It’s not a secret that horror is a very malleable genre. Alien proved that it can be meshed perfectly with sci-fi and Predator is one of the quintessential action/horror hybrids. When it comes to comedy, we can all rattle off gems like Housebound, Evil Dead II, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, and several more. And mixing it with psychological thrillers? Pfft, let’s just look at Session 9 or The Silence of the Lambs and nod our heads in agreement. But one genre mashup that we don’t really talk about too much here on Bloody-Disgusting is when horror meets martial arts for a blast of kung fu badassery!

That’s what I’m here for today. I’m here to give you all six such titles that take the world of darkness and give it a Liu Kang WHAAA right to the face!

Take a look at the titles below and then let me know if I missed any that everyone should check out!

The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires

A co-production between England’s Hammer films and Hong Kong’s Shaw Studio, this film bills itself as, “The First Kung Fu Horror Spectacular!” and has Peter Cushing reprising his role as Dr. Van Helsing, which he had played four times previously.

The plot here is rather simple: Van Helsing travels to China to research a supposedly cursed village that is beset upon by seven vampires. However, he’s unaware that their return was actually heralded by none other than Count Dracula.

The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires is exciting, it’s cheesy, and, perhaps most surprisingly, it’s quite grotesque at times. If you can find a copy of this, I’d absolutely give it a shot!

Brotherhood of the Wolf

Not all martial arts horror movies need to take place in Asia, y’know. And when it comes to genre mashups, Brotherhood of the Wolf has it in spades! On top of horror and martial arts, it’s also got romance, a dash of comedy, and loads of adventure. It’s also directed by Christoph Gans, who directed the Silent Hill adaptation.

For those who want another horror connection, the composer was Joseph LoDuca, who composed the Evil Dead films.

Big Trouble in Little China

The ULTIMATE in genre mashups, the main foundations of John Carpenter’s tongue-in-cheek classic are 100% supernatural horror and martial arts. This movie is one of my absolute favorites and I can watch it any time, any place, no questions asked.

Riki Oh: The Story of Riki

I don’t think this movie needs much of an introduction. It’s known everywhere for its wild excess of gore and over-the-top, well…everything! My recommendation? Grab a ton of friends, a couple six packs of beer, a few pizzas, and have yourself one helluva party!

Rigor Mortis

The most recently released entry on this list, this is a fun and sleek mixture of horror and martial arts.

The overall plot is that a formerly successful actor moves into a public tenement that is beset by loads of ghosts. Together with the living residents, they team up to tackle the ghost issue once and for all.

It’s not a flawless movie but it’s a damn good time!

Versus

I remember buying a DVD four pack of J-horror films off of Ebay when I was a teenager. It included Ju-on, Kairo, Ringu, and Versus. While each one of those movies is fantastic, it was Versus that I came back to probably the most (followed by Kairo). The blend of wild action and gory martial arts scenes was simply irresistible and I showed it to as many friends as I could!

If you haven’t seen this movie, just make it happen somehow this weekend. Trust me when I say you won’t be disappointed!