Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain

Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain is a 1983 fantasy film from Hong Kong. There's plenty of special effects and comic relief. The plot is complicated, the action non-stop. Great fun.

The video embedded below is wonky, backwards, so that the print is backwards on the screen, but it's dubbed in English, so it doesn't much affect viewing.

via youtube:



Senses of Cinema concludes,

These constant, blurring oscillations between difference and similarity, as well as the repeated assertion that opposing forces actually come from the same place, could be read as Tsui’s way of navigating the internal conflicts brought about by Hong Kong’s evolving cultural identity both nationally and at a more individual level. It can then be said that the dizzying mythology, narrative complexity and intense frenetic energy that are generated by Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain reflect a complex but thrilling history of a nation’s cultural identity in the process of becoming.

Moria says,

This is where it all began – the flying swordsman cycle, the genre of Wu Xia Pan involving martial artists and monks taking on ghosts and demons with a combination of martial arts and Eastern beliefs.

Stomp Tokyo opens with this:

In the early '80s, the world of filmmaking in Hong Kong saw an explosion of vibrant, action-oriented films with fantastic settings and courageous heroes. Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain is one of the seminal films of that new wave. It was the first special effects extravaganza of its kind, and it made Tsui Hark into arguably the most powerful director in the territory.

DVD Talk praises it and offers this plot synopsis:

The film's plot is difficult to comprehend (even if you speak the language) and recounting the various twists-and-turns is not too easy. Basically, a young man named Ti Chi (Yuen Biao) goes to hide from a nearby battle and ends up in a haunted mountain that happens to be the gateway between the realm of good and evil. There he is confronted by a magic swordsman who has been trying for years to save the world from being consumed by the Kingdom of Evil. They team up -- with the help of a couple of monks and a princess -- to prevent the spread of evil in the universe. But eventually most of the team is killed so -- against overwhelming odds –- Ti Chi and one of the monks (Adam Cheng) get together and go in search of a pair of Celestial swords that, when joined, have the power to save the universe.

Love HK Film calls it "Dated fantasy epic that still packs a punch even today. Required viewing for Hong Kong Cinema fanatics, and we mean it." It gets a score of 86% from Rotten Tomatoes.

I'm including this as part of the Once Upon a Time Challenge in the Quest Onscreen.