Director Godfrey Ho is an acquired taste. Sort of the king of the Chinese b-action movies, Godfrey managed for the better part of two decades to spit out multiple films a year, often lifting scenes from other films, shooting different movies simultaneously, creating a virtual assembly line of chop socky action films. Odds are, if someone mentions seeing a cheap kung fu movie with a plot that made little sense, continuity errors, and sometimes incomprehensible direction, well... it very well could be a Godfrey Ho film. Naturally, with such a huge resume there are some entertaining films, and like most b-film guru's- if you are open to it- there is a certain charm to his "don't care-get it done" haphazard and cheap style.

You can see a trademark Godfrey Ho continuity error in Shaolin Drunk Monkey where, about midway through the film we see a guy with half a mustache in the local village. Well, near the end of the film , we are treated to a scene where we see this guy again, this time with a full mustache, and it is explained that he is a martial arts teacher who gets the shakedown by Silver Eagles goons, told to leave town and they rip half his mustache off. Godfrey decided to juggle some scenes, and surely knowing it would be strange to see this half mustached man early and the sequence wouldn't make sense- he just didn't care. Two other glaring loopholes are, the fact that Silver Eagle uses a mirror on his chest to blind his opponents. Well, Mo gets trained and practices fighting with his eyes closed, but when it comes time for the final duel, none of this comes into play, he is blinded, and his solution is spitting blood on the mirror. And, the other weird point is, unlike most films with henchmen, in which the henchmen are the appetizer for our hero to fight before the main bout with the bad guy, nothing of the sort happens here and the henchmen just disappear by the finale.

Anyway, as far as Godfrey Ho films go, this is actually a pretty fair one. Unfortunately it is another unoriginal master-student clone comedy, and doesn't have the weirdo hooks that usually save a Godfrey Ho film like villains with super power belly buttons. I'm not very fond of Elton Chong. His clowning around makes you realize why Jackie Chan was so good at it. Jackie just had that magic spark and could make some dumbass, poked in the butt, facial grimacing comedy enjoyable, but Elton just doesn't have it. Despite the title, something the film doesn't have is any drunken or monkey fighting. Sure, its got a white wigged, scruffy, grotesquely red-nosed master, but not once does any of the training or fighting involve any drunken or monkey style whatsoever.

The DVD: Ground Zero, part of their Balckbelt Theater line.

Picture: Widescreen. Always expect wear and tear, severe aging. The softness and dull contrast on this tape print (as evidenced by the occasional static lines) really hurts the film, especially when it comes to various scenes shot with diffused 'Day for Night' filters where the definition is really hurt. If you are familiar with GZ and budget kung fu transfers I guess it is mildly okay, not the best, certainly weak but watchable.

Sound: Dolby Digital Mono, English dub. Has the expected muffle and distortion one is accustomed to in older kung fu features.

Extras: 8 Chapters- "Lost" Trailers (15:35). Nice bunch of theatrical trailers for Raging Rivals, Enter the Invincible Hero, Dynamite Shaolin Heroes, Buddhist Fist and Tiger Claws and Dragon's Snake Fist

Conclusion Prices had been dropping. Rival companies like Brentwood offering multiple film sets with roughly the same picture quality and at cheaper prices. It also doesn't help that the previous Blackbelt Theater releases were all double features. If it were part of a double feature I may be able to justify the lackluster quality, but as it is, I'll have to give it a rental or a buy for the voracious kung fu fan with money to spare.