FLYING GUILLOTINE 2 (1978)
AKA PALACE CARNAGE
Label: 88 Films
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 99 Minutes
Audio: Uncompressed English-Dub and Mandarin DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with newly translated English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Cheng Kang and Hua han
Cast: Feng Ku, Chung Wang, Hung Wei, Locke Hua Liu
Flying Guillotine 2 aka Palace Carnage (1978) is the bloody sequel to Flying Guillotine (1975), continuing the head-lopping violence of the that first film with a group of freedom fighters battling against the despot evil emperor (Ku Feng, Shaolin Temple) who's reign of terror is taking as many innocent lives as it is that of the intended rebels, and their leader Ma Tang (Ti Lung, Black Magic 2). Tang has devised a weapon that allows him to defend against the deadly flying guillotine attack, leading to the emperor's master armorer to create a new and improved decapitator weapon, which poses a new threat to the rebels.
Secret rebel Na Lan (Szu Shih, The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires) infiltrates the emperor's inner circle by gaining his trust with a group of female warriors whom he allows to train at the flying guillotine palace guards, much to the chagrin of his palace guard henchman (Lieh Lo, The Chinese Boxer) who doesn't care for women warriors at all. Her plan is to steal the plans for the new and improved flying guillotine and give it to the rebels so they can devise and new defensive weapon to counteract it.
The flick is action-packed with cool head-buzzing weaponry, hand-to-hand martial arts, acrobatic wire work, and clanging swordplay, the only real downside is some of the over-editing (and weird slow-motion finale) obscures the zesty fight choreography a little bit, but some of the decapitation scenes are quite well-staged and there's a decent amount of plenty blood and severed limbs. What's I've summed-up is the basic plot involving flying guillotine forces verses rebels, and that's pretty much it, set-dressed with some palace intrigue involving the wicked emperor and his double-agent master of arms, his henchmen and the female warriors, and you don't even need to be familiar with the first film to have a go at this one - it stand on it's own and it quite an head-lopping entertaining romp with an unusually downbeat ending that while definitely vanquishing the enemy comes at quite a cost to the protagonists.
Before I'd ever seen a frame of the Flying Guillotine films a friend in highschool describes the novel weaponry to me in great detail, I believe he described it as something akin to a flying hat with bladed edge that is spun around on a chain-lasso that when flung over some ones head is cinched which lobbed of their heads - and that was a pretty accurate description, and it sounded so ingeniously gruesome that I made my way to the video store to look for the first film, which I loved. Strangely, I never caught up with the sequel till this Blu-ray arrived in my mailbox, and I'm glad I've finally seen it, it was a bad-ass watch. I love the female heroine, the moustache twirling villains, and the action is nearly non-stop, and as such the pace is quite brisk and it's never dull.
Audio/Video: Flying Guillotine 2 (1978) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from 88 Films in 1080p HD widescreen (2.35:1), advertised as being HD transfer from the original negative, though not stating a new scan. What I'm seeing is certainly indicative of an older HD master and not a fresh new scan. It's in good shape and showcases modest grain but appears slightly filtered. Colors are pleasing throughout if a tad soft, but overall quite pleasing. Audio comes by way of both English-dub or Mandarin DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono with newly translated English subtitles. The English dub's higher registers were a bit shrill at times and the Mandarin seems more balanced.
The single-disc release arrives in an oversized clear Scanavo keeps with a Reversible Sleeve of Artwork with Original Hong Kong poster and new artwork by 'Kung Fu' Bob O'Brien, which is housed in a Limited Edition Slipcase also featuring the new artwork by 'Kung Fu' Bob O'Brien. Inside there's a Limited Edition Collectors Double Sided Poster, plus a 24-Page Limited Edition Booklet that is fully illustrated and includes the Watch Out for the Flying Guillotines essay by Barry Forshaw which examines the legacy of the Flying Guillotine films, info about the director, the principle cast, the choreography and fighting styles.
Special Features:
- Audio commentary with Asian cinema experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema
- Hong Kong Trailer (3 min 33 sec)
- Gallery
- Reversible Sleeve of Artwork with Original Hong Kong poster and new artwork by 'Kung Fu' Bob O'Brien
- Limited Edition Slipcase with New artwork by 'Kung Fu' Bob O'Brien
- Limited Edition Collectors Double Sided Poster
- Limited Edition 24-Page Booklet - Watch Out for the Flying Guillotines by Barry Forshaw
- Reversible Sleeve of Artwork with Original Hong Kong poster and new artwork by 'Kung Fu' Bob O'Brien
Flying Guillotine is an action-packed martial arts extravaganza with cool decapitating weapons and a lot of terrific, often bloody, action. It's great to see another ass-kicking Shaw Bros. production get some HD love from 88 Films.
