4 Star

Revenge is in the Blood

Hong Kong, the nineteen-seventies belonged to the amazing talents of Angela Mao (Angela Mao: Hapkido & Lady Whirlwind, WHEN TAEKWONDO STRIKES, A Queen’s Ransom, THE SKYHAWK) and this Eureka Classics release brings this 1977 unofficial remake of Lady Snowblood 1973, where her talents come to the front to exact the revenge that was called upon her birth. Directed by South Korean Chang-hwa Jeong (THE SKYHAWK, The Double Crossers) who brings out the best of Angela’s considerable talents.

Treachery and tragedy has befallen the family of General Liu Da-Xiong, he has been killed by four assassins, Zhao Cai, Dou Qi, Hao Shi, and Wen Jui, sent by the sixth Prince’s best retinue Chou Kui. The order was just to kill the general for always opposing him, but Hao always thinks from between his legs and takes the general’s wife Yi Mei as a concubine. But she takes the first opportunity to get away, raking his left eye with her nails. This results in Mei being sent to a prison island for the rest of her life. But Mei was already pregnant with her husbands’ child.

Mei dies in childbirth, but not before she tells the other prisoners her tale. Asking her baby to exact revenge on the perpetrators, she entrusts the baby to lady of a thousand hands, a pickpocket that had befriended her. When freed, she takes the three-month-old to the Wisdom Stone Mountain Hau Yan Temple, where they christen her Jie Lian “Pure Lotus” to learn the Buddhist way of life.

Twenty years later, Jie is a feisty young woman, more interested in learning Kung Fu, rather than the teachings of Buddha, this worries the nuns, they see something dark within her.

She has learned Kung Fu well.

Yes she has. But there is too much of a “Murderous Air” about her.

On one of her excursions into the forest to practice, she is accosted by three bandits. She shows off her Kung Fu expertise and her secret weapon, tiny scorpions to poison the bandits. This gets her banished from the Temple, but if you ever want to come into the light, return. She wants to know where this murderous air comes from, she is told to go see her Godmother the pickpocket.

This is when she finds out about her past and her mothers wish that she take revenge on those that murdered her father and wronged her mother.

Let the adventure begin, there will be a trail of bodies as she tries to find the locations of the four men that betrayed her family.

A must own for the martial arts and Angela Mao fan, another great Eureka Classics release and with loads of extras, this is a real treat

Broken Oath is available on Blu-ray Limited Edition

 

LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY FEATURES*:

 

Limited edition O-card slipcase featuring new artwork by Grégory Sacré (Gokaiju).

1080p HD presentation on Blu-ray of the uncut theatrical version from a brand new 2K restoration.

Original Mandarin audio and optional English dub tracks (original mono presentations).

Optional English subtitles, newly translated for this release.

Brand-new audio commentary by East Asian film expert Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival).

Brand-new audio commentary by action cinema experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema.

Brand-new interview with actor Bruce Leung (The Dragon Lives Again) | Patrick Macias on Lady Snowblood – new appreciation by film writer Patrick Macias.

Trailer | PLUS: A Limited edition collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Kung Fu Cult Masters author Leon Hunt.