Spiritual Kung Fu (1978) User Reviews

Best 88 cents I've ever spent

[Crims14 · 5/10 · 30 December 2004]

I bought this movie for 88 cents Canadian, which is insanely cheap. It was definitely worth the money and then a little more. This movie is quite funny at times. Occasionally it's funny on purpose and occasionally it's funny by accident. The plot is just an excuse for Jackie Chan to learn the five fists technique for the inevitable show down with the seemingly invincible 7 fist technique villain who wants to become clan leader. Most of the action for the first 40 minutes or so is non-existent. Instead, we're left with bits of physical comedy, including a rather long scene when Jackie first meats the ghosts. Most of that scene is actually funny in a really goofy, weird, stupid kind of way. Once that scene is done with we're left with some above average fight scenes.

Chan has two fight scenes with the daughter of the leader of the Wu Tang clan and they're both entertaining due in part to the ridiculous dialog's. We also got to see some mildly entertaining scenes with the villain beating up other clan leaders. The real keeper here and what pretty much made this movie worth the 88 cents alone is when Jackie fights a whole load of shaolin monks at once. He begins fighting with a staff and then eventually tonfa's (I think that's what they're called). This whole scene is quite long and just keeps getting better; really great stuff. Jackie then has two fight scenes at the end. One is with the villain and it is well done due to the five different animal styles Chan amusingly implements. The other is with the Villain's father, which is mostly devoid of Kung Fu and starts with the physical comedy again.

I should also mention the awful dubbing and really weird synth music that sounds like a mix between 70's porno, traditional Chinese, and 80's sci-fi synth. If those ballerina ghosts weren't weird enough the music certainly was. The special effects are also awful. Someone already mentioned the fire cracker on the stick. Honestly, what can you expect? It was laughable and it actually made the movie more enjoyable. I laughed the most at the fire cracker and you probably will too. The plot is run of the mill and is just an excuse for fights.

Lastly I'll mention that the version I have is kind of weird in that half the time it appears that the top and side portions of the film are missing. I say that because routinely stuff was happening in the scene just off to the side that I should have been able to see and you really notice it during the fights where one guy is half off-camera and half on-camera. I don't think that was done on purpose. The quality of the video is awful too, but that's to be expected... however, the sound effects are better than most during this time period.

All in all if you can find this for as cheap as I did, or perhaps for a little more it's definitely worth owning if you're a Jackie Chan or a Kung Fu fan in general. There are 4 quality fights (for the time/budget) and depending on what kind of sense of humor you have, you'll probably find the movie reasonable funny as well.

The Old Candle Trick - A Splarshy Review

[jacobstaggs · 5/10 · 31 January 2020]

Slightly better than Half a Loaf of Kung Fu, the first half of the movie is a good funny movie. The second half is barely comedic with super poor action happening quite frequently. Jackie's training with the ghosts is decent though. There's a great comedic bit with a giant pen and the movie does have a couple of really good scene transitions. Check this movie out for the comedy.

a funny early jackie chan martial arts comedy

[daworldismine · 7/10 · 21 May 2012]

spiritual kung fu is jackie chan's second attempt at kung fu comedy after the decent but flawed 'half a loaf of kung fu', director lo wei thought he could make something funnier, and in my opinion it is, because spiritual kung fu has some brilliant fight scenes, some of the best from all his early movies, not only that but the movie is even funnier, immature but funny. chan is great here and is showing some promise of who he would become, the fight scenes in this are brilliant though and any self respecting martial arts fan will admit that, even if they didn't enjoy the rest of the movie. the special effects of the ghosts are atrocious, but it makes it that bit funnier

5 out of 10

[dragon ma young · 5 July 2001]

this one is a weird, weird flick. funny at times, exciting at times, scary at times(not a lot though), but mostly just weird. it invloves jackie learning a lost style of kung fu from some red haired, tutu wearing ghosts. at some time in the movie, he even takes a leak (urinates, to make myself clearer) on them! like i said, very weird.

