Five Deadly Venoms (1978)
1978 film by Chang Cheh
- Released
- 12 August 1978
- Country
- Hong Kong
- Language
- Cantonese, Chinese
- Genre
- Martial arts film
- Director
- Chang Cheh
- Screenplay
- Chang Cheh, Ni Kuang
- Producer
- Runme Shaw
- Music
- Frankie Chan
- Cinematography
- Cho Wai-Kei
- Editing
- Chiang Hsing-lung
- Starring
- Chiang Sheng, Sun Chien, Philip Kwok, Lo Mang, Wei Pai, Luther Chu, Ku Feng, Dick Wei
- Running time
- 101 minutes
- Production company
- Shaw Brothers Studio
- Distributor
- Shaw Brothers Studio, Netflix
Five Deadly Venoms (Chinese: 五毒), also known as The Five Venoms, is a 1978 Hong Kong martial arts mystery film directed and co-written by Chang Cheh and produced by Runme Shaw for the Shaw Brothers Studio. It stars Chiang Shieng as Yang Tieh, a martial arts pupil who aims to follow his master's dying wish: to find the new identities of the master's five previous pupils, and kill them if they have turned towards evil. While doing so, Yang stumbles onto a web of murders and investigations involving all five pupils. Each of the master's previous pupils (the titular "Five Deadly Venoms") practices a unique animal-themed style, with the animals being based on the Five Poisonous Creatures of Chinese folklore.
Five Deadly Venoms is considered one of the most popular martial arts films of its era, and has gone on to be considered a cult film. For their roles, Shieng, along with Lu Feng, Sun Chien, Philip Kwok, Wai Pak, and Lo Mang (who portrayed the five fighters), would become collectively dubbed by international audiences as the Venom Mob.
More films directed by Chang Cheh
- The One-Armed Swordsman 1967
- Have Sword, Will Travel 1969
- The Invincible Fist 1969
- Vengeance 1970
- The Wandering Swordsman 1970
- The Heroic Ones 1970
- The New One-Armed Swordsman 1971
- Duel of Fists 1971
- The Deadly Duo 1971
- The Duel 1971
- The Water Margin 1972
- The Boxer from Shantung 1972
- Angry Guest 1972
- Delightful Forest 1972
- Four Riders 1972
- Man of Iron 1972
- Young People 1972
- The Blood Brothers 1973
- The Pirate 1973
- Police Force 1973
External links
Facts from Wikidata Q3828759 (CC0); quoted introduction from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.
Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.