SHAOLIN TEMPLE AGAINST LAMA (Taiwan, 1980)
Directed by: Chien-chi Chang
Starring: Alexander Rei Lo, Alan Chung San Chui, Chi-Ping Chang

Taiwan’s indie kung fu films eschewed slick sets and smooth camera moves to shoot on location with urgent handheld cameras wielded by operators who seemed to be constantly on the brink of fully freaking out. In this flick, Tibet’s evil Black Lamas (you know they’re evil by the skulls in their hair and their double-decker mustaches) decide to wage war on Shaolin Temple while wearing costumes that would put Bootsy Collins to shame. The Lamas manipulate a righteous Tibetan prince to be their proxy face-breaker in a war with the hard-hitting Shaolin monks and what ensues is a whirling tornado of non-stop martial mayhem spiced with a whiff of funky incense. Ambitiously acrobatic, and never content to show two men fighting when it could show 20, SHAOLIN TEMPLE AGAINST LAMA is a psychedelic throwback to a time when kung fu movies were allowed to pull out all the stops and do absolutely anything as long as it kept your eyes glued to the screen.