Paula Hammond - Features EditorBack in the ’90s—when Enter The Dragon was pretty much the only Hong Kong movie most of us had ever seen—Jonathan Ross presented a run of films for Channel 4 under the banner Chinese Ghost Stories.
Screenings at The Scala and some of London’s smaller indie cinemas made it official. Hong Kong movies were ‘a thing’. A very offbeat thing but definitely cool, in a culty geeks-in-the-know sort of way. And one of the very best—and very oddest—of those films was Zu Warriors From The Magic Mountain.
Hailed as the inspiration for a whole new genre of film, this breath-taking movie was also the spark for Western imitations such as Big Trouble In Little China. With stunning cinematography, ground-breaking SFX, and epic design, this is a see once, never forget classic.
Eureka Classic’s brand new 2k restoration marks the film’s worldwide debut on blu-ray. The release also includes the edited English language cut—with a Wizard Of Oz style wraparound segment in which Yuen Biao is a modern day college student transported to 10th Century China.
One of the most important cinematic achievements in Hong Kong cinema, Tsui Hark’s Zu Warriors From The Magic Mountain is every bit as brilliant today as it was back then. Go get some.
