REVIEW:
Setting the tone for subsequent films like Tiger vs. Dragon (1973) and Rage of the Wind (1973), Bloody Fists portrays a brutal confrontation between Japanese and Chinese martial artists with Chang Sing as the only man tough enough to meet the challenge.

Suen Lam plays the Chinese traitor who returns from a forced two year exile in Japan to lead a group of vicious fighters to a rare Dragon herb needed to treat the growing threat of plague in China. The townsfolk refuse to sell the herb or disclose the location its and the Japanese begin to challenge the kung fu schools. Chang Sing plays a fugitive from the law who enters the town and gets caught up in the struggle after contacting the deadly plague. He's treated by members of the community and recovers. He discovers just as he's leaving that his benefactors have been murdered by the Japanese. Worse yet, while he was being treated, various kung fu students were taken prisoner and several woman were kidnapped or murdered and raped. Chang confronts the Japanese just as they begin executing the kung fu students. He convinces them to release the men on condition that he'll disclose the whereabouts of the herbs. But, with a price on his head and nothing to lose, Chang leaps into action in a raw finale.

Chang Sing was at the top of his game in the early '70's, before he fell into playing mostly villainous roles later on. He starred in a series of films (several aforementioned) that set him up as the seasoned hero defending China from pompous and cruel Japanese fighters and their conniving Chinese accomplices. This film was actually his first starring role, a big leap from playing a Japanese karate expert in The Chinese Boxer (1970), only two year prior. He's the quintessential Chinese anti-hero with grizzled looks, raw intensity and a powerful boxing technique that isn't pretty, but looks devastating.

Yuen Wo Ping's second action directorial credit goes unnoticed as his latter trademarks including humor, dynamic choreography, and fluid wirework would not begin to surface until films like Instant Kung Fu Man (1977) and Snuff Bottle Connection (1977) appeared. Probably the most dynamic stunt occurs right at the beginning as Chang Sing jumps onto a car intent on running him down. A similar scene appears in Tiger vs. Dragon. The rest of the film contains a lot of fights, but they're too long and not creative enough which is something casual viewers will lose interest in. Chang Sing and most of the principle Japanese fighters do a great job and the blame falls on director Ng See Yuen who proved to be better at producing and writing.

Bloody Fists is definitely one of the most violent and dark films from the early '70's Japanese vs. Chinese sub-genre. The bad guys resort to despicable acts of murder and rape, the Chinese villagers are constantly fighting the relentless Japanese, and our hero is a wanted criminal. The action is raw with fingers impaled into chests, bloody beatings, and a beheading. In short, the film is aptly titled. The rape scene is exploitive and overindulgent, something you'd expect to see in a Sonny Chiba film like The Executioner (1978). The film's rapist is San Kuai who appeared in a much more memorable role as the hunchback in Yuen Wo Ping's Buddhist Fist (1979).

This film's flaws include walking Japanese stereotypes, a simplistic story not unlike at least a dozen other films of the period, and overlong brawls. But, if you haven't seen many early Chang Sing films, this is not a bad one to start with and certainly shows him in great fighting shape, although his final duels with Yasuaki Kurata in later films are probably superior.