#10 Most Furious Kicks of Kung Fu Horror Cinema

October is defined in Webster’s Dictionary as “31 days of horror.” Don’t bother looking it up; it’s true. Most people take that to mean highlighting one horror movie a day, but here at FSR, we’ve taken that up a spooky notch or nine by celebrating each day with a top ten list. This article about kung fu horror movies is part of our ongoing series 31 Days of Horror Lists.

Just when you think you’ve explored every avenue of freaky filmmaking, you stumble into the glorious realm of kung fu horror movies. The blend of Wushu sensibilities and extreme phantasmagoria results in a new style of intoxicating cinema that easily addles the senses of the audience. These movies hit hard, bouncing from one tone to the next in a matter of seconds. The moment you think you comprehend the characters and the universe, no doubt, something incredible will slap across the screen, causing your head to swim and your heart to palpitate.

Join the Boo Crew — a.k.a. Chris Coffel, Valerie Ettenhofer, Kieran Fisher, Rob Hunter, Meg Shields, Anna Swanson, Jacob Trussell, and yours truly — as we hurl ourselves into this wild, wire-fu arena and determine the ten best bouts of cinema this utterly bonkers subgenre has to offer.

10. Encounters of the Spooky Kind (1980)

Jiangshi movies make up one of the strangest and most entertaining subgenres of horror cinema. These films are inspired by ancient Chinese mythology that pertains to hopping vampires, which is a fascinating element in and of itself. However, what makes the movies really special is their genre-mashing goofiness, combining horror, slapstick comedy, and martial arts to entertaining effect. Encounters of the Spooky Kind sits alongside the Mr. Vampire series as the pinnacle of Jiangshi fare. In the movie, Sammo Hung plays a poor sap who encounters the hopping creatures after his wife and boss hire an evil wizard to curse him. But he’s a kung fu master, and he uses his skills to overcome the supernatural threats. The fight choreography is outstanding and also allows Hung to showcase his prowess for physical comedy. (Kieran Fisher)

9. Silent Rage (1982)

We get it. Chuck Norris isn’t “cool” anymore. Happily, plenty of his earlier movies still are, and that includes his first foray into the horror genre: Silent Rage (his second and last, 1994’s Hellbound, is not worth discussing). Norris plays a small-town sheriff known for shutting down bad guys with a series of roundhouse kicks, but a genetically modified killer impervious to pain and capable of healing his wounds decides it’s time to vote this sheriff out of office. Permanently. Ron Silver plays the mad scientist, Brian Libby plays the mute killer, and Stephen Furst is also in it for some reason.

Norris’ martial arts are great fun. He’s doing spin kicks in jeans, people! It’s a creepily entertaining slasher that builds to an entertaining one-on-one fight scene with punches, chops, kicks, chokeholds, flips, throws, and slow-motion to die for. And if all that’s not enough? How about the fact that Norris’ character is named Dan Stevens, and a few months after the film’s release in 1982, a newborn boy was not-so-coincidentally named Daniel Jonathan Stevens, and that boy grew up to be… well, he kept the name, so he grew up to be Dan Stevens, director of The Guest. Anyway, Silent Rage is pretty damn cool. (Rob Hunter)

8. Rigor Mortis (2013)

Juno Mak’s moody movie isn’t clear-cut horror or simply a kung fu movie, but it’s a visually arresting film that pays tribute to the classic jiangshi saga Mr. Vampire and other greats of the subgenre. Actor Chin Siu-ho of the original film franchise plays a depressed version of himself who moves into an apartment building that turns out to be filled with ghostly neighbors. An endlessly intriguing, strange, and bleak movie, Rigor Mortis pulls off some seriously freaky visuals. Former Mr. Vampire actors and jiangshi film stars Anthony Chan, Billy Lau, Richard Ng, and Chung Fat round out the cast. (Valerie Ettenhofer)

7. A Chinese Ghost Story (1987)

Ching Siu-Tung’s A Chinese Ghost Story is unlike any movie you’ve ever experienced. It follows the naive scholar and debt collector Ling Choi-San (Leslie Cheung), who, by happenstance, falls in love with Lip Siu-Sin (Joey Wong), the ghost of a magistrates daughter bound to an afterlife of servitude to a Tree Demoness (Lau Siu-Ming) and forced into an arranged marriage with a giant mountain monster. When she tries to escape after falling for Ling Choi-San, the Demoness drags her to the underworld, forcing her lover and a Taoist monk to bring her back and put her soul to rest.

