problem. I could be wrong, but in their mastering of the DVD, it seems that Steeplechase/ M.A.V. simply took a bad widescreen edition VHS tape of the movie and did a poor transfer (although I HAVE seen worse) via the ol' mirror in a shoebox technology. Ha! Typical! The soundtrack is muffled like when you play a non-Dolby encoded cassette tape back with the Dolby switch on. I can't speak for the Front Row Video, Inc. version they're selling on Amazon.com but don't hold your breath. Here's hoping that Celestial Pictures (who now owns the rights to many 1970s Hong Kong classics like this one) get their act together and release a spiffy new version of 5DV. Two essential things for a new release: Original film negatives for a better picture and, for Pete's sake, the original recorded elements for clear, non-muffled sound. Some subtitles would be nice, too. Note to Celestial Pix: Please do it justice, fellers! The 5 stars given are for the film itself which is remains uniquely satisfying: classic, yet refreshing and timeless. The Five Deadly Venoms is still cool and I've tried to turn friends on to it, usually by forcing them to watch it with me so that I can "re-experience it" thru their eyes! It's hard to define how much unconsciously bigger this movie is than its own genre. But it is. In a way, it stands alone. :-] Rent it if possible. If not, approach with caution or wait for the eventual "special edition". Good luck.
Rating: 
Summary: 4 Stars for the Movie 2 for the DVD!
Review: First of all let me tell you how good is this Kung Fu classic. The story is good, about 5 Venoms who live a secret life and are trying to be found by the Poison Clan's master. I think we should all have this fun kung fu flick in our collection but! They have to come out with a better DVD. This DVD has no special features, no original language track, and the image quality has not been restored at all, they didn't even try! So unless you must have it, wait for a better print.
Rating:
Summary: The "classic"
Review: If you haven't seen this, go and buy it. Case closed.
Rating:
Summary: The gresatest 5 person group
Review: I can't believe some of the idiots talking trash about the movie, it's a classic. Like most people who look for these Venom movies I've watched hundreds of Chinese & Japanese action movies. And yes, todays movies are more elaborate and much faster (due to speeding the film). But the purity of the Venom movies are timeless, the styles, the combat, the characters. All great. How can you not be amazed at the talent of these individuals way back then. By far the group in Chinese action.
| 
