Fantastic!

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

A paranoid emperor has 12 assassins trained in the use of a new weapon - the flying guillotine, which can take a guy's head off at 100 paces. The weapon is pretty cheesy actually, but in a good way if you like these old Shaw Bros flicks.The main appeal of this film is that it is plot driven with a good story line, touching on concepts of morality and when to question loyalty.However, the kung fu is a bit sparse and we don't really see much martial arts until probably 40 minutes in.Worth watching though, better plot than most of these 70's kung fu flicks even if it isn't exactly packed with kung fu action.

Xin Kang (Ku Feng) is tasked by The Emperor with coming up with a new method for eliminating scholars and intellectuals (not to mention other government officials) who deviate from the Party Line. Watching jugglers in the town square, he comes up with THE FLYING GUILLOTINE. While the contraption as presented here (and elsewhere, in various other films) may be improbable, it serves its cinematic purpose. The Emperor is so impressed with it that he assigns a special squad of assassins to perfect the killing technique(s) to be employed. Ma Teng (Chen Kuan-Ti) quickly becomes a standout, but when he comes close to accidentally killing fellow assassin Ah Kun, Kun decides to get rid of Ma Teng by accusing him of plotting treason. When Ma Teng expresses qualms about the assassinations of several government officials, it's only icing on the cake for Kun. It turns out that Ma Teng isn't the only assassin having second thoughts. Xin Kang and Ah Kun go after the dissenters. "Our heads don't belong to us any more," Kang says. Will Ma Teng survive, or will The Emperor's assassins take his head? THE FLYING GUILLOTINE, while it doesn't contain a LOT of fight scenes, is good, old-fashioned storytelling and well worth your time.

This is one of those few movies that enters cinema legend simply because a better remembered film was made in response to it. Flying guillotine was quite popular in its day, thus Wang Yu's idea of stealing an idea from it. Now it's become difficult find.Of course I saw this after seeing Wang Yu's later film. Consequently I was actually prepared for a film much less fun than the later film.well, it is a little less fun - but only a little. Ho Meng-hua has really paced this film well - Whenever we reach a point where the plot appears in danger of slowing down, Ho makes sure something happens to recapture our attention.The cinematography is quite good, and the editor has used the footage well. But my sense is that the largest contribution was from Ho Meng-hwa.Of course, it helps a little to have Chen Kuan Tai play the hero. Chen was not only a brilliant traditional kung-fu performer, he could also act quite convincingly.There are a number of slips in the film, but thanks to its pacing, these are easy to ignore. It's definitely a "grand-guinol" B-movie; but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Was this the film that started the whole decapitating fad?A very atypical Shaw Bros story here that doesn't involve your typical training to enter Shaolin temple or revenge motif. Instead, you're not sure who to root for or jeer at. My favorite scenes include anyone with the flying guillotine. Just seeing those bodies headless and limbs flailing (the red paint smears were a great gory touch!). By the end, there's double crossing and power corrupts. Really great use of Shaw Studios sets and the colors and costumes looked great on this Celestial DVD release. Also, stick with it and you get a great finish to boot. So, while not a classic Shaw Bros film, this one is a "cut" above the rest.