Customer Ratings & Reviews

House Of Traps 81' (this rare film had circulated for decades as a bootleg (basically) unwatchable for english speaking fans. i've just veiwed the remastered version and i must say i was very pleased with every aspect of this film. the storyline, the acting, the plot, and especially the fighting. all are spot on solid. the fighting near the end is amazing especially on Wang Li's and Lu Feng's parts. one of the princes decides he's gonna revenge his father's premature death. so he builds the House Of Traps to accomplish this end. Lu Feng starts the story off with stealing a precious jade horse presenting it to said prince for proof of his loyalty. they decide to lock it up in the House Of Traps in case the emperor gets any smart ideas. after some appropriate storyline dynamics Kuo Chui shows up with the Pearl Crown to express his loyalty to the scheming prince. Lu Feng and he already exhibit some animosity with Kuo's copy cat offer to the prince. Kuo then heads out to further prove his loyalty. Chien Hsiao-hou does a great job fighting and acting wise. Though he's in no way the lead actor in the film. the film has an excellent cast: Wang Li (Lord Bao), Lu Feng (Butterfly Hua), Kuo Chui (Black Fox), Lung Tien-chiang / spearman of death guy (Shen Zhong Yuan), Sun Chien (Yan Chun Min), Chiang Sheng (The River Rat). the pacing is just fine. there's plenty of action interjecting the dialogue throughout the entire film and the storyline is solid. the fighting throughout is superb, especially between Kuo Chui and Lu Feng, also near the end between Wang Li and his two opponents Chiang Sheng and his partner. Wang Li does this great move with his weapon. as Wang is engaged with Chiang and co. he locks his two hooked swords together by the hooks and swings them at his adversary then unhooks them and continues his barrage on his two opponents. dosen't sound like much, but the seemless flow to this very well practiced choreographed scene is highly impressive. in fact, the choreographing throughout the film, especially near the end is incredibly well rehearsed. it flows very naturally and comes off extremely realistic as a result. near the end of the film I found myself endlessly rewinding fight scenes to see just how well orchestrated they actually were. we're talking lighting fast, real speed, choreographing here. (an after thought) you kinda get the feeling Chang Cheh was somewhat in someway trying to accomodate Kuo Chui and Lu Feng during their confrontations so as to not incite (actual) resentment with favoring either's role (or character) with being the more proficient killer while filming House Of Traps for fear of either actor possibly walking angrily off the set, as they are very evenly matched here. i don't know, just passed through my mind while watchin the end fights, especially. oh, by the way, i'd definitely give this film a 8.5/10 )