Xue lian huan (1977)

Where to begin ? I suppose my first mistake was spontaneously purchasing this DVD at a Dollar Store. I should've saved that $1 for the vending machine at work tomorrow, hands-down it would've been a better purchase.

To call this film a "martial arts film" is like comparing Jim Belushi's TV-show "According To Jim" to sit-com classics like 'Seinfeld' or 'The Larry Sanders Show' or 'Absolutely Fabulous' or 'Monty Python's Flying Circus'.

This movie starts with a contest of 5 warriors fighting for the right to marry a princess and it ends with an immortal vampire seeking revenge after 20 years. The direction of the plot inbetween the beginning and the end felt like the movie was built like a mud house. The editing was horrible and I had to lower the volume setting on my TV to 3 because the sound quality was so loud.

I am saving the best for last. I don't know how the makers of the movie got away with this but towards the end of the movie, you can a riff of music taken from "Raiders of the Lost Ark" ( the scene when Indy was in the Map Room waiting for the sun to strike the gold medallion to reveal the location of the Ark ). According to IMDb, the movie was made in 1977 however in the credits on the DVD the year in Roman Numbers says 1982. ( 1 year after the release of "Raiders" ).

I think I may stumbled upon a conspiracy that has gone un-checked for decades. If I mysteriously disappear, somebody please avenge me !