Synopsis: Chuen Chan spares the life of the evil Miao Yi Tao in a duel. Miao swears he'll regret it! Later, Chen Tai and Shaun Ching leave home with the task of escorting valuables to the capital. The cocky young Chen Tai disgraces a group of bandits, who work for Miao Yi. Miao investigates and suspects Miao's father has information about the whereabouts of Chuen Chan, also known as The Ghost Killer. (91 Mins)

 

Views: After battling the evil Miao Yi Tao, complete with his baby son strapped to him, Chuen Chan leaves his enemy as a eunuch after he finds that his wife has committed suicide because of him. Although Miao survives and promises to seek revenge, Chuen decides to join the Shaolin Temple to atone for his sins, leaving his son with a close friend who promises to bring the boy up as his own. As the years pass, Chuen's son has become a young adult and works a security job with his elder sister who doesn't really enjoy his company. But their journey soon makes them cross paths with Miao Yi Tao and his men, leading to the young hero learning kung-fu to help protect himself. As Tao and his men keep on coming, Chuen's son and his elder sister take shelter in the Shaolin Temple where Chuen Chan eventually reveals himself to his angry boy. But as Miao Yi Tao makes his move to get revenge, he finds Chuen refusing to fight – but instead offers some advice to try and force Miao to repent!

 

While not an amazing movie, 18 Shaolin Disciples still has a few entertaining moments throughout and benefits from a great cast such as the wonderful Carter Wong as Chuen Chan, great Chang Yi as Miao Yi Tao, and the handsome Meng Fei as Wong's son. Although he had already appeared in classics such as Hapkido, When Taekwondo Strikes, and The Skyhawk, 18 Shaolin Disciples was about the 12th or 13th film, and only 1 of 10 productions from 1975, that Wong would star in. That said, he really just has an extended cameo of sorts – appearing at the start and end of the production for the most part. Chang Yi gets a bit more screen time as the main villain of the piece and had already been pumping-out plenty of films since his debut in 1967 with The Thundering Sword, along with The Silent Swordsman and King Cat. Almost 40 titles later, Yi took up the role of Miao Yi Tao in 18 Shaolin Disciples, and impresses as always. But for me, it has to be Meng Fei who proves to be the real star of the show as he leads the way as the adult version of Wong's son. Although he had appeared in a number of great titles in the few years leading up to this, such as The King Of Boxers, The Prodigal Boxer, The Young Tiger, and Five Shaolin Masters, the young actor saw things pick-up soon after 18 Shaolin Disciples in films like The Prodigal Boxer 2, Clutch Of Power, The Silver Spear, Unbeaten 28, The Guy With Secret Kung Fu, Clan Of Amazons, and more – with his appearance in the awesome Brotherhood Of Blades being his final role to date. The three of them are joined by the beautiful Hsu Feng, starlet of films such as King Hu's Dragon Inn, A Touch Of Zen, The Fate Of Lee Khan, Raining In The Mountain, Legend Of The Mountain, and Jackie Chan's underrated classic, To Kill With Intrigue as well as many more, and while it certainly isn't one of the greatest roles of her career, Hsu is always a joy to watch.

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With that many stars in the production, you would expect some decent kung-fu action throughout, and while it does have a little, it's probably just not enough to make it a classic. The dubbing and picture quality of this version doesn't do it any favours either, but I can only imagine that a clean widescreen print of 18 Shaolin Disciples would prove more entertaining. The closing scenes of the film are definitely original in this genre though, with our trio of stars coming together one final time at Shaolin Temple to reveal that Wong is now a fully fledged monk and poor Meng Fei just wants to speak with his dad. After all those years you would think Wong would finally want to see his son – but no, he just blatantly ignores him. And that's not even the part I'm relating to! Hell-bent on revenge, the grudge-holding Chang Yi tries his damn hardest to get a rematch with monk Carter Wong and constantly attacks, but gets nothing back from the changed holy man. Yi even goes as far to cut up his son (Fei) but Wong still gives nothing back. The infamous final duel of a kung-fu movie is somewhat non-existent in 18 Shaolin Disciples! Instead, it's only Wong's words and the offer of his eyes that proves to be enough to stop Chang Yi in his path – resulting in him becoming the 18th monk himself and leaving poor Meng Fei to be forgotten about all over again. Poor kid!

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The script was written by Chang Hsin Yi, the same guy who penned films such as The Prodigal Boxer 2, The Traitorous, 18 Bronzemen, The Hot The Cool & The Vicious, Eagles Claw, Dance Of Death, Thundering Mantis, and Kung Fu Wonder Child with Yukari Oshima. After working on a few titles as the assistant director in the early 70s, Chang made his directional debut in 1978 with Snaky Knight Fight Against Mantis, and soon followed with titles such as The Lady Constables, A Notorious Ex-Monk, Struggle Through Death, the fun Incredible Kung Fu Mission, and more. Actor Wei Lai helps choreograph the action and doubles-up as the assistant director of the production under Hsu Tseng Hung, a cinematographer-turned-director and the man behind Jimmy Wang Yu's early Shaw Brothers trilogy Temple Of The Red Lotus, The Twin Swords, and The Sword & The Lute. Hsu would follow-up these films with Chang Yi's debut in The Thundering Sword, King Cat and The Silver Fox, before going on to direct Jimmy Wang Yu again in titles such as Zatoichi & The One-Armed Swordsman, The Invincible Sword, The Last Duel, and One Armed Against Nine Killers just after this. Personally, I don't think that 18 Shaolin Disciples is one of his finest moments, but it certainly warrants at least one watch – especially for fans of those involved.

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Overall: Nothing special, 18 Shaolin Disciples is a little low on energy but passes the time when there's nothing else to watch...