Burning Paradise

This blood-drenched gothic horror cum martial arts extravaganza from 1993, directed by the late Ringo Lam, was his only excursion into the so-called ‘wuxia’ genre and what a spectacular one it is! Available in the UK for the first time on Blu-ray and in a stunning 2K restoration, BURNING PARADISE is a dark fantasy epic filled with fantastical sets, a sinister plot, shocking violence and jaw-dropping action choreography.

Starting with the burning of books and furniture after the ruthless Qing army attacks a Shaolin temple (the Qing soldiers even destroy a gigantic Buddha statue with a battering ram), many monks either resign to their fate or attempt to flee. Not young disciple Fong Sai-yuk (Willie Chi) who, together with his uncle Chi Nun – a Grand Master – decides to fight back and thus provides the cue for a truly shocking first twenty minutes or so, what with Sai-yuk defending himself with a massive sword while some of his fierce opponents use flying guillotines and other dastardly devices. After the first hurdle, both Sai-yuk and his uncle manage to escape by the skin of their teeth and seek shelter in a ramshackle hut where they encounter Dau Dau (Carman Lee), a young woman who sold herself into prostitution to help feed her family back home. Now that all her family are dead, she has left the brothel to return to her hometown though of course that’s much easier said than done thanks to Qing soldiers patrolling the countryside. Now the three join forces which is just as well, because within minutes they find themselves surrounded by Qing soldiers and this time round, uncle Chi Nun loses his life in a most shocking way while Sai-yuk and Dau Dau are taken captive.

Together with many other surviving monks from the Shaolin temple, they are brought to the Red Lotus temple, an underground prison (although not as you know it) with labyrinthine torture chambers, secret passages and caves filled with corpses. Leader of the Red Lotus is Elder Kung (Wong Kam Kong), a totalitarian and utterly sadistic ruler who appears to have supernatural powers and takes great delight in watching duels between chosen prisoners and his own fighters, among them head priestess Brooke (Chun Lam) who certainly knows how to fight… as Sai-yuk soon finds out the hard way. Meanwhile, Dau Dau is chosen to be Elder Kung’s personal sex slave while Sai-yuk watches on with increasing jealousy. Brooke also fancies someone, although her chosen man is foreman Hung Hei-gun, who was formerly a captured Shaolin monk but has since switched sides (or so Elder Kung and Brooke are led to believe). In reality, Hung is a double-agent trying to find out the best way for him and the other captured Shaolins to flee the temple (not that they believe him).

In between, we encounter drawbridges spiked with nails with burning pits underneath, poisonous gas, booby-trapped firearms hidden in statues and other delights. Also, let’s not forget rats and snakes and more rats and snakes… yikes!
The grand finale has to be seen to be believed, in fact, the entire film needs to be seen to be believed – it really is a case of Grand Guignol meets martial arts!

The set pieces and torture devices are truly gobsmacking and god knows how long it took to construct everything. The action sequences almost pale into insignificance and rest assured, the action is – as per usual with such films – jaw-dropping and impressive. Willie Chi (whatever became of him) is perfect casting as the hot-headed young Shaolin disciple hell-bent on avenging his murdered uncle and helping his fellow Shaolins to achieve freedom, while the chemistry between him and Carman Lee works perfectly. Wong Kam Kong clearly has a field day portraying the dastardly Elder Kung who oozes pure evil from every pore! It’s all mighty entertaining but not for the fainthearted or easily offended.

Bonus Material includes various audio options, audio commentaries, interviews, trailers and the first 2000 copies are presented in a limited O-card slipcase with info booklet. In Cantonese with English subtitles.