How this DVD landed on my lap I have no idea. The Buddha Assassinator (great title, by the way) is a 70's kung fu movie, which means lots of fast zooms, choppy editing, manic fights, and insane dubbing, of the "You killed my master! Prepare to die!" variety. If Buddha Assassinator were the only film of its kind it would be required viewing, but the fact is that there are thousands of movies exactly like this one. Fans of the sophisticated physical comedy of Jackie Chan, or the historical sweep of the grand costume dramas of the 80's and 90's might be expecting something other than the chop-socky thrills to be found here.

NOTE: A DVD is being released later this year by the name: Shaolin Dolemite Collection - Buddha Assassinator. It seems to be another release of the same film, but this time hosted by Rudy Ray Moore and featuring jive-talkin' dubbing. Someone get me that version, ferchrissakes!

VIDEO:
The video is a travesty. The opening credit sequence is vertically stretched to keep the titles on screen. The rest of the film is cropped at the sides. There are damage to the print, damage to the video master, and problems with the compression.

AUDIO:
The 2.0 consists of bad music and worse dubbing. It doesn't sound particularly good.

EXTRAS:
A selection of "trailers" (really just bad edits of scenes scored with videogame music) includes several for early Jet Li movies (here he's called Jet Lee).

FINAL THOUGHTS:
I don't want to give the impression that there is something wrong with The Buddha Assassinator. Sure, the presentation is lackluster, but we're talking about a movie that probably received its US premiere at a 42nd street grind house. There is a large audience for this sort of grimy, raw kung fu flick and, for those fans, The Buddha Assassinator delivers. Now, good luck finding it.

Other martial arts DVDs:
Jackie Chan: My Stunts
The Last Dragon
Drunken Master III
Dragon Inn

Gil Jawetz is a graphic designer, video director, and t-shirt designer. He lives in Brooklyn.