The Ghost Hill (1971)

Part of Flying Sword Heroes: Gravity-Defying Tales from Taiwan Film Festival 

Directed by: Ting Shan-hsi
Starring: Tien Peng, Polly Shang-kuan, Han Hsaing-chin, David Tang Wei

While this is the final installment in the “Swordsman of All Swordsmen” trilogy, no familiarity with the other two movies is required to have a blast. Polly Shang-kuan reprises her Flying Swallow character, alongside Tien Peng’s Tsai Ying-jie, and this time they decide to storm Hell itself in revenge for the death of Flying Swallow’s dad. After all, when life is this cruel, you want to speak to a supervisor.

Lord Chin, the Ruler of Hell, likes to bathe in boiling oil and he’s guarded by the Left and Right Judges, the Ox Head Demon, the Black and White Wuchangs, the Murdering Wonder Child, and Soul Hunter Yaksha, so this won’t be easy. Fortunately, Flying Swallow and Tsai have a just cause and an entire hobo army to help them crash through the styrofoam caves of doom and chop necks under multicolored disco lights. Shot by a cinematographer who films fight scenes like he’s storming the beach at Normandy, the visuals come flying at your eyes fast and furious in this delirious, blood-soaked fantasia. Will you be able to describe the plot or map the character arcs? Probably not. Will you see a flying head biting people? Guaranteed.

7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 21
FREE Admission (tickets must be reserved in advance online, or at the Box Office)