A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

THE SECRET MESSAGE is an amusingly cheap Taiwanese wuxia story with a plot centred around the Poison Clan and the struggle for control after the clan's leader goes missing. Mainly it's a hodge podge of genre tropes and ideas, with a blind swordswoman kicking up a fuss and various encounters in the woods between rival characters. The film has a low key magical aspect to it so you get magic weapons and characters flying through the air as well as a couple of cheesy creations. The cast is generally undistinguished, but there are smaller parts for genre regulars Chen Sing and Phillip Ko, both of whom needed more screen time.

ej's kung-fu capsule review for films of the chop-socky old-school - 1. basic plot type - historical; clan vs. clan; revenge; some weapons; some magic 'fu; some political intrigue; broken-hearted romance.2. plot construction - poor; confused and listless.3. dramatic - tries to be.4. funny - not at all.5. dialog - poor.6. cast performance - just so-so.7. crew performance - competent at best.8. amount of fighting - lots.9. quality of fighting - good.10. any special cast or crew notes - none.11. big positive - good fights.12. big negative - two annoying child-actors. bottom-line - who should see this movie - only a kung-fu cultist with a Saturday afternoon to waste.

This movie beats Manos Hand of Fate.Highlights include: exploding German Shepards (in Feudal Japan), keychain-studded scimitar, long-lost relatives who just appear with no introduction or explanation, dissolving ninjas, and a cameo appearance by a magical monkey.Buy this movie. You will laugh until you cry tears of blood.