Was Midnight Kung Fu movies a thing? The Midnight movies in the late ’70s and early ’80s were a collection of flicks that were perfect for a crowd that was a little wild and lubricated with various substances. The Miracle Fighters should have been running with Eraserhead, El Topo, Rocky Horror and Pink Flamingos. The Golden Harvest film came out in the early ’80s and put a supernatural twist on the usual revenge flick. Directed by the legendary Yuen Woo-ping, The Miracle Fighters doesn’t skimp on the action while filling the screen with bizarre imagery.
General Ko Hung (The Postman Strikes Back‘s Eddy Ko) is discovered by the Manchu Emperor to have married a Han woman. He orders Hung to kill his wife. This national hero refuses and fights it out with not just the guards, but a warrior known as the Sorcerer Bat (Iron Monkey‘s Yuen Shun-yi). This seems to be a normal revenge flick except a giant pot comes alive (Brandy Yuen), grows limbs and fights Hung with a paper sword. It’s a magical battle that ends with Hung kidnapping the young prince. He escapes the castle, but the little prince can’t handle the excitement of their flight and dies. Hung takes off a jade necklace from the prince and gives it is to another child he finds on the road and names Shu-kan. He raises the faux-Prince as his own for years until the night when the Sorcerer Bat arrives. After the battle, Shu-kan (Yuen Yat-cho) has to look for help and finds it with two Taoist priests Kei-moon (Warriors Two‘s Bryan Leung) and Tun-kap (Once Upon A Time In China‘s Yuen Cheung-yan). The duo teaches him their magical techniques. This comes in handy when he gets into a competition at the end of the film.
The Miracle Fighters is a trippy movie. The fight scenes have this amazing ability to go places that you don’t except. Would you expect to see a half-human-half-crockery using a paper sword against a Master fighter? There’s a scene where a guy separates from his legs and keeps going. Making this creepy as well as freaky is a massive pit full of snakes. This is a nightmare inducer. The Miracle Fighters is perfect for that midnight when you’re in the mood to watch something so twisted and awesome.
The Video is 2.35:1 anamorphic. The 1080p transfer will let you take in all the weirdness clearly. You will squirm to the snake pit. The Audio is LPCM 2.0 mono in both Cantonese and the English dub. Both sound great. The movie is subtitled in English.
Audio commentary by Asian film expert Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival) once more gives us the context of the times. He shares stories about cast and crew. Always great to hear from Frank while watching the film a second time.
Audio commentary by action cinema experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema starts with them singing the Golden Harvest logo song. They are into the nonsensical crazy martials arts action. They debate if LSD was popular in Hong Kong at this time. They point out how it seems like a serious revenge film and then the fighting jar shows up. We also get a background on the Yuen clan.
Action Master (21:23) is an interview with Yeun Woo-ping done in 2012 by Frederic Ambrosine. Woo-ping discusses how fight choreography has changed over the decades. He appreciates how things evolve over the time. He talks about working with Jackie Chan and Jet Li. There are clips from his various movies. He talks about Woo-ping’s techniques and approaches to actors.
At the Service of a Great Magician (17:20) interview with assistant director Fish Fong. He started as a photojournalist at UPI and met the artist who designed the posters for Drunken Master. He knew Woo-ping needed an assistant and Fong bumped into Woo-ping later at a film lab. He talks about working with all the Yeuns. He gets into the production of The Miracle Workers. It took half a year to shoot the film. There’s a horrible story about what happened when the snake pit was filled with dry ice.
The Shakespeare of Yuen Woo-ping (16:56) takes action director John Kreng into the Matrix. He explains how he first met Woo-ping when the director requested Kreng to be the author of a magazine interview. He appreciated Kreng’s previous interview with Jackie Chan. What was supposed to be 30 minutes turned into hours and days. He ended up hanging out while Woo-ping was training the actors for The Matrix. Eventually he started working on projects with Woo-ping included an abandoned remake of The Miracle Fighters. He talks about how Woo-ping came up with the mythology of the original.
Original Theatrical Trailer (4:31) lets you know this is going to be a magical adventure with major action scenes.
Stills Gallery has 24 images of movie posters, lobby cards, press booklet and press photos.
Booklet with photos and an essay by James Oliver about the Yeun clan.
Eureka! Entertainment presents The Miracle Fighters: Limited Edition. Directed by Yuen Woo-ping. Screenplay by Peace Group. Starring Bryan Leung, Yeun Cheung-yan, Yuen Yat, Eddy KoKo, Yuen Shun-yi & Brandy Yuen. Running Time: 101 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: June 25, 2024.
