Review by Charles Cassady, Jr.
I did not know there was a 2008 Spike TV movie called KUNG FU KILLER as sort of a David Carradine career-achievement tribute and unofficial KILL BILL spinoff. But I did believe that the title KUNG FU KILLER existed long before that, as some kind of 1970s drive-in/grindhouse-chopsocky deal, that directly inspired the KFK we discuss here, Teddy Chen's 2014 actioner.
Like I say, I thought this title had been in circulation ever since the old 42nd Street fleapit days of the Nixon Administration, and Chen's big-budget martial-arts spectacular was either a remake or a reboot of one of those scratchy celluloid fightfests from the Bruce Lee era. But O my brothers, a search of the archives - even my cherished paperback compilation of the classic 'zine Asian Trash Cinema - does not disgorge a "Kung Fu Killer." And that book's even got South Korea's wonderfully titled GRUDGE OF THE MOON LADY.
It's as though an archetype of every cheapjack Hong Kong action quickie had formed in all our minds. Though a "Kung Fu Killer" was never made, Teddy Chan comes along and does a handsomely mounted tribute. Which, in actual fact, was called KUNG FU JUNGLE, but somehow gained that fateful retitling.