Spiritual As In Ghosts

[boblipton · 7/10 · 14 May 2020]

Centuries ago, the Shaolin orders outlawed the Seven Deadly Fists techniques of Kung Fu. Now someone has stolen the scroll with the techniques that the monastery has lying around, and everyone blames Jackie Chan because he's blamed for everything. He doesn't care too much. He's used to it. So when ghosts are reported in the scroll room, he goes to deal with them, and discovers five ghosts, He makes friends with them, and they train him in give sets of techniques. Then a guy shows up who has studied the Seven Deadly Fists, and he's demanding power. So since it's Jackie's fault, somehow -- at this point I'm wondering why they kept the scroll around at all -- he has to go fight the guy.

Although it starts out humorously, and the final fight has some funny parts to it, when the ghosts cheat, most of it is standard, albeit very elaborate and beautifully executed fight choreography. Jackie is listed as chief stunt coordinator, and he does a very nice job of it. It's the penultimate directorial job of Wei Lo, the Grand Old Man of Kung Fu flicks.

Leopard! Tiger! Crane! Snake! Teapot!

[Bezenby · 7/10 · 31 October 2013]

It's another early Jackie film, so you know what to expect: Period costumes, Jackie being the unruly pupil to the stern master, Jackie throwing loads of furniture around, a typical bad guy and a couple of showdowns. Spiritual Kung Fu manages to rise above the standard plots of these films by taking a turn into the weird with some truly bizarre visuals and weirdness.

Jackie, this time, is a pupil at the shaolin temple, and when we first see him he's getting punished for some crime. That night, a ninja breaks into the temple and steals a rare martial arts book which ends up in the hands of our bad guy, who wants to be head of all the clans. This involves him beating the crap out of all the clan leaders periodically throughout the film.

Meanwhile, back at the temple, things get weird as a meteor hits the temple (looks like someone holding a sparkler) and five spirits that look like Toyah Wilcox appear and torment everyone. So you get to see a) A spirit appear from nowhere and head butt a guy on the arse b) The guy dubbing Jackie shouting 'I'm no queer!', c) Jackie peeing on the spirits d) Jackie shoving a live frog down his pants e) A monk inviting a girl to sniff his finger and f) Jackie showing a live eel down his pants.

Sadly, things get a bit more normal again later (although Jackie's first time encounter with a girl is pretty funny) and the film turns into a bit of murder mystery before descending into a fight fest for the last half and hour. Jackies battle with the monks at the temple is pretty good, as he takes on about a dozen guys armed with poles, and the last battle between the murderer, involving a reappearance of those spirits was pretty surreal.

What I love about these films is that once everything's done and dusted, they just get the big old THE END up there on the screen, and that's that. This is your usual late seventies Jackie-fest with an injection of weirdness. The copy I had was pan and scanned and cut off a lot of the action – I'm sure there's better copies out there.

THE END.

Somewhat entertaining

[alexanderkominek · 4/10 · 5 September 2005]

I picked this film up on DVD for a couple of bucks at Wal-Mart, so I wasn't really expecting a great film. Spiritual Kung Fu met these expectations. Bad dubbing, bad special effects, and the goofy clown/mime/rag doll/ghosts detracted from the film.

What made the film bearable was the good kung fu and the casting of James Tien as the bad guy. There's also a twist at the end that is only hinted at once during the film, so it comes as quite a surprise.

If you want a great film to make you think, watch something else. If you want a goofy chopsocky Jackie Chan movie to waste a couple of hours, (and have no deep-seated fear of clowns) check Spiritual Kung Fu out.

• Lex

Comedy Gold

[Alpha_PL · 6/10 · 13 April 2010]

I watched this movie a few month back. It's plot is pretty forgettable, same for the fighting scenes. For the most part the movie is cliché-ridden and steadily mediocre, but there is one, big exception.Around the half of the first hour of the movie there is this scene that will stay with me forever. As you might have figured out from the synopsis, the ghosts that haunt Jackie are the big part of this movie. Before the said scene they appear a few times, later they teach him some moves and thank to that Jackie wins the final fight. But the first encounter between the ghost and Jackie is one of the funniest moments in all of Jackie Chan's films. The poor special effects, the ridiculous script (Jackie starts peeing at the ghost), the whole insanity of seeing a fake skeleton bounce on the screen because the guy used X-Ray Vision scroll and looked at his friend is more then enough reason to watch this movie. I haven't laughed much at the movie for a long time, and I'm happy that I saw this low-budget martial arts extravaganza.

