If you know me, you know I’m a fan of “covert” fight scenes. Scenes where two people are fighting but they’re both pretending that something else is going on. This one from Dreadnaught (1981) is one of the best.
By the way, the guy that choreographed this scene, later went on to choreograph The Matrix films, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Kill Bill.
A Better Tomorrow (1986), dir. John Woo
Farewell My Concubine (1993), dir. Chen Kaige
Days of Being Wild (1991), dir. Wong Kar-wai
Happy Together (1997), dir. Wong Kar-wai
Once a Thief (1991), dir. John Woo
Chinese vampires are known as Jiangshi and they’ve been a massive part of martial arts cinema for decades now. Here’s a fight scene from one of the rarer Jiangshi films, Son of the Vampire (1986)
There are some amazing bumps and wire-assisted stunts in this one.