AKA: A Man with Seven Faces

Director: Kim Seon-gyeong

Writer: Yoon Sam-yook

Cast: Chang Il-do, Choi Min-kyu, Kwon Il-soo, Robby Ban, Edie Wang, Judy Suh, Edwin Lau

Running Time: 94 min.

By Paul Bramhall

I confess to having a soft-spot for kung fu movies that have grammatically challenged titles, and Blood of Dragon Peril is definitely up there with the best of them. “Blood of what?” you may ask, well, Dragon Peril of course. It’s almost like the distributors had a hat full of words vaguely related to Asian action cinema, and pulled out three at random on the instruction that they’d have to make a title out of the choices they end up with. In many ways it’s a practice that’s most likely still going on today, with many an Asian movie getting ridiculous re-titles for the US market, however at least they pay more attention to the grammar now than they did back then.

Thankfully, Blood of Dragon Peril isn’t the movies original incarnation. It was one of the countless Korean martial arts movies picked up by Godfrey Ho and his IFD Films crew, and given the re-title and dubbing procedure that all of their acquired movies were subjected to, in order to make them sellable to overseas markets. The original title is A Man with Seven Faces, which not only makes more sense grammatically, but also has a much closer connection to the story. So, for those hoping to see some perilously bloody dragon slayings, this is not the movie for you.

The man in the director’s chair is Kim Seon-gyeong, who was also responsible for the Casanova Wong kick-fest Magnificent Wonderman from Shaolin, made a year later, as well as many other early Korean kung fu movies which featured the likes of Wong and Hwang Jang Lee. Unfortunately in the credits he’s listed under the moniker of Rocky Man, re-named along with just about everything else in the movie. Unlike many of Seon-gyeong’s other efforts though, which have a tendency to be a little out there even in their original versions (this was the guy who directed a handful of Elton Chong movies after all), Blood of Dragon Peril comes with a fairly serious storyline, which looks to have been adhered to with the English dub. While this was standard practice with much of Hong Kong’s output, Korean cinema wasn’t so lucky, with many of the movies being cut and dubbed into completely different storylines than what’s presented in their original versions.

Chang Il-do stars in a tale set in Japan occupied Manchuria. Having had his family subjected to much suffering at the hands of the Japanese, which led to the suicide of his martial arts instructor father, and his brother been driven to insanity, Il-do decides that the best thing he can do is become a member of the Japanese Imperial Army. His role as a Korean working for the Japanese sees much scorn put on his family by the rest of the village where they live, and he’s equally not fully trusted by the Japanese authorities, thanks to his family background and ethnicity. However with the appearance of a mysterious vigilante, who becomes known as the Doll Bride Mask, due to hiding their face behind said mask, Il-do sees a chance to gain recognition both in the eyes of the Japanese army, as well as from his family, if he’s able to catch the masked man.

Chang Il-do became most well-known during the short period were he found himself being sold as a Bruce Lee clone, although admittedly it didn’t help that he actually was a Bruce Lee clone in The Clones of Bruce Lee, which had him cast under the name Bruce Lai. The majority of Il-do’s movies have very little to do with Bruceploitation though (save the likes of Enter Three Dragons), and he’s more well remembered for starring alongside fellow Koreans like Kwan Yung-moon in Return to the 36th Chamber, and Dragon Lee in Dragon Lee’s Ways of Kung Fu. Just like his Korean co-stars, Il-do’s martial arts of choice was Taekwondo, and he was able to match kicks with the best of them. Sadly much like Kim Tai-jung, Il-do passed away far too early, having died in 2015 at the age of 64.

Blood of Dragon Peril is one of the few chances to see him in a role that has him front and center of proceedings, and he plays the part well, spending almost the whole runtime decked out in a sharp white suite (although I’m pretty sure this wasn’t standard uniform for Japanese agents at the time!). It also wouldn’t surprise me if it’s actually Il-do behind the mask of the Doll Bride Mask character, who performs in all of their fight scenes while wearing the mask, although there is some high level acrobatic flips that take place when it definitely would have been a stuntman. With that being said, Il-do isn’t the only established martial artist in the cast, and for those who are familiar with the Korean kung fu movie scene, there are plenty of recognisable faces to be found – from Choi Min-kyu (it would be easier to list the Korean kung fu movies that this guy isn’t in), to Kwon Il-soo.

The most entertaining thing in Blood of Dragon Peril is of course the character of the Doll Bride Mask. It’s certainly one of the more unique entries in the world of kung-fu characters, and contrary to what the name suggests, it’s clear from the start that it’s not a woman. The mask also marks the movie as distinctly Korean, its white appearance with red dots marked on the cheeks and forehead making it resemble a cross between the Five Venoms meets Michael Myers from Halloween. The fact that it makes the character remain eerily expressionless during the fight scenes adds to the mysterious nature of his intentions. We never really know if he just wants to cause as much trouble for the Japanese as possible, like any good freedom fighter should, or is there something more to his agenda?

It’s not really a spoiler to reveal that it turns out to be the latter, and the twist behind who’s behind the mask is surprisingly effective, however it’s frustrating on two accounts. One is that, even though this movie came first, having watched Magnificent Wonderman from Shaolin before viewing Blood of Dragon Peril, exactly the same plot twist is used in both productions, which is somewhat of a disappointment for those expecting something more original. Secondly, the reveal takes place very late in the game, so late in fact that the movie is almost over when it happens, which results in an action filled, but ultimately rather anti-climactic finale. Despite these gripes though, the Doll Bride Mask makes plenty of appearances before the finale, and every one of them delivers plenty of the expected boot work that became synonymous with Korea’s kung-fu movie output.

In fact the whole movie could essentially be boiled down to – Japanese commander sends a bunch of agents to capture the Doll Bride Mask, agents and Doll Bride Mask get into a fight which sees the agents defeated, dedicate a few mins to developing the plot a little further, then cut back to a scene of the Japanese commander sending more agents out to capture the Doll Bride Mask. I swear someone mentions the “Doll Bride Mask” at least once every couple of minutes, so much so that by the time the credits roll, the character’s name will be ingrained on your brain. Despite such a basic plot structure, it works well enough within its short run time, while also delivering a consistent stream of above average fight action.

Amongst the many group scuffles the Doll Bride Mask (now I feel like I’ve written it too many times) gets into, there’s also a couple of nice one-on-one exchanges, including an intense face-off between Chang Il-do and Choi Min-kyu. Il-do even gets to mix things up a little, showing off some weapons work in the finale which sees him brandishing two steel hoops. However what may be considered most surprising for fans of Korean kung fu movies, is the almost complete absence of any goofy wire-work, a factor which I watch these movies for as much as to see some high quality boot work. Seon-gyeong’s choice to go down the straight and narrow with Blood of Dragon Peril is an admirable one, and is backed up by a decent story which stays surprisingly serious throughout. However just like the lack of any goofy wire-work, at the end of the day it just feels like something is missing to give it a full-fledged recommendation.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 6/10