Brigitte Lin continues her fabulous track record of playing a superpowered martial artist (Bride with White Hair, Fire Dragon) as well as a cross dresser (Swordsman 2), with this fair high flying kung fu feature. Here she is Snow, protector of a powerful magic lyre that was intrusted to her by her father. Said lyre is the object of different clans of the martial world with leaders like The Hard Hearted Witch, Fire (Lord?), and Master Ghost. These leaders killed her father when she was a child. In order to lure the leaders into a trap, Snow has the lyre transported by Yuen Biao. Yuen is is supposed to be a hapless, carefree, young man, basically like the one he played in Zu Warriors ten years earlier, but his poc marked face and crooked grin no longer reflects the youthful acrobatic star. No, it's sad to say, but Yuen looks really old, and he doesn't really get to do enough to showcase his terrific skills. Anyway, there are pasts revealed, battles fought with animated energy punches, people flying, a few heads are ripped off, plumes of smoke erupt, and so on.
Deadful Melody is another in that line of fantasy Hong Kong Action flicks, like Zu Warriors (arguably the originator), Swordsman 2, Peacock King, and Chinese Ghost Story. It is a decent enough and should leave fans of this genre satisfied, but otherwise it is not great or a classic, by any means, just entertaining enough.
