dafrosts
The Emperor (this time played by Wai Wong, Ah Kung in The Flying Guillotine 1975, who used the Flying Guillotine Squad to further his own ambitions and it ended badly for him), is still using the squad to eliminate those who oppose him while feigning shock that court officials are dying at the hands of the squad. He orders Han Tian De (Lee Chung-Ling) to investigate the deaths. However, when the investigation gets too close to the truth, the Emperor orders right hand man, Jin Gang Feng (Lieh Lo) to eliminate Tian De. Tian De's wife, Rong Qiu Yan/Bloody Hibiscus (Chen Ping), who is two months pregnant, promises to hide out at Tian De's Uncle Tong Bei Hai's (Wong Ching-Ho) place, should anything happen to Tian De. She needs to protect their unborn child. This being, Wushu, means things won't go as planned. They call Rong Qiu Yan "Bloody Hibiscus" yet she wears and throws carnations. Qiu Yan goes after Gang Feng when Tian De is murdered. She then sets off to Bei Hai's place. She hides out for a while at an inn where for some reason Ma Sen (Played here by Norman Chui Siu-Keung) is also in hiding. Now, per this timeline, this is when Ma is already in hiding many miles away, with his wife and child (Played by Chen Kuan Tai in The Flying Guillotine 1975). It would have made More sense to have Norman reprise his role as Zhou Zhizhong from The Flying Guillotine. His character was "killed" when a wall collapsed. Ma's reason for being in hiding is almost exactly as in the 1975 film. Again, Zhou, in my humble opinion, ought to be the one in hiding. Having had an epiphany about the squad, he deserted and is hiding from the Emperor, since desertion from the Squad is an automatic death sentence.There's a budding romance between Ma and Qiu Yan, that hits a huge snag when a former lover, Wang Jun (Yueh Hua), reappears. There's something off with Wang Jun. Ma's immediate jealousy is cute then annoying. He gives Qiu Yan her space to mourn, where Wang Jun is constantly in her face. Wang Jun tries to replace her white carnation, a representation of her mourning (which is supposed to be a hibiscus) with a red one. This is very, very inappropriate and Qiu Yan calls him on it.Qiu Yan is very capable of holding her own against those who attempt to assassinate her enroute to Uncle Bei Hai's. She, Ma and Wang Jun deal with Gang Feng's filial children, Jin Ren Ting (Lam Fai-Wong), Biao (Johnny Wang Lung-Wei) and Jin Shao Zhi (Siu Yam-Yam) with far too much ease. Qiu Yan parts ways with Ma and Wang Jun at Bei Hai's home. Bei Hai has been murdered and replaced by Feng's assassin (Keung Hon). Ma find the real Bei Hai's body during his wondering. He quickly heads back to help Qiu Yan. Wang Ju also returns, just after Qiu Yan figures out Bei Hai is a fraud. Wang Ju reveals he is Gang Feng's illegitimate son and wants to kill Qiu Yan to obtain property and wealth from his father. Qiu Yan lose miscarries during the battle with Wang Ju.The final fight involves Qiu Yan, Ma, Gang Feng impersonators, Gang Feng and a bridge explosion. Qiu Yan, the sole survivor, walks off into the sunset as the credits role.I recommend this movie, one because it involves the Flying Guillotines. Two, because Norman gets to be more than a minion or side kick. Three, Chen Ping kick butt with the best of them. I just wish they'd have realized the Ma Sen character was not making sense. Norman reprising Zhou would have been far more logical.
Leofwine_draca
THE VENGEFUL BEAUTY is a follow-up of sorts to Ho Meng Hua's FLYING GUILLOTINE, even though FLYING GUILLOTINE 2 was the official sequel. I've not watched either of those two other movies yet, but I can report that this film is a great deal of fun, a tightly-plotted and exciting action adventure that delivers audience entertainment in spades.Ho Meng Hua directed some of the more esoteric offerings put out by the Shaw Brothers (OILY MANIAC anyone?) and this can be added to that category. There aren't a great deal of scenes involving the flying guillotines themselves but there's plentiful gruesome fight action throughout, much of it with imaginative touches (the flying bowls, the plastic masks, the bamboo jumping and wall climbing scenes). Ho Meng Hua has a great eye for visually arresting moments and some scenes, such as the battle in the bamboo forest, bring to mind the later likes of HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS.Chen Ping makes for a decent and interesting vengeful heroine and her character's pregnancy makes her more unique than some others. Norman Chu is good as the dedicated heroic ally and Yueh Hua has a memorable role too. Good old Lo Lieh is here as the bad guy but as with his other appearances in Shaw movies of this era (such as THE DRAGON MISSILE), the writers respect his standing by giving him a more complex role requiring acting ability rather than just casting him as a stock villain as in his non-Shaw performances. The gory action is the inevitable highlight but there are other strong elements such as the three assassin offspring and the mildly shocking topless nudity. Altogether, THE VENGEFUL BEAUTY is a great little film and one I thoroughly recommend.
Chung Mo
The fast pace of the film covers a lot of creaky film making. The plot basically follows the heroine as she attempts to get to her uncle after her husband is killed by the Flying Guillotine Squad. What does this film deliver? We get a kung fu heroine whose fighting ability scares all the bad guys. We get gimmick kung-fu weapons galore. We get a brief topless woman kung fu fight (we need more of these). And we get well choreographed fights every 5 minutes.The director is not in the same class as Cheng Cheh or Liu Chia Liang but the film never runs out of gas so the occasionally strange direction doesn't gets in the way. The director seems more comfortable with the drama scenes. The film is less grim then "The Flying Guillotine".A good kung fu film, not a waste of time.
joeshoe89
This is actually the sequel to The Flying Guillotine and sort of takes up where it left off. The evil emperor is still sending out his henchmen to kill anyone who says or writes anything he doesn't approve of. Most of the henchmen are using swords in this movie but there are still some flying guillotine squads running about.The emperor orders Jun his main killer to get rid of Dooby who's married to Pinky Lee the star of the film. Pinky is 2 months preggers with their kid and a martial arts hottie with the WuDang Clan. She goes on the run after her hubby is killed and has some wild battles (one in the tall green bamboo with flying daggers reminds you where House of Flying Daggers got it all from)until she meets up with Giant Forehead (a guy from her old school same master who has a BIG secret at the end of the film) and MA the guy from the first film who quit the flying guillotine squad and now spends most of his time spinning plates and throwing them into people's necks spurt gush). Both these guys have the hots for Pinky but it's MA who gets to make out with her while they're both topless. Ma also gets some topless action from Jun's daughter before she's killed. After a miscarriage Pinky goes back to kill Jun but not before Jun kills MA leaving Pinky walking off into the credits. Lots of great fights swordplay flying guillotine action and smoldering glances between the two guys and The Vengeful Beauty!
