The Shaw Brothers: Four Films by Chang Cheh (Five Shaolin Masters / Shaolin Temple / The Five Venoms / Crippled Avengers (Blu-ray)

By the early-1970s, Chang Cheh was already Shaw Brothers' most prolific and well-known director with a plethora of box office hits (including the One-Armed Swordsman franchise) to his name and renowned for discovering the hottest young talents to star in his films. Three of those stars - David Chiang, Ti Lung and Alexander Fu Sheng - all feature in Five Shaolin Masters and Shaolin Temple, two selections from his instant-classic 'Shaolin Temple Cycle', based on the real-life tales of fighters training to face off against the ruthless Qing armies taking over China. A few years later, Chang outdid himself with the formation of the all-powerful posse of kung fu experts known to fans as the Venom Mob, whose talents would be showcased most famously in The Five Venoms and Crippled Avengers. Blood-soaked, brutal, and a marked influence on the 'heroic bloodshed' films by Chang's sometime assistant director John Woo, these four films show one of Shaw's greatest directors working at the height of his talents.

• DISC ONE - FIVE SHAOLIN MASTERS / SHAOLIN TEMPLE
• High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
• Uncompressed Mandarin and English original mono audio for both films
• English subtitles for both films, plus English hard-of-hearing subtitles for the English dub
• Appreciation of Chang Cheh by film critic and historian Tony Rayns
• Interview with star Kong Do, filmed in 2003
• Elegant Trails: David Chiang and Elegant Trails: Ti Lung, two featurettes on the actors produced by Celestial Pictures in 2003
• Alternate standard-definition version of Shaolin Temple
• Alternate opening credits from Five Masters of Death, the US version of Five Shaolin Masters
• Alternate opening credits sequences for Shaolin Temple
• Trailers
• Image galleries for both films
• DISC TWO - THE FIVE VENOMS / CRIPPLED AVENGERS
• 2K restorations of both films from the original negatives by Arrow Films
• High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
• Uncompressed Mandarin and English original mono audio for both films plus Cantonese mono for The Five Venoms
• English subtitles for both films, plus English hard-of-hearing subtitles for the English dubs
• Commentary on The Five Venoms by critic Simon Abrams
• Interview with star Lo Meng, filmed in 2003
• Chang Cheh: The Master, a featurette about the director produced by Celestial Pictures in 2003
• Trailers for The Five Venoms
• Hong Kong theatrical trailer for Crippled Avengers
• Image galleries for both films