The Best Old Movies on a Big Screen This Week: NYC Repertory Cinema Picks, August 5-11
Five Deadly Venoms (1978)
Directed by Chang Cheh
Ill and sensing the end of his rope, Poison Clan’s nameless master lays a cleansing order on his final pupil: discern the nature of his five other students (masters in the Centipede, Snake, Scorpion, Lizard, and Toad styles) and kill whoever is using their technique to no good. First things first, Yang Tieh (Chiang Sheng) must uncover the identity of Centipede and company—secrecy, after all, is a staple of Poison Clan. He’s not the only one, though. The other five are also looking for each other, and for treasure while they’re at it. It’s a fun game of who’s who; the Shaw Brothers’ scrappy brilliance spiced up with a bit of mystery and math. What’s had Five Deadly Venoms endure and reemerge, from Kung-Fu Panda to Wu Tang Clan, are its iconic styles and fantastic battles that colorfully prove five is exponentially greater than one. Jeremy Polacek (August 7, 8, midnight at the Nitehawk)