Chang'an wu guai

This is the movie for people who liked The Mist but thought it had too much set up and not enough kung fu.

This movie wastes no time getting into it. The mist and monsters show up *immediately*. It's not even 30 seconds into the movie when the mist rolls in and the monsters start attacking. I guess you don't have a lot of time to establish characters or setting when your movie in only 62 minutes long. On one hand, it's a nice change from over-long, over-stuffed wuxia movies that run for twice this long or longer. On the other hand, it might be a bit too short. The story is very bare bones. There are significant characters that aren't really established at all and get no real development. There's a character that is a tough kung fu chick and that's about all we ever find out about her. The ending is rather abrupt. It has monsters in it but the kung fu stuff is relatively grounded without a lot of wuxia craziness. The monster effects aren't great but they are serviceable. It's a decent kung fu flick that doesn't overstay its welcome but it's a bit short on plot and character development.

For the most part, this is a rip off of Frank Darabont's The Mist film except it's a period film with martial arts action and an evil plot that gives reason to why the mist and creatures are present. A mystical and mysterious mist surrounds a town and a young prince and his body guard soon believe that the mist and creatures that come forth are after him, yet mysteriously everyone in the town seems to soon become food for not only the smaller creatures but an enormous tentacles monster that looks to be a relative of a Lovecraftian monster. A band of survivors hold up in a brothel for the rich but then class and other prejudices get in the way of them all trying to survive. It's one of the better knock-offs of The Mist and making it part martial arts action film adds to its entertainment value.