The Movie:

Kiss Of Death tells the story of a pretty young woman named Chu Ling (Chen Ping) who, while walking home alone from work late one night, is brutally raped by five surly thugs. Rather than take this matter to the authorities, she does what any level headed woman would do and turns to a life of prostitution, working at a swanky nightclub run by a crippled martial arts master named Wong Ta (Lo LieH) who whips people into shape with his cane. Chu Ling soon finds out that the rape left her with more than just a sore pelvis and a bruised ego... it turns out she has a nasty strain of syphilis known as Vietnam Rose that causes the infected some pretty hefty pain and eventually results in death - it can't be treated and there is no known cure.

With nothing to lose and little time left, Chu Ling gets the crippled martial arts master to show her the art of kung fu. After he teaches her about the glorious art of kicking men in the scrotum, she's more or less a kung fu master in her own right and she sets about getting her revenge. When one of the rapist thugs known as Crocodile shows up in the nightclub one night, she decides to show him a good time and off they go in a stolen car to make out in the night. A few kicks to the face and one gored penis later, Chu Ling's plan is off to a good start but there are four, tougher, men left to kill before her quest will be over and the syphilis is really starting to take its toll on her.

Directed by the same man who brought you Oily Maniac and Black Magic, 1973's Kiss Of Death plays out like a cross between Kill Bill (it was obviously a big influence on Tarantino's exploitation mish-mash) and I Spit On Your Grave with the 'time is running out' element of pictures like D.O.A. thrown in to help build suspense.

Despite the presence of the legendary Lo Lieh, the martial arts sets pieces, while completely entertaining, play second fiddle to the picture's sexier and more exploitative side. Scenes like the one where a couple of the thugs drug a pair of girls and coerce them into unwittingly starring in a porno movie or the early rape scene where poor Chu Ling is deflowered are shot with titillation in mind first and foremost and the mixture of trashy sexy and bloody (and often times penis oriented!) violence entrenches this picture firmly in trash film territory.

The film is shot with a lot of attention paid towards the color scheme and the use of music. The film's score uses a few repetitive cues to hint at the action to come while the filters that bath the film in primary colors give an interesting twist to the visuals. The picture moves along at a very good pace and while the characters are never really all that well fleshed out, it doesn't matter because there's enough hyper-stylized sex and violence that you won't really care because let's face it, you're not going into a film like this for depth or philosophical meaning, you watch it to see a hot chick cut the wang's off of bad guys and on that level this picture delivers exactly what you'd want it to.

The Video:

Kiss Of Death is presented in its original 2.35.1 aspect ratio (in Shawscope, naturally!) in a decent anamorphic transfer. While the picture is quite clean and clear, it is interlaced so depending on your video set up you may or may not notice some combing effects. Aside from that, the picture is decent. Color reproduction is nice and natural looking while black levels stay strong throughout the film. There aren't any major issues with print damage, edge enhancement or mpeg compression and skin tones look lifelike and natural. This isn't a reference quality transfer but it's not a bad effort.

The Audio:

The primary audio track on this release is a Chinese language Dolby Digital Mono mix that comes with optional subtitles available in English and Spanish only. The audio is a little flat in some spots but is otherwise fine. There aren't any problems with hiss or distortion even if once in a while you might notice the occasional pop in the mix. Dialogue stays clean and clear throughout and the English subtitles are easy to read even if there is a typo or two in the text. An optional Dolby Digital Mono English dub is also included and while the quality isn't as good as the Chinese track, it's nice to see it preserved here for posterity's sake even if the film plays better in its native language.

The Extras

Aside from some animated menus and chapter selection, Image has supplied a trailer for the feature and trailers for sixteen of other Shaw Brothers titles that are available on DVD. It should be noted, however, that these are newly created Celestial re-release trailers and not original theatrical trailers - at least they're all anamorphic.

Overall:

Kiss Of Death is a fairly sleazy but highly entertaining rape/revenge epic done with the Shaw Brothers' usual flair for the dramatic and with healthy doses of martial arts action thrown in for good measure which makes it an interesting slice of Asian exploitation. Image's DVD isn't perfect but it's certainly acceptable and fans of seventies martial arts pictures and exploitation pictures ought to check this one out. Recommended.

Ian lives in NYC with his wife where he writes for DVD Talk, runs Rock! Shock! Pop!. He likes NYC a lot, even if it is expensive and loud.