It opens with Shih Szu as a paid assassin taking out three men. After the opening credits the story goes 20 years in the past. (This was not clear to me when I first watched the movie.) The back story plays out. Fan Mei-Sheng kills Shih Szu's father with a dishonorable attack to the back. This sets up her reason for revenge which is the plot.
The Mad Monk was played by Chan Shen. He has about 170 credits which equals about 10 a year over his 15 years in the business. He died April 26, 1984 at age 44. He always played a solid role with good stunt man skills. I have read he was murdered but I cannot confirm the information.
The fights are almost all weapons featuring the sword and the iron fan. There is minimal wire work. All the fights were above average. I can't rate the movie above average though. I felt there simple were not enough fights. The end fight was good but too short. Despite the movie's short run time of about 80 minutes it seemed to drag. I blame this on the few fights and some specific scenes. The tea house scenes with the bits about giving the waiter a hard time, demanding a seat, demanding someone else's food were all so predictable and done over and over again.
