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Introducing the Venom Mob: Lu Feng
Lu Feng is of the five main members of the Venom Mob and often referred to as ❛The Centipede❜ or the deadliest venom. He was born in 1956 in Taiwan. His family was poor and he had three older brothers so he was sent to be in a Peking Opera School where he passed the exam to be accepted at the age of 8! He spent his childhood and grew up there for 11 years with 40 other men and women. That is where he learned about opera performances, acrobatics, weapons, martial arts, and normal things you’d study along with it. He also had to learn how to sing and his voice was loud so this gained him a lot of attention but at 15 or 16 he lost his child voice; some people do, but he was not one of them. This is what led him to focus on his martial arts.
Lu Feng has said that he has learned about weapons such as knives, guns, Fei Cha, swords, and many others. He often says that he has used or tried out almost every variety of weapons that he could think of which I am inclined to believe. Throughout his career, he is seen with a wide variety of weapons and certainly knew what to do with all of them. This is still in practice today because you can find several videos of him training students in movie techniques and weapons if you really search for them. He was asked what his best weapon was but decided that he was good at using most so he couldn’t pick (with a laugh) and loved getting to use them even though they were dangerous. Although it should be noted that he is equally as good with hand to hand combat.
He was going to continue developing his skills in professional arts but the Chinese Opera was declining since fewer people were watching and the movie industry was growing. He decided to step into the movie world with encouragement from his friends and he was a stuntman at first. Lau Kar Leung had always liked him. Director Chang Cheh promoted him to an actor so he started out playing small roles. He was also noted as a fight choreographer, student coordinator, and action director. He eventually took Lu Feng and two of his fellow venoms, Chiang Sheng and Kuo Chui, back to Hong Kong. Shaolin Temple was one of his real roles which he said had him very nervous but he did a lot better with martial arts sequences than lines. However, this evolved once he got used to it. Five Deadly Venoms was really his breakout role and what boosted their fame.
You will often see Lu Feng playing the villain and he revealed that the films did a lot better at the box office if he was in that role. He has played protagonists but he said that those films didn’t do as good but his performances are always stunning. He often jokes that he just had the face to play a bad guy and even good friends had told him this. One of the characters that he is most fond of is Kao Chin Chuen, who he played twice, in Shaolin Rescuers and Two Champions of Shaolin. This is the character that won him the award for ❛Best Supporting Actor❜ at the 25th Asian Film Festival in July of 1979. It is one of his greatest honors as an actor. Another favorite villain of his was ❝Butterfly❞ Hua Chong from House of Traps! Although his favorite protagonist that he played was Hu Yidao from Legend of the Fox.
After Shaw Brothers, Lu Feng went with his two best friends and Chang Cheh back to Taiwan where they had a film company. A notable movie from that time was Ninjas in the Deadly Trap which was directed by Kuo Chui and co-directed by Lu Feng but all of them admit that they didn’t have very good resources there so the quality of the films weren’t as good. They lacked a budget. Lu Feng stayed with Chang Cheh while his two best friends left so he worked as an assistant director. They went to Thailand to shoot Arena or Death Ring which Lu Feng directed. He used many Thai actors and Li Chung Yat to star in it. He tried to take the film to Chinese distributors but they didn’t want it so as far as he is aware, the film just played in Thailand. It was on to The Nine Demons after that.
Now, you will see him working in television or behind the scenes which meant he went between actor or director but always remained an action choreographer. He mostly works in China now. He is up to date with social media and has found the many fans that adore him, even visiting the U.S. to meet them which makes him very happy in his words. Lu Feng always says that he is honored and grateful for all the love he receives for his work. He hadn’t expected to be anyone’s favorite but I think it is safe to say that he is a favorite to many! I deeply admire him and believe that he is a sweet, talented human being.
┊┊✧ ⁺ Introducing the Venoms: Kuo Chui ┊ ┊ ✧ ⁺
Kuo Chui was born on October 21st 1951 which was the year of the rabbit. A year before he was sent to the Lu Kwan Peking Opera school, in 1964, he slipped up while operating heave machinery and lost two of his fingers. He would have been thirteen at the time. Kuo Chui is of ethnic Taiwanese decent which is why he learned Taiwanese opera unlike his two best friends Lu Feng and Chiang Sheng who studied Peking Opera. The difference is that Taiwanese opera uses the Hokkien dialect rather than Mandarin. The costumes and makeup are somewhat different compared to Peking opera but the basics are the same! Kuo Chui’s sisters and parents were also Taiwanese opera performers. He went to school with his best friends and Ricky Cheng Tien-Chi. They lived together and often went to the Taipei bridge to hang out on the weekends. You could find them scouting places where filming was going on so they could collect some money! After five years at the school, he’d learned to do acrobatics and somersaults so at 19 Kuo Chui ended up leaving the Lu Guang troupe. After leaving the Lu Guang troupe, Kuo Chui became a street performer with some Fu Xing opera students which also included Chiang Sheng! They had created a Fu Xing circus act which meant they were performing anywhere they could. However the team disbanded after a year. He has said that back then action movies were just martial arts with no true acrobatic techniques but soon the techniques would be gathered by them.
