Every so often I will take a poll question that has been asked in the ’8 Diagram Poll’, and make a full post regarding the poll question. I will go into detail of my answer to the question and why. The ‘Extended’ version of the poll will also give the readers a chance to elaborate on their answers if they’d like, by detailing their thoughts in the comments section. For the first ever ’8 Diagram Poll Extended’ article, I will discuss in greater detail the following question…
Do you often rewatch kung fu movies you like?
Of the possible answers in this poll, mine was “There are only a few movies I have seen more than once“. In this article I will explain my answer. I can speak on a few different movies I have rewatched, and why, but the one I’ve chosen to talk about in this post, happens to be one of my favorite films, if not my favorite,The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. It all started back in the late 90′s, not sure of the exact year, but I remember walking into a local Blockbuster Video, just browsing through the isles, looking for something special, but not exactly sure of what I wanted. I had come across a small section titled ‘Foreign Films’, and in this section there were several martial arts films on display. While I do recall there being a lot of Jackie Chan movies for rent, the one film that caught my eye was a VHS for a movie called, Shaolin Master Killer. I rented this one, went home and watched it, and at the time, I can say it was just another movie watched, I was not yet bitten by the Fu virus, it did not yet lead me to get more involved in this particular genre of films. I honestly don’t even remember how I felt about the movie at the time, I just remember renting it and watching it. Years later, after I had actually began my collecting and viewing of all things “kung fu”, I had ended up on eBay, pretty much buying all the Shaw Brother movies I could find, and one of them being the Crash Cinema DVD of, Shaolin Master Killer, the widescreen edition, which was basically the same version of the VHS I had rented years before. I know I had seen this movie before, but now that I was knee-deep into the genre, and collecting, I knew I had to own this movie. So after receiving this DVD, I immediately watched it, and this would count as my 2nd viewing of this masterful film.
Soon after the Crash Cinema DVD of The 36th Chamber of Shaolin was bought, it was announced how a company known as Celestial, had purchased the Shaw Brothers film library, and was going to remaster and release the films on DVD. So of course I bought the Region 3 IVL import DVD of the remastered version of this movie, how could I not? Although the video of this movie never looked so good, the only downside to the IVL release I had purchased, was the fact that this release lacked the original English dub track. This would count as my 3rd viewing of the film. As I was quite an active member on the old Kung Fu Fandom message board, I had made quite a few Fu friends there, and soon began my venture in film trading, disc for disc. Soon after the IVL DVD’s were released, some uber-fans began to create custom DVD’s, that so magically comprised of the remastered Celestial video, with the original English dubs that I had loved so much, I just had to have a copy. I traded for one, and after receiving it, the viewing of this custom made DVD made for my 4th viewing of the film.
There was a significant gap between my 4th and 5th watch. The next time I sat down to watch this film in its entirety, was when I purchased the Dragon Dynasty release which featured audio commentary from the RZA of hip-hop music group The Wu-Tang Clan, and film scholar Andy Klein. The only time that I had viewed an edition of this movie more than once, was with this release. To date, I have seen the Dragon Dynasty version 3 times. The 3rd time I watched it with the commentary on, while walking on my treadmill at home. I have a treadmill with a built in 7 inch screen hooked up to a DVD player, needless to say, watching Fu while walking on it, really helps to extend the amount of time I spend on the machine. For those of you that may have lost count, I’ve seen The 36th Chamber of Shaolin a total of 7 times. I believe more so than any other kung fu film I own. I know there are plenty of you out there who may follow this same pattern when it comes to rewatching Fu films, whenever you upgrade to a new release, you are more than likely going to view the movie again, to at least compare the difference in quality between the different versions. Than there are those of you who love watching a particular film so much, that you do not need a new version of a film in order to justify repeat viewings. I know I have seen my 20th Century Fox release of Knockabout several times as well, mainly due to the fact that it’s my daughters favorite kung fu movie, not to mention it’s a damn good film. One that got it right when combing jaw dropping kung fu skills with actual laughable comedy.
Now that I explained an instance of a movie I often rewatched, and why, please feel free to share your experience on the subject matter in the comments section below. I must also thank all of you who take a few seconds to partake in the ’8 Diagram Poll’ on this site, your participation in sincerely appreciated.
