The film’s opening title sequence (which is misspelled CHALLENGS OF DEATH!) presents the three lead stars showcasing some Shaolin styles of fighting on a darkened soundstage. "Flash Legs" Tan Tao Liang demonstrates the North Shaolin style of Dragon Fist. Wang Tao performs some slithery Snake Fist and the black-cloaked Chang Yi spins some sinister Northern Shaolin Spider Fist maneuvers. Tan gets to show off his ever impressive high kicking skills by swatting at swirling fireballs! The story begins when local law enforcement Official Lu (Tan) is briefed on an upcoming illegal ammunitions deal. The police want to get Chang (Wang Tao), also known as the "Golden Snake", to lead them to his girlfriend, Madam Wu, who is a prostitute and arms dealer/ agent for the warlords. Lu is informed that pretty girls are the Snake’s only weakness. Lu plans to black-mail the rascally Snake, whom it has been reported, is defiling an underage girl. Just then, a frenzied father rushes into the police station and begs for help. He informs Lu that Chang is in the sack with his daughter, as they speak! Lu bursts in on the illegal love birds and a brief Dragon vs. Snake skirmish ensues before Chang is arrested at gunpoint.

The main credits begin with some Spaghetti Western-type theme music as Lu hauls off Chang to trial. Lu proposes a deal to let Chang off if he will lead the cops to the arms smuggler, Chow, who is supplying the warlords. Lu informs Chang that his sometimes girlfriend Madam Wu is the arms broker and can lead them to the buyer Chow. Chang agrees only if Lu helps him raise $100 for his Uncle’s school for the poor. Lu agrees and the two go to a casino in disguise--Chang as an old man, and Lu (in drag) as his wife! They win big and face some casino thugs in an alley upon leaving. Unsurprisingly, a brawl ensues. At a restaurant, Chang is confronted by a thug (who address him as "Golden Spider"?) who forcibly takes him to see his mysterious mistress. Chang resents this and another fight breaks out. Chang is surprised when he is presented to his girlfriend, Wu! She wants Chang to gamble with Chow and win his considerable cash intended for the arms sale. That night, Chang and Lu confront thugs at their hotel. The thugs report the incident to big boss Spider, who is revealed to be the mastermind supplying the ammunitions for the deal between Madam Wu and Chow. The Spider suspects that Chang and Lu are trying to interfere with the arms deal and orders his henchman Lee (Tommy Lee) to take care of them.

Madam Wu meets Chow, a proud gambler, and sets up a game of chance with Chang. Just as Chang begins to seriously beat Chow, Lu (in drag as Chang’s mom!) interrupts the game and hauls Chang away. In a forest, Lu explains that Chang is jeopardizing the arms deal that will lead them to the big boss. The two have a serious kung fu confrontation. The Spider suspects Wu and others are trying to screw around with the deal and orders his henchman Lee to keep an eye on the growing cast of double-crossing participants. Chang and his girlfriend Wu secretly plot to skip out of town and start a new life after they get the money from Chow and give Lu the name of the arms supplier. Unfortunately, the Spider shows up and demands that Madam Wu turn over Chang. Wu denies everything but the Master is convinced they are plotting to betray him. Wang comes out of hiding and takes a brutal thrashing at the hands and feet of the Spider on CHALLENGE OF DEATH's only studio-bound exterior set. Chang is badly wounded and Wu begs him to escape as Spider chokes her to death. That same night, henchman Lee confronts Lu and they sort it out in an especially good but brief fight scene in which Lee is killed. Lu consoles the battered Chang over Wu’s death and goes off to apprehend the Master despite Chang’s warning that he can't do it alone. The next day, just as the Spider and Mr. Chow are trying to conclude the arms deal, Lu and a fellow officer show up to make the arrest but they get more than they bargained for! Spider’s arsenal includes a rope web that he sprays from his wrists (Spiderman-style) to entrap his opponent (with the aid of some convenient wire work). Lu barely escapes while his cop pal is murdered. He finds Chang in a cave holding Mr. Chow hostage to prevent the deal from going down. In retaliation, Spider’s thugs kidnap Chang’s school teacher uncle and threaten to kill him if they don’t turn over Mr. Chow.

Both wounded, Lu and Chang decide to team up and train together. They study each others’ styles and they try to discern the weak points of the Spider Fist style. They train on a rope-suspended dummy and try a variety of combination attacks that should theoretically squash the Spider. The film’s rousing fight finale takes place in a sunny forest where the Spider Master (in a bright blue spider web costume and cape) swings from his web in the trees to make flying attacks on his two brave opponents. When nothing seems to work, Lu cleverly guesses that the Spider's weak point is hidden beneath his trusty belt buckle! They attack his Chi and it’s "Finis".

CHALLENGE OF DEATH is a semi-sequel to Director Lee Tso Nam’s classic THE HOT, THE COOL & THE VICIOUS which also starred Tan Tao Liang, Wang Tao (aka Don Wang) and Tommy Lee. Wang’s Chang the Snake is the film’s most involving character, an always scheming, rascally conman who is out to cheat and double cross anyone at every plot turn. Not a notably stand-out fighter, Wang, came to the attention of western audiences when he replaced the late Bruce Lee and took on Chuck Norris in 1973’s widely released but dismal, SLAUGHTER IN SAN FRANCISCO (YELLOW-FACED TIGER). Like THE HOT, THE COOL, & THE VICIOUS, this film shares a similarly convoluted, multi-charactered plot. Director Lee’s reliance on the theme of man’s eternal greed points to the strong influence of Sergio Leone’s THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY. With the exception of some cheesy wirework in depicting the Spider Fist style, the fight scenes are well above the norm--violent, exotic, and realistic.

-  Carl Morano 

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