Kevin James Movie:

		List Price: $14.98		Label: Crash Cinema Media Salesrank: 163967 Released: July 10, 2001
		Our Price: $7.85
		Used Price: $3.65
		MPAA Rating: R (Restricted) Media: DVD

Mask of Death Reviews:
Mask of Death aka Shaolin Devil and Shaolin Angel (1979)
2008-02-18 - There's a masked killer on the loose and and he is killing all of the martial worlds top fighters. Steve Tung Wei plays a young man who must go to learn kung fu to revenge his father after he is killed. Don Wong Tao also has a revenge driven role.

This is an average kung fu movie, with a few nice touches that help it standout from the rest. Tung Wei is taught by a monk who sits on a small round padded seat. If Tung Wei can move the monk and sit on the seat himself then he has passed his training. This is one of my favorite training scenes of alltime. Tung Wei is flawless with his movements and has some very good acrobatic skills. But not to be outshined is Wong Tao. He gives a great performance in all of his fights. The movie also stars Choi Wang and Chen Sing.

None of the fights are great, but they are still worth watching

2.5/5


Picture quality is a bit above average and its widescreen.

Top 3 All-Time Kungfu movie!!!
2008-01-20 - Even a harsh critic like myself, could not help but feel satisfaction after watching this movie. It has everything a classic is made up of: great fight choreography, suspenseful plot/storyline, credible characters, memorable soundtrack/dialogue. From start to finish, this is in my Top 3 of all time Kungfu movies list.

THIS IS NOT A KUNG FU MOVIE
2004-11-13 - I JUST ORDERED THIS AND I GOT A LORENZO LAMAS MOVIE FROM 2001, NOT THE KUNG FU MOVIE FROM 1976. BEWARE!!!

Murder mystery with kung fu in old China
2001-11-26 - MASK OF DEATH (aka SHAOLIN DEVIL AND SHAOLIN ANGEL, 1979) is a well-made costume tale about a series of murders that offers just enough fighting to barely qualify as a kung fu film. Detailing the fate of a family decimated by the murders, it follows the efforts of a brother and sister to identify the murderers and avenge their family. They are helped by a secret agent, masquerading as an assassin (Wong Tao), and encounter numerous surprises along the way, culminating in a final battle with an unlikely enemy. It's packed with characters, incident, subplots and flashbacks, but, while never boring, is never very exciting either. No one bothered to string the incidents together in any cohesive order. Key people disappear for long stretches and we're not always sure who the main characters are supposed to be. When we learn finally who the villain is and why the murders occurred, it's too late to develop any dramatic tension or suspense.

Tung Wei is credited as co-fight director and also plays a young scholar who goes off, after his father's murder, to learn kung fu from a Buddhist monk. When he finally reappears to join the heroes, his kung fu doesn't help much. Overall, the fight scenes lack the vigor, imagination and relentlessness such scenes require. Wong Tao, normally quite a firebrand in his films, including THE HOT, THE COOL AND THE VICIOUS, in which he played a vaguely similar character, is too restrained here, trapped in a wig and period costume, spending too much time brooding and lamenting a childhood spent working in a brothel (seen in flashbacks). There's far more melodrama than a film like this is generally comfortable with.

All that said, however, the film is beautifully photographed, designed and costumed. It's a consistent visual treat, even when the narrative sags. The Crash Cinema DVD offers a very good letter-boxed transfer of an original print with sharp imagery and striking color. However, the print is extremely scratchy in parts, with occasional speckles and scratch lines streaking vertically through the film. Some parts, however, are not so bad and look almost pristine. The DVD case features a picture of Yasuaki Kurata, a Japanese actor/fighter who often starred in Hong Kong movies (SHAOLIN CHALLENGES NINJA), but doesn't appear in this one.

Very Good Cung fu classic, but....
2001-10-04 - This is an entertaining Kung fu flick, but it has allot of scratches and lines throughout the movie. I've seen older kung fu flicks in better condition. There was no effort in remastering it. This is the only copy of MASK OF DEATH on DVD right now so if you really want it just be aware of the condition of it.
Nuff said.