In conclusion if you have the opportunity to watch this movie, please do. The first 1/3 is pretty boring, and for the rest of the movie you wish that the craziness that occurred around 30 minutes in repeats itself, but sadly that doesn't happen. But this 10 minute segment of Jackie playing around with ghost is more than enough for you to rent this movie.

It could have been worse...

[sockii · 4/10 · 1 October 2000]

This isn't as mind-numbingly bad as some of Jackie's films for Lo Wei, but the director has a very weird idea of what makes for a kung fu comedy (it seems to involve Jackie shoving snakes and frogs down his shorts and peeing on ghosts). This movie deserves to be on Mystery Science Theater 3000, with its terrible idea of ghostly special effects (guys in white face paint, red wigs, and sparkly skirts hopping around, and a sparkler used to look like a falling meteor). The martial arts scenes are okay, but not great.

Not Bad Kung Fu Film, That Has Plenty Of Good Fight Scenes, And An Amazing Performance From Jackie Chan, However Wei Lo's Direction Is Terrible!

[callanvass · 6/10 · 1 November 2005]

This is a not bad Kung Fu film, that has plenty of good fight scenes, and an amazing performance from Jackie Chan, however Wei Lo's direction is terrible!. All the characters are decent, and while the story is bizarre, is not too bad either, plus Jackie Chan is simply amazing in this!. I bought this for under 2$ at the video store i rent, and i was surprised that it was a pretty decent watch, and the twist at the end somewhat shocked me, however that dubbing is god awful!. Wei Lo injects this bizarre humor that were supposed to laugh at, but i just didn't find any of it funny, However Jackie has the talent, to make any film watchable, and this movie is no different!, plus the 2 end fights are fantastic!. It's incredible low budget and Wei Lo's terrible direction hamper it quite a bit but Jackie manages to make this a watchable time, and i certainly have no regrets picking this up for under 2$!, plus the setting is cool. I wish Wei Lo didn't put those 5 fist weird looking ghosts in at the end to help Jackie though. This is a not bad Kung film, that has plenty of good fight scenes and an amazing performance from Jackie Chan however Wei Lo's direction is terrible!, worth the watch if you can find it. The Direction is terrible!. Wei Lo does a terrible job here, with shoddy camera work, bad angles, however at least he kept the film at a fast enough pace!. The Acting is OK for this sort of film. Jackie Chan is amazing as always, and is amazing here, he is very funny, extremely likable, had this great cocky character, carried this film completely, is incredible in his fight scenes as usual, and just did an amazing job overall! (Jackie Rules!!!!). James Tien and Ching Wong do good as the father and son, and are both terrific martial artists. Biao Yuen is good in his small role. Rest of the cast do fine. Overall worth the watch. **1/2 out of 5

The "Spiritual Kung Fu" I want to see is quite different from this lazy piece of cinema

[AndreiPavlov · 2/10 · 12 May 2008]

The problem of this action flick is not the absence of money. Did you watch "Xtro" (a cheap "home-made" horror from the UK)? "Xtro" was amazing because it was imaginative to the core and had a very freaky atmosphere. "Spiritual Kung Fu" lacks such charm. I think that the problem lies in some sort of laziness of the filmmakers. What could have been done better? OK, here we go...

No.1 The opening scene is an example of frustration. Some sparkle falls from the skies and there is an earthquake causing a few funny ghosts to emerge from the monastery's vaults. The execution of this scene is awful. I would kick a football set on fire into the building, apply a set of metal sticks for some strange sound, and make the "ghosts" come out from the earth and fight each other for "warming up". Would it cost more money? I don't think so. But the final product would have been much more entertaining.

