Miracle Fighters/Qi men dun jia (1982, Hong Kong)

Supposedly Qi men dun jia went on to spawn four sequels, which actually isn't all that surprising since most Hong Kong productions that are in any way successful tend to develop sequels like teenagers get zits. Director Yuen Woo Ping, likewise, has since gained respect and recognition in the Western World for his fighting chorography for such popular movies as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and the various Matrix (1999-2003) films, but his reputation in the Eastern World has long been solidified by his work on untold hits and classic ranging from Mad Killer (1971) to Once Upon a Time in China (1991) to Black Mask (1996). In Miracle Fighters, he does everything but act: direction, script and choreography. Along for the ride and assistance seems to be every other brother of the whole Yuen Family Tribe, and it is easy to imagine that when they got together to make this flick, they all went in on a bag of some truly, high-grade hallucinatory drug, for Miracle Fighters definitely delves deep into the realm of high weirdness. As one online reviewer put it so well, the movie is a "kung-fu comedy answer to Alejandro Jodorowsky." Anyone into cinematic oddities and the unbelievable bizarre is well served to watch this movie, for it goes wacky five minutes into the first scene and remains so till the very end. And while it might not be a movie for the masses, it is a flick that you can probably enjoy with your rugrat, for not only is the dated violence relatively tame and bloodless, but whole movie has the feel of an over-the-top fairytale – like some Asian Brothers Grimm on acid.
Miracle Fighters opens in 1663 A.D. as royal guardsman Kao (Eddie Ko) falls from the graces of the emperor, who has Kao’s wife (seemingly the only female part in the movie played by a real woman) killed. Much excessive but bloodless kung fu sock-em and chop-em and slice-em and dice-em action takes place, but when Kao is confronted by a magic paper sword wielding clown living in an urn (Yuen Chun-Yeung), you know the film is going to be weird. Kao escapes by using the child prince as a human shield and hostage, unknowingly choking the royal brat to death at the same time. Some 14 years later, the now alcoholic Kao lives in drunken poverty with Shu Gun (Yuen Yat-Chor), an orphan he once found on the street. When Kao’s past catches up with him and Shu Gun is mistaken for the prince, Kao is killed by the evil Sorcerer Bat (Yuen Shun-Yi) who, though realizing that Shu Gun is not the real prince, decides to use him (and his mistaken identity) for some nefarious political plans. Shu Gun just barely manages to escape, taking refuge with two feuding sibling wizards, Old Man (Yuen Yat Chor) and Old Spinster (Yuen Cheung-Yan), who teach him their trade even as they continually feud and fight off Sorcerer Bat’s death attempts. When Old Spinster is seemingly killed by Bat, Shu Gun decides to honour her name by winning the Sorcerer’s Championship. There, in the bowels of hell, he is confronted by the megalomaniac and crazed Sorcerer Bat…
If the plot doesn’t make much sense, it at least permits a great series of weird interludes ranging from a fighting pseudo-midget to a talking fried fish to a flying burning chicken and the sudden growth of magical third limbs to sword swallowing and, and, and…
Miracle Fighters is simply incredibly strange, good shit. It ain't for everyone and a lot of folks will probably find it unpalatable – my girlfriend sure did – but connoisseurs of the weird will dine fine and be completely satisfied. Rent it now! You won't regret it.