The Five Venoms

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Chang Cheh directs. Kung Mu-To behind the camera. Frankie Chan Fan-Kei scores. Chiang Hsing-Lung cuts. Produced in Hong Kong. Dialogue in Mandarin.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 148 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
• 2Directed by Chang Cheh, shot by Kung Mu-To. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 3Original score by Frankie Chan Fan-Kei. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 4Editor Chiang Hsing-Lung shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 5Chiang Sheng and Phillip Kwok Chui and Sun Chien carry the top of the cast.
• 6Marketing tagline: "Pick Your Poison!".
• 7IMDB entry: tt0077559 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 8Released under 19 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography

Kung Mu-To

Original score

Frankie Chan Fan-Kei

Editing

Chiang Hsing-Lung

Costume design

Liu Chi-Yu

Makeup / hair

Wu Hsu-Ching

Runtime

101 min · 1h 41m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Original language

ZH

Certification (US)

R

IMDB

The Five Venoms (1978) ↗

Also by

Chang Cheh

• 
  Cross the River

  1988 · ★ 10.0
• 
  The Singing Killer

  1970 · ★ 7.9
• 
  The Naval Commandos

  1977 · ★ 7.6
• 
  Great Shanghai 1937

  1986 · ★ 7.5
• 
  Five Shaolin Masters

  1974 · ★ 7.3
• 
  The Flag of Iron

  1980 · ★ 7.2

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Five Deadly Venoms Trailer aka Five Venoms [1978}

  Trailer

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Shaw Brothers

  HK

Key crew

• EditorChiang Hsing-Lung
• ProducerRunme Shaw
• Assistant DirectorChan Yau-Man
• Lighting TechnicianKuan Ying-Chuen
• Production ManagerMona Fong Yat-Wah
• Martial Arts ChoreographerRobert Tai
• Makeup ArtistWu Hsu-Ching
• Assistant DirectorChiang Sheng
• Sound RecordistWang Yong-Hua
• PropsLai Yu
• Martial Arts ChoreographerLeung Ting
• Martial Arts ChoreographerLu Feng
• Lighting TechnicianChan Fen
• HairdresserPeng Yen-Lien
• Production ManagerChen Lieh
• PropsLau Bing-Wai
• Unit ManagerHuang Jin-Pan
• Art DirectionJohnson Tsao Chuang-Sheng
• Costume DesignLiu Chi-Yu

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• martial arts
• kung fu

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical (limited)1979-01-26R

Also known as

International titles

• The Five Deadly VenomsUS
• Wu duHK
• Viisi vaskitsaaFI
• Die unbesiegbaren 5DE
• Fünf tödliche SchlangenDE
• Five Deadly Venoms - Fünf tödliche SchlangenDE
• Los cinco venenos mortalesAR
• Pente thanasima dilitiriaGR
• Ta 5 dilitiriaGR
• Ta 5 liontaria tou shaolinGR
• Ng dukHK
• The Five VenomsHK
• ゴドクケンJP
• Пять злодеевSU
• Los cinco VenenosES