No.2 The scene where Jackie Chan's character is being tricked by the ghosts is slow and unimpressive. What would I do? I would set up a tougher scene with the ghosts making Chan's character suffer a few bad falls and a few hurtful kicks and punches. The ghosts would scare away all the monks beating some of them to unconsciousness and only our "clown" would not retreat. After beating him up the ghosts would teach him their type of "spiritual" kung fu as a reward for his masculine behaviour.

I don't have much time for all this kind of typing work but I can easily go on, while even the famous scene of Jackie Chan vs. the monks is far from being fantastic.

Watch "Dragon Lord" or "City Hunter" instead. Those ones were made correctly, in my humble opinion. As to this "Spiritual Kung Fu", I have a feeling that Mr Jackie Chan was not very interested in the whole production, was drowsy all through the movie, and did not want to fight. There is no fire in his eyes and no fire in his movements here. And the jokes suck. And camera-work too (the focus is constantly roaming and the right scenes are shot badly as a result).

2 out of 10 (well, it is not ultimately bad). Thanks for attention.

Highly entertaining kung fu flick

[sarastro7 · 8/10 · 1 November 2004]

This movie (which really should have "Spiritual Kung Fu" listed as an alternate title) may be mostly for those who specifically like kung fu movies, but if you're one of those then this is a classic. While it forebodes the comedic action of later Chan movies, it is actually much more serious, and Jackie's part may be the biggest part, but it is almost matched by several other characters, so the emphasis doesn't lie so squarely on the lead character as it usually does in Chan's movies.

If you're a kung fu movie fan, don't listen to the negative comments posted here. This is one cool movie with lots of cool weirdness, and definitely some very cool fights. At one point, Jackie, who's still considered a novice, has to fight the 18 top students, and he licks every one of them in a long and impressive fight scene. This movie is definitely worth your while.

My rating: 8 out of 10.

A whole heap of (low budget) fun

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 9 August 2016]

An absolutely hilarious comedy/kung fu outing for Jackie Chan and Lo Wei which has one of the most bizarre premises I've seen in a Hong Kong movie (and there are a lot, trust me). The story goes that a sacred book containing instructions for the deadly Seven Fist technique is stolen from the Shaolin Temple by bad guys and used to train a new super fighter. Years later, a meteorite (a sparkler on a wire) hits the Temple and unearths a long-lost book containing the art of the Five Fist technique, the only technique powerful enough to beat the Seven Fist fighter. The book is found by a lowly student (played, of course, by Jackie Chan), who learns the arts and finally takes on all of the bad guys come the finale.

Sounds straightforward enough, doesn't it? Well if you thought so, you'd be right. The plot has been done a million times in countless kung fu films and aside from the cheesy dubbing – always amusing, especially when solemn Shaolin monks are concerned – the plot is pretty forgettable stuff. Things benefit hugely from Chan's starring role and there are some fantastic fight scenes in the film, especially towards the end when all hell breaks loose. In fact the film gets more violent and brutal as it progresses, ending in a massive bloody battle, excellent filmed by the innovative Lo Wei who often breaks the fourth wall by having Chan and co. punching and kicking into the camera.

But where the film really hits the mark is in the comedy antics of the five ghosts who help train Chan up on his new style. The ghosts are simply a bunch of guys (one of them apparently played by Yuen Biao) in white face paint and sparkly skirts (not forgetting the red clown wigs) who play around like kids and do stupid stuff. If you're a fan of lowbrow Chinese humour then you'll have a field day with the antics that Chan and his ghostly companions get up to – my favourite scenes are the "I'm not queer!" trouser-pulling and the side-splitting moment where Jackie urinates on the (miniature) ghosts. It certainly wins points for originality in any case. Despite the ultra-cheap budget, pitiful effects work and predictable narrative, KARATE GHOSTBUSTER is a whole heap of fun and provides some of the best laughs I've had in ages. Forget those insipid teen comedies, this is the real deal.

It was the best of times it was the worst of times

[ckormos1 · 5/10 · 20 August 2020]

The award for the worst costumes in movie history goes to the five ghosts, fairies, spirits or whatever they were in this movie. If you have not seen it, prepare yourself, five men spray painted white with bright red hair Raggedy Ann style and tinsel skirts. That is so wrong on so many levels you might need eye bleach just to watch the rest of the movie.

