The Comet Strikes (1971)

The young king has been ousted and is in hiding, with the usurpers anxious to track him down and eliminate him. They follow the trail to a small town, but the trail leads them to a run down house said to be haunted, from which nobody ever returns alive. A feisty young swordswoman stirs things up.

It's actually quite difficult to summarise the plot for The Comet Strikes, even though it is coherent in the moment. There are numerous twists and turns, so maybe the challenge is trying to summarise it without spoilers.

The supernatural horror angle spices up the film and gives it more atmosphere than the average wuxia, whilst the busy plot and colourful characters keep it engaging between the plentiful fights.

Nora Miao is the lead, as in most of these early Golden Harvest films, with Patrick Tse as nominal co-lead but a less prominent role. A young Stanley Fung is the primary representative of the villain's side, though he is but a subordinate to the main villain, eventually revealed to be the director himself.

It seems unlikely that Nora Miao's skills as a fighter had really improved as much as they appear to have in the four months since The Blade Spares None was released, so presumably Chan Siu-Pang just had better ideas for how to make her look like one. The choreography is quite frenetic, with a lot of wirework and plenty of undercranking, making the action exciting to watch. The finale is especially intense.

This is one of those rare films that makes you think "Wait - was Lo Wei good?", as it flows smoothly and has more style than he usually brings to the screen. It's clear he is in King Hu emulation mode though, taking liberal inspiration from both Dragon Gate Inn and A Touch Of Zen. Of course, it is not on the same level as those classics.