PKazee

Polly Shang-kuan goes to Hell in this fanciful follow-up to Swordsman of All Swordsmen. Polly again portrays Fei Yen-tzu (aka Flying Swallow), and Tien Peng again portrays the heroic Tsai, while David Wei Tang takes over the "Black Dragon" role previously played by Nan Chiang. Together with several others (and a full 7 years before Gordon Liu Chia-hui would descend into the famed 36 Chambers) this trio descends into the treacherous 10 Chambers of Hell in an effort to seek revenge on Lord Chin, the reigning "Yanlou Wang" ruler of Hell (go ahead, take a minute to look that up and while you're at it, look up the various demons and judges listed in the next paragraph too).

Why is this revenge being sought? Because Lord Chin had Polly's blind father and Tien Peng's sword-coveting "Misty Light Master" murdered by his underworldly minions, namely - the Left & Right (Red & Green) Death-amulet-throwing Judges, the Ox Head Demon, the Black & White Wuchangs, the Murdering Wonder Child and the Soul-Hunter Yaksha. Oh, and also the less spectacular Huashan Dragon, Tiger and Phoenix.

Thankfully, while Polly, Tien Peng and David Wei Tang's gang is not quite as colorful, they do have a band of beggars, a Just Cause, and a surprise or two to bring to their battle.

In short, there may be way too many characters, but there's also non-stop action and twisted spectacle. How are our heroes able to literally walk to Hell and Back? You got me! How bad ass is Lord Chin? He bathes in boiling oil when not pulling his servants into his bath with him in order to watch them char to a crisp. Has he any kindness? Well sure, he does seem to have a thing for his daughter (the striking Han Hsiang-chin). Perhaps too much of a thing, however.

Prior to watching this impressively multi-faceted film, I'll confess to thinking little more about Cosplay than whether or not I found someone sexually alluring. And while there's no shortage of exposed flesh in this doc, I've come away with a much fuller understanding of the many very different personal and psychological reasons that might lead a person to invest so much of their time and resources in this community of wonderfully creative dress-up.

That really ought to be the tagline for this wonderfully silly film. Sadly, the line comes not from me but from a friend that I watched this film with.