If you can get past that then at about the one hour and seven minute mark begins one of the best pieces of fight choreography ever filmed. It begins with Jackie going one on one with the Shoalin staffs then he picks ups two tonfas and the rest is magic. If the movie was just the next six minutes it would be the best movie of 1978 but unfortunately pretty much the rest of it was below average.

If asked "What was the best martial arts movie ever?" my subjective answer has been "Legendary Weapons of China". If asked "What was the best fight scene ever?" I can only say I consider that impossible to answer. It is totally subjective and how does one even define the qualities that make the best fight scene ever?

A while ago I watched almost every martial arts movie from 1967 to 1984 in chronological order. It was a learning experience of how the movies developed. Watching in order also allowed me to answer the best fight scene ever question, sort of.

After watching the 1976 "Challenge of the Masters I wrote this review. Yet, I can tell you this with no doubt, on May 7, 1976 (the release date of "Challenge of the Masters") the best fight scene ever filmed as of that day was the fight scene in that movie with Lia Chiu-Liang against his brother Lau Kar-Wing. The runner -up would be his fight against Gordon Liu in the same movie. I will update that remark for this movie. As of the release date of "Spiritual Kung Fu" the best fight scene so far in martial arts movie history is the final fight in this movie.

What was it about this fight that topped the work of two of the greatest martial arts choreographers? In the first movie the weapons techniques are authentic, solid, advanced moves. I have practiced a few myself in class. In Jackie's movie, he starts with the authentic moves and then takes them to the next level by adding his comedy and style. He also adds moves I have never scene and could not have imagined.

Nowadays a good fight sequence is expected to also reveal character or advance the plot. Jackie came close to reaching that level in this movie by showing his character development throughout the fights.

VERY under-appreciated!

[salamander_43 · 9/10 · 8 March 2010]

If you are like me, a Jackie Chan fanboy, then you will love this movie.

It has been sitting on my shelf for a while now and I have only chosen other movies to watch in my spare time due to the shockingly low rating it has received here.

What a fool I was. this movie is just as good as the likes of Snake and Crane or Shaolin Wooden Men and is only slightly less entertaining than the great Fearless Hyena.

Ignore the reviews that rate this film so low. They are obviously written by the small unfortunate portion of Jackie's fanbase that consider the Rush Hour trilogy as his biggest achievement.

If you consider yourself a true Jackie Chan fan, you will not be disappointed with this film.

Spirit Fist

[ebiros2 · 12 November 2011]

This movie was shot back to back with Dragon Fist, and the similarities shows. They both take place at Shaolin temple, and Jackie is a student. This one has more comedic flavor to it. Lo Wei directs this movie as well.

Book of Seven Fist has been stolen from Shaolin temple. Only Five Star fist can win over the Seven Fist, but this technique has been lost. Conveniently, the spirits of the Five Star travels to earth and shows Yi-Lang (Jackie Chan) where the lost book is located. They also give private lessons to Yu-Lang. Killing starts to happen around the temple with Seven Fist technique. It turns out that a man kept in the dungeon Wei-Wu is the culprit who stole the book, and doing the killing. He feels that his Seven Fist style is invincible. Yu-Lang volunteers to leave the temple to settle the score with Wei-Wu. But the real culprit turns out to be a surprising person, and more unexpected things happen with the spirits during the battle.

1978 must have been a good year for Jackie Chan, as he made slew of good movies including his early master piece the "Drunken Master". While this movie is no masterpiece, Jackie Chan looks so good in his role as the Shaolin student. The movie came out after the Dragon Fist, and the Drunken Master, and this movie almost looks like a cross between the two. There's lots of comedy, but Jackie's kung fu looks so sharp and stylish.

