''The Killer'' (released in the United States as ''Sacred Knives of Vengeance'') is a 1972 Hong Kong

martial arts film Martial arts films are a subgenre of action films that feature numerous martial arts combat between characters. These combats are usually the films' primary appeal and entertainment value, and often are a method of storytelling and character expres ...

directed by

Chor Yuen Chor Yuen (), born Cheung Po-kin (; 8 October 1934 – 21 February 2022), was a Hong Kong film director, screenwriter, and actor. Chor is credited with over 120 films as director, over 70 films as a writer and over 40 films as an actor. Early ...

Release

The film was released in Hong Kong on August 1, 1972.

Reception

From contemporary reviews, Tom Milne of the ''

Monthly Film Bulletin ''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 to April 1991, when it merged with ''Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those with a ...

'' reviewed a dubbed version of the film. Milne found the film to be a "rather tired offering form the Hong Kong conveyor-belt" while noting the film begins well enough with the hero "arriving in town to confound one and all with his dazzling display of town-taming karate chops and kangaroo hops. It also end swell with the las-minute intervention of a genuine Japanese samurai, heralded by a mysterious sound in an apparently empty house as something falls, and one by one the panels of a screen topple over to reveal him in full regalia, ready to challenge the heroes to the only fight in the film staged with any style or imagination." Milne concluded that the film "gets bogged down in endless, drearily identical fights and a plot which labours through its triangular complex of love and friendship."

References

External links

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English trailer
1972 films 1972 martial arts films Shaw Brothers Studio films 1970s action films Hong Kong action films Hong Kong martial arts films Kung fu films Films directed by Chor Yuen 1970s Mandarin-language films 1970s Hong Kong films {{martialart-film-stub