This film is brimming with ingenuity and imagination, pulling together classic 17th-century Chinese ghost stories with Evil Dead inspired cinematography, hyper stylistic lighting, and stop motion monsters straight out of Ray Harryhausen. Hell, the Taoist monk even has his own musical number, which is as charming as it is out of the fucking blue. The kung fu scenes are more of the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon variety, with actors bounding between trees while zooming through the air, but it’s really the images in A Chinese Ghost Story that make it such a must-watch. You’ll never be able to unsee thousands of disembodied heads bursting out of a monster’s chest or a tongue that splits into a fleshy beak that reveals a face filled with tendrils, but I don’t think that’ll be a problem for you horror fans. (Jacob Trussell)

6. Versus (2000)

Versus is a simple flick. A gang of yakuza wants the mysterious Prisoner KSC2-303 dead. They’ve trapped him in the Forest of Resurrection. No one is leaving until the job is done. Enter: zombies. Director Ryuhei Kitamura is a damn madman, and he makes movies that feel like they shouldn’t be around other movies. His flicks deserve their own shelf, and probably their own list for that matter. Versus sets up a bunch of rules early on but quickly dismisses them when necessary. The most important element of the film is its energy. As long as it’s moving and the characters are wailing and clashing against each other, everything else doesn’t matter. You sweat when you watch Versus. It’s mayhem, and it’s a workout. (Brad Gullickson)

5. Blade (1998)

Blade has a lot to offer viewers. It’s a horror-action comic book movie hybrid that does something new with the vampire mythos. It also opens with a vampire rave, complete with a bloodbath, that helps to solidify its place as a late ’90s movie. The film is all about destroying vampires, and Blade (Wesley Snipes) does so in a variety of ways. Most of the damage comes via gun violence, but the Daywalker shows off his kung fu skills more than once. The most prominent of these exhibitions come in the finale when Blade squares off with his nemesis, Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorff). Fight scenes this intricate with choreography beyond your standard kicking and punching were still relatively new in big Hollywood productions at the time, making Blade‘s use of them all the more fresh and impressive. (Chris Coffel)

4. Blade II (2002)

Ok, I can already hear the peanut gallery. How can Blade II surpass the first film when it comes to kung fu? Hopefully, most recognize how Guillermo del Toro elevated this character’s universe by injecting genuinely terrifying creatures into a genre that is too often saddled with mopey, whiney bloodsuckers. Also, del Toro delivers grand vistas of comic book fantasy and mythology in Blade II that were merely hinted at in the original. This movie is a big flex that will ultimately burst into the majesty that is the first two Hellboy adaptations.

Ah, but we’re here to talk kung fu. Blade II‘s wire coordinator is Hiro Koda, a guy who graduated from stunts to supervision on this film and would go on to lead the stunt teams of Cobra Kai and Stranger Things. The showdowns in Blade II are utterly brutal and inventive, bouncing off the sets and landing catastrophic blows full of impact that were, quite frankly, lacking in Blade. The first film was all about finesse. Blade II is all meat, baby, and it tastes goooood. (Brad Gullickson)

3. The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974)

A kung fu Hammer horror? About Van Helsing and his horny son taking on seven decrepit Chinese vampires? With the help of an army of sibling assassins? Where do I sign? The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (say that seven times fast) is the perfect rainy Sunday watch. And I mean that as a compliment. It’s goofy as sin and unlike any Hammer or kung fu film out there, but its charm is undeniable. A team-up between the iconic British horror house and Hong Kong’s inimitable Shaw Brothers, the film is an unconventional mashup with no real equivalent (David Chiang and Peter Cushing being in the same film feels like the ultimate ’70s crossover episode). If you want to satisfy your desire for wacky kung fu brawls and gothic ruffs, you only really have one kickass choice. (Meg Shields)

2. Big Trouble in Little China (1986)

Everybody relax, Big Trouble in Little China is here. Big Trouble in Little China is like if John Carpenter walked into a video store blindfolded, picked six movies at random, and used the resulting hodgepodge of genres to make a movie. An East-meets-West mashup that sees Kurt Russell doing his best John Wayne while everyone else kickflips circles around him, Big Trouble in Little China’s infectious kitchen sink attitude just works. No further questions.

Carpenter claims he made a silly movie on purpose, which sounds like bullshit until you watch this bonkers San Francisco throw down that pits heroic martial artists (and their trucker side-kick) against an immortal sorcerer armed with elemental cronies and inexplicable sewer goblins. Is all the criticism about the film’s chinoiserie correct? Yes. Does it really matter? No. This is a story of a hilariously incompetent white man trying to get his truck back while the real professionals commit sins against physics by invoking the Shaw Brothers and Tsui Hark. Mr. Carpenter, the check is in the mail. (Anna Swanson)

1. Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (1991)

“I’m not locked in here with you; you’re locked in here with me!” I laughed the first time I read that line from Rorshach in Watchmen. It’s an utterly badass moment for sure, but it’s a bit of dialogue that really should belong to Ricky. Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky is an epic saga of a kung fu mutilator sentenced to ten years in prison for killing the mobster responsible for his girlfriend’s death. Once inside, Ricky unleashes a blitzkrieg of blood and gore upon the population, ripping through squadrons of goons in a fashion that will have you wondering, “I can’t believe these guys aren’t butter.” The pool of flesh and innards left in his wake will make you giddy unless you pass out from the sheer volume of limb-flailing action. Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky is one of those movies that, once seen, you can’t believe it took you this long to consume. The film inspires celebration, and you’ll spend the rest of your days attempting to place it in the hands of as many film fans as possible. (Brad Gullickson)