To be perfectly honest, I couldn't enjoy some of the comedic parts of this movie. Problem with Lo Wei's directing style is that he always portrays supporting cast as low class or no class idiots. He might feel that this is a necessary comedic touch to entertain the audience, but this in my opinion has kept the status of Hong Kong movie low for years. This became obvious when younger directors like Jackie Chan came along and started to direct movies with quality comical touch. Now Hong Kong is considered to produce top notch movies, second perhaps only to Hollywood.

The movie is better than average kung fu movie from the same era. It's a charming movie with good kung fu action mixed in.

Jackie taught kung fu from five skirt-wearing fairies!

[abentenjo · 4 June 2002]

A sacred manual of the Seven Fist technique is stolen from the legendary Shaolin temple, and the only style good enough to conquer it, the Five Fists, has long since vanished. Thankfully a meteor hits the temple walls, unearthing the spirits of the Five Fists style, who summarily teach their deadly animal kung fu to lazy student Jackie Chan, so that maybe he can help when the Seven Fist thief strike again. What makes this Lo Wei adventure so endearing is the shoddy special effects – with Star Wars released the year before, Spiritual Kung Fu plainly outlines how behind the times HK was in their effects department (the meteor is a sparkler on a piece of string), and the flame-haired, hula-skirt wearing superimposed ghosts do retain a certain charm despite the cheapness.

You'd better really, really like Jackie Chan

[McGorman-2 · 18 March 2001]

Okay, so it's basically a crappy chopsocky movie. There are perhaps hints of Jackie Chan's unparalleled skill and comic brilliance, but not a whole lot more. The action is pretty run of the mill for the period. However, the dubbing in this film makes it pretty entertaining at points, my favorite part being the interaction between Jackie and the the young woman, who is the first girl his character has ever seen. After flirting with her, he tries to show off some of the 5-style fist he's been learning from the white-faced ballerina ghosts (that's a whole other story, but also pretty amusing). Jackie goes into a stance, and the following dialogue ensues: Girl(coy): "What's that?" Jackie(smug): "Oh, you wouldn't know that. That's the famous crane style." Girl(bitchy): "Really? Well, you look like a teapot. Pouring tea!" Jackie(indignant): "You insult my style?! I'll show you!"

They fight, and she defeats him. After consulting with the ballerina ghosts, Jackie waits for a rematch:

Jackie(sly): "I've been waiting for you all morning." Girl(chipper): "Why? To get beat?" Jackie(confident): "I won't get beat. But you will."

He then proceeds to mop the floor with her; poking her in the head with his crane beak/fist, he goads, "A teapot? Is that right?!"

If you found that at all funny, then maybe it's worth checking out. For some reason I thought it was amusing. But you'd better be a pretty serious Jackie Chan fan, 'cause there isn't much else there.

Lo Wei, you're a twit...

[Antzy88 · 10 November 2001]

Lo Wei, the director of this rubbishy kung-fu comedy, as usual never let Jackie Chan shine properly in this slow-paced story about some ghosts that teach

Chan ‘Five Fists' kung-fu, for he is in search of a stolen book containing the means of learning Seven Fists kung-fu.

Dreadful dubbing, awful special effects (mind you, this was Hong Kong with very limited budgets - something that HK fans are undoubtedly used to), not all that funny, and just plain dull. Not even the intricate fight scenes are worth looking at, and even these are a bit tiresome. Costumes - what were those ghosts

wearing?!

And of course there's the diabolical dubbing. Distributors should learn that the original language makes it a lot easier to appreciate even a bad movie, but it still wouldn't save this...

A Good Jackie Chan Movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Nick_Vorobyov · 26 June 2001]

This film is a good mix of action meet's comedy style. The ghosts in the film looked silly but the training and the fight scenes were pretty good. I personally like when "Wei Lo" is the director in a Jackie film. Because he makes Jackie look like a funny guy who can kiss some @##. Jackie's old film always have a great fight scene at the end and so did this one. This film is good for a big "Jackie Chan" lover. Because well his old film look weird and stupid sometimes. But I have to say that I liked most of them. This Film has about 7 action scene's. But if you want to see a really good "Jackie Chan" film with "Wei Lo" as a director or a producer go see "Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin". But this film is good for comedy. So go see this film and experience the wonderful world of Jackie Chan.