Soon after Chang Cheh and Kuo Chui met during the filming of Boxer Rebellion when he came to watch people do their martial arts performances to show off their skills. Chang Cheh enjoyed his performance and decided it was time to pair him with Fu Sheng to see how they would meld. The results were pleasing to Chang Cheh so it was time to see if Kuo Chui wanted to appear in a movie. Of course, a yes was given to the famous director. Ni Kuang was given the task of writing Kuo Chui into the script of Marco Polo (1975) and Kuo Chui has said he was more comfortable with action scenes. He was nervous outside of those scenes and caused many retakes since many got messed up but he overcame it in the end! He went on to make Chinatown Kid (1977) which also starred Fu Sheng. This was a role where he was playing a bad guy and he reportedly found it challenging since he was a rookie that was still learning the trade. The scenes with the actress Siu Yam-Yam seemed to make him the most anxious at first. The character was beautifully executed and you’d think he’d been acting for a while. It was a change from the roles he would normally get over the present years which was the hero. His career was going to progress in something much bigger than he could ever imagine.
It should be noted that since Kuo Chui came to Hong Kong with Chang Cheh, it was his decision on the terms of Kuo Chui’s contract. They could only work for him during their time with them. Five Deadly Venoms (1978) was made to introduce the 4th generation of martial arts stars. He ended up with the part of the Lizard. This movie had everyone hesitant to make since there were no big stars but Kuo Chui agrees that it turned out to be a success! You would even see Kuo Chui go on to be a martial arts director in the Venoms films and later, other movies, but we will get to that soon. He often adds that they incorporated all of their skills well since Wei Pai, Sun Chien, and Lo Mang were limited when it came to action. Kuo Chui was trained with guns, knives, sticks, fei cha, and may other weapons along with being agile. There were no serious injuries since all of them were skilled with bladed weapons or any in general. During their time at Shaw Brothers along with when they were away from it, Kuo Chui continued to have a strong bond with Lu Feng and Chiang Sheng. He did practically everything with Chiang Sheng after referring to them as brothers. The Venoms had disbanded during the early 80s but not because there was a falling out or bad blood. Everyone enjoyed their time together. Now onto a not so pleasant topic for Kuo Chui.
Ninja in the Deadly Trap (1982) was Kuo Chui’s directorial debut. However, he didn’t believe it was worth leaving Hong Kong to go to Taiwan due to their lack of resources. He had no choice but to obey Chang Cheh’s wishes so they were off to film. Kuo Chui admits the process was exhausting and the entire time they were filming turned out to be a rocky situation. Production would stop and start up repeatedly. Shooting took longer than intended. He said that himself, Lu Feng, and Chiang Sheng were what made shooting the film bearable. Pao Hsueh Li swept in to assist so the film was eventually finished! It came out before Five Element Ninjas for those wondering. He discovered that being a director wasn’t enjoyable for him. Kuo Chui missed Hong Kong so he got permission from Chang Cheh to leave since it was his responsibility to support his family. It was on to Shaw Brothers once again.
Films upon Kuo Chui’s return was Ode to Gallantry (1982) and some other mentions are Holy Flame of the Martial World (1983), Demon of the Lute (1983), and Crazy Shaolin Desciples (1985) but sadly Shaw Brothers had to shut down. He thinks it was for the best since he believes that anyone who tried to take over would most likely ruin it. Afterwards, Kuo Chui moved on and made plenty of other films which continued to allow his success to bloom. It has been said he loves to play in any role. He soon became a freelance choreographer for TVB. His next villain role would be Mad Dog in Hard Boiled (1992) which was only meant to be small but Anthony Wong isn’t good at handling firearms or allowed to do dangerous stunts. His diverse acting was on full display. John Woo handed over all the action to him. Later, Kuo Chui got a call that he mentions he couldn’t understand since it was in English. The only words that stood out were 'James Bond 007'. It was for GoldenEye (1995) which he declined since he couldn’t understand English. Two years later he appeared in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) which he said was lucky.
In conclusion, you can find Kuo Chui’s name appearing in many places. He worked on a movie in Europe on Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001) and also Samurai (2002) but loves to film abroad! The challenge is exciting for him which is also because of all the resources they had. It can’t compare to Hong Kong in his words. He still does choreography which was affiliated with ATV and TVB. Kuo Chui still meets up with his friends like Lu Feng and Chu Ko so they stay in touch with each other. Kuo Chui has done some amazing work and he was so skilled to the point where his stunts or fights were mind blowing. It’s a pleasure to have all of this information/see him remaining in the public eye. His efforts are appreciated and enjoyed by many. Thank you for reading, if you made it this far!
Lu Feng in Flag of Iron (1980) was so badass. Cao Fung is literally one of my favorite characters that he’s portrayed.
Lu Feng with his ‘Best Supporting Actor’ award for Shaolin Rescuers (1979) and it’s actually the same character that he played in Two Champions of Shaolin (1980)
He said this is the greatest honor he’s received as an actor. Gao Jinzhong is also his second favorite character that he’s played after Hu Yidao from Legend of the Fox (1980) so I bet he was thrilled about that being the one he got an award for too too!
Shaolin Rescuers 街市英雄 (1979) dir. Chang Cheh 張徹
Lam Chi-Tai, Leung Cheuk-Kwan, Chin Siu-Ho, and Kuo Chui in Masked Avengers (1981)
Sun Chien, Lu Feng, Wong Lik, and Chiang Sheng in The Brave Archer III (1981)
Is it just me, or is there a subtle change in emotion from Gao Ji (Sun Chien) in the scene above versus the one below? To me, it feels like he gets more annoyed or irritated when Meng Tianxia (Kuo Chui) grabs him for the second time. It's almost as if he is trying to keep up the demeanor and facade that he’s had for the whole film, even though he is clearly not very happy about being grabbed. It’s just the vibe I get from how Sun Chien laughs and smiles and the way he pulls Kuo Chui’s arm off his shoulder in terms of acting choice. It feels less friendly and understanding, imo.
David Chiang in Magnificent Wanderers (1977)
Behind the scenes of The Mighty Peking Man (1977).