Five Classic 1985 Martial Arts Flicks Turning 40 This Year

The mid-1980s were a strange time for martial arts movies, both in the U.S. and abroad. The broadly termed “kung fu” genre had run amok with wild abandon in Hong Kong cinema in the 1960s and 1970s, evolving from beautifully showy, ornate wuxia stories into the “chopsocky” cinema of the Shaw Brothers Studio and others that exploded in popularity abroad after the likes of Five Fingers of Death/King Boxer in 1972. By the mid-‘80s, however, that wave had pretty much run its course, leading Hong Kong martial arts cinema in new directions as it embraced supernatural elements, comedy and modern crime stories.

In the U.S., meanwhile, the seeds planted by the 1970s wave of kung fu popularity had begun to bear fruit with the mainstreaming of American-made martial arts films, especially following 1981’s Enter the Ninja, responsible for effectively making the kooky, (and almost entirely fictional) stereotypical masked ninja into one of the decade’s most omnipresent cinematic villains. What followed were many films that thrust western, English-speaking (and white) heroes into the types of roles that had previously been carried out by Asian leads in Hong Kong productions–this is how we end up with Michael Dudikoff becoming the absurd title character of American Ninja by 1985.

This middle slice of the decade, now celebrating its 40th anniversary in 1985, therefore arrived in a moment of rebalancing for the genre: On the decline in Hong Kong, but oddly ascendant in U.S. cinemas. These five films below capture the odd moment in cinemas that year, with selections from both hemispheres.

1. Disciples of the 36th Chamber

Director: Lau Kar-leung

Lau Kar-leung is one of the greatest directors of martial arts cinema in history, responsible for innumerable classics of the 1970s and 1980s such as Executioners From Shaolin, The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter, Legendary Weapons of China, and of course the monolith that is The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. This entry, the second sequel to the massively influential 36th Chamber, feels like one of the last classic Shaw Brothers kung fu films of its era, but also exhibits elements of how the genre was moving away from the format it had previously occupied. Like the first sequel Return to the 36th Chamber, this takes on a much more overtly comic tone, trading much of its pathos for pratfalls in the story of teenage folk hero Fong Sai-Yuk (Hsiao Ho), a young man talented in the deadly arts but a constant troublemaker and thorn in the side of monk San Te (a returning Gordon Liu, no longer lead star). Together, the at-odds master and pupil must combat the Manchu government threatening to covertly wipe out the Shaolin students. The characterization can be a bit grating, and the brutality is nothing compared to the likes of the previous year’s The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter, but where Disciples does shine is in its predictably awe-inspiring fight sequences and choreography. Its 10-minute long final brawl is worthy of inclusion in any list of Shaw Brothers kung fu throwdowns. —Jim Vorel

2. Gymkata

Director: Robert Clouse

Gymkata is what happens when Hollywood glances in the direction of the B-movie action film market, sees the success of Hong Kong-aping flicks like Enter the Ninja, and attempt to manufacture their own facsimile without any particular understanding of what made those films popular. It’s a classic case of “find a qualified athlete and try to turn them into an actor”–in this case, MGM scooped up legitimate Olympic gymnast and world champion Kurt Thomas, who had basically no experience in front of the camera, and cast him as Jonathan Cabot, a champion gymnast who is approached by a CIA-like intelligence agency and molded into a human weapon to compete in “The Game,” a shadowy overseas death tournament. If that sounds vaguely like Bruce Lee’s classic Enter the Dragon, the similarities go even further: Gymkata was directed by Robert Clouse, who also helmed Lee’s most famous film. This movie, on the other hand, is mostly cherished by bad movie geeks today for elements like the predictable ineptitude of Thomas’ performance and the sheer absurdity of how they cram traditional gymnastics events into every action scene, whether it’s the high bar or a showstopping incorporation of the pommel horse. The trailer’s hilarious attempt to hype this deadly new fighting style is impossible to resist: “Combine the discipline, the timing and the power of gymnastics with the explosive force of karate, and a new, all-powerful martial art is born!” —Jim Vorel

3. The Last Dragon (1985)

Director: Michael Schultz

The Last Dragon is the funniest martial arts movie you’ve likely never seen, an outrageous blend of kung fu and blaxploitation movie tropes fused into the tale of Bruce Leroy, the titular last dragon. Underappreciated in its day as a hilarious satire on multiple genres, the film has now become a bona fide cult classic, especially for the amazing villain Sho’Nuff, the self-proclaimed “Shogun of Harlem.” There’s no other way to say it: Sho’Nuff is one of the greatest film villains of all time. As a style icon and source of one-liners, few can compare. There’s absolutely nothing serious about The Last Dragon, but for students of the genre it’s a magical diversion for a movie night with friends. —Jim Vorel

4. Mr. Vampire (1985)

Director: Ricky Lau

This flick will, within moments, have you checking your drink to be sure you haven’t been drugged. Responsible for first bringing the so-called jiangshi subgenre into vogue, Mr. Vampire is an utterly bizarre but compellingly original creation that blends a classic kung fu movie with horror and elements of ancient Chinese folklore/mythology. The vampires in question (there’s more than one) are the Eastern variety of “hopping” vamp, which move by holding their arms straight out in front of them and jumping around with little bunny hops. Oh, and you can repel them by holding your breath. The movie is a cinematic fever dream, which a few seconds of the trailer, with its flying heads and hopping vampires, should make abundantly clear. —Jim Vorel

5. Ninja Terminator (1985)

Director: Godfrey Ho

This is a list of “classic” martial arts films, but let us make a small space for those flicks that are enjoyable but unquestionably of extremely low quality. And oh my, Ninja Terminator is certainly that. Perhaps the single most infamous film in the legendarily cheap career of Hong Kong z-film auteur Godfrey Ho, it displays most of his trademarks—primarily footage from multiple, unrelated movies spliced together to create a sort of “movie loaf” of unrelated fight scenes and nonsensical dubbing. Half of the movie revolves around American actor Richard Harrison seeking a cheap plastic statue that grants super ninja powers, while an unrelated plot features one of screendom’s great badass heroes, “Jaguar Wong,” vs. some guy in a bizarre blonde wig. At this point, you may be thinking “It will make more sense when I’m actually watching,” but you would be fatally wrong. All in all, though, Ninja Terminator is hilariously mangled viewing. —Jim Vorel

Jim Vorel is Paste’s Movies editor and resident genre geek. You can follow him on Twitter or on Bluesky for more film writing.