Shaw Bros. remade

Uh-oh, don’t look now, more remakes of popular Asian films coming atchya. Is Universal or somebody reimagining another Japanese ghost movie made in 2002? Nope. Well, yeah, probably, but that’s not what this particular news item is about. According to MonkeyPeaches, this time it isn’t Hollywood doing the updating but the Hong Kong-based Celestial Pictures; the company is fixin’ to remake the original classic Shaw Bros. movies that it restored and released on DVD, and first up are FIVE DEADLY VENOMS and FLYING GUILLOTINE. I’m a pretty big fan of Asian cinema and I can’t recall another instance of a movie from that particular market being remade in this fashion within its native country. May be a first, no?

In case you need some boning up, VENOMS is about a kung-fu student, something of dilettante, who is instructed by his teacher to investigate what the deal is with five of his other students, each trained specifically and intensely in one of the five lethal fighting styles in which our guy dabbles and some of whom may be evil. Kirk Wong, who helmed Jackie Chan’s CRIME STORY and the Mark Wahlberg-starring THE BIG HIT, is attached to direct the remake and Maggie Q, who can next be seen in BALLS OF FURY and LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD, is set to co-star.

GUILLOTINE, meanwhile, follows the Emperor’s former guard who, after becoming disillusioned with his leader’s paranoid and constant use of the titular weapon, a flying blade that can remove an enemy’s head from a long distance, leaves his post and takes up a life on a farm only to have his past – and the guillotine – catch up with him. You can check out the press release for both the projects, which are likely to lead to other remakes, HERE.