customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

knowledgeQuestion

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Richard James Havis

Although it is an unlikely weapon, the “flying guillotine” was a big hit with martial arts fans when it featured in the eponymous film The Flying Guillotine in 1975.
The gruesome invention quickly inspired numerous copycat films, as well as a sequel and a rival version featuring no less a star than Jimmy Wang Yu.
The flying guillotine is a nasty weapon which consists of a circular metallic hood on a long chain. It is a decapitation machine – the user throws it over the head of an adversary and internal blades snap shut, cutting it off.
Not only is the weapon somewhat repulsive, it defies the laws of … everything.
It is big and heavy but glides through the air with ease, and it seems to possess a built-in homing device that enables it to always find its mark, even if deflected.
Many weapons used in wuxia films are genuine, but the flying guillotine as shown in films is a fabrication. It is said to have been based on a real Qing dynasty weapon of unknown design. Ho Meng-hua, who directed the 1975 film, was convinced it was an actual weapon.


The flying guillotine is said to have first appeared on the big screen in 1956’s Fourth Madam Lu Thrashes the Flying Guillotine, then in a rudimentary form in 1973’s Zatoichi vs the Flying Guillotine.
The more common version sprang from the fertile imagination of Shaw Bros scriptwriting maestro Ni Kuang.
The flying guillotine’s appearance was not entirely out of the blue. Although the new wave of martial arts films produced by Shaw in the late 1960s were thoroughly Chinese in setting and spirit, they drew heavily on the idea of clever gadgets espoused in the popular James Bond films.
Here we look at some of the best-known films starring the flying guillotine.
1. The Flying Guillotine (1975)


The weapon achieved fame in this violent film about courtly intrigue, starring martial arts legend Chen Kuan-tai and directed by veteran director Ho Meng-hua.
It details how the flying guillotine was invented at the behest of the Yongzheng Emperor in the Qing dynasty, who wanted a weapon which could kill from a distance subjects who displeased him. The film recounts the weapon’s invention, and shows the training of the 12 elite assassins chosen to wield it.
After putting a novel spin on customary martial arts training tropes – scenes which were reportedly difficult to shoot, as the prop guillotines were hard to control – The Flying Guillotine unfolds according to ea typical martial arts storyline about brotherhood, honour and betrayal.
Ho said before shooting that the film would focus on the characters, and the weapon itself adds novelty to an effective, if mundane story about Chen’s character being betrayed by a jealous fellow assassin and finding his humanity in the process.

The fight choreography looks old-fashioned for 1975, but every time the flying guillotine appears, the action is elevated. The special effects and trick shots – developed by Ho – are excellent for the time.
“The Flying Guillotine truly left a bloody trail in Hong Kong film history,” wrote the Hong Kong Film Archive.
2. Master of the Flying Guillotine (1976)
Written and directed by Jimmy Wang Yu and shot in Taiwan, this flying guillotine story is very different to the original. It’s essentially a kung fu film featuring the weapon as part of the plot, rather than a story revolving around its invention.


Wang made the film as a sequel to his One-Armed Boxer (its alternative title is One-Armed Boxer vs the Flying Guillotine), and the story picks up where that film ended.
Wang’s character does not wield the flying guillotine – that is done by the blind Buddhist monk Fung Sheng, who is seeking to avenge the deaths of his two disciples in One-Armed Boxer.
The guillotine itself is slightly different. It’s smaller, flies much faster, and its saw-like edges are just as effective as its head-chopping trickery.
“It is one long fight – its iconic action scenes start at the opening credits and continue right through to the axe-hurling finale,” bestselling novelist and expert on Hong Kong films Grady Hendrix tells the Post.
“Its over-the-top combatants, and its wild weapons, also served as the inspiration for pretty much every fighting video game, from Street Fighter to Mortal Kombat.”

“An aura of heavy metal doom hangs over the whole movie, from its sadistic blind assassin [to] its wall-to-wall deaths, its dank Krautrock soundtrack – mostly by the band Neu! – and its grim finale in a coffin shop,” Hendrix notes.
3. Flying Guillotine 2 (1978)
Shaw’s Flying Guillotine 2 had a very troubled shooting history, and was shelved and restarted three times.
First, leading lady Liu Wu-chi, from the first film, disappeared near the start of the shoot. Then Chen Kuan-tai walked out of his Shaw Brothers contract – and Flying Guillotine 2 – necessitating a fundamental change to the storyline.
Delays mounted up, director Cheng Kang was replaced by Hua Shan, and Ti Lung was brought in to star mid shoot, although he is absent for much of the film.


The movie fares surprisingly well considering these problems, focusing on a group of Han rebels fighting the oppressive Qing emperor.
Shaw star Shih Szu leads a pack of women fighters who infiltrate the guillotine squad in a novel spin on the story, and there is an “improved” version of the weapon itself.
Shaw’s third guillotine film, Vengeful Beauty, hardly features the weapon at all, and seems to use clips of it from the 1975 version.
4. The Guillotines (2012)
This attempt, by director Andrew Lau Wai-keung, to update the flying guillotine story with 21st-century production values shows very little of the weapon.
The flying guillotine is only part of the story for the first 30 minutes, and its main appearance is right at the start, in a special-effects sequence that aims to numb viewers into submission.
The weapon itself is again significantly different – it is a spinning disc launched from a scythe.


Like Flying Guillotine 2, Lau’s story focuses on a group of Han rebels fighting against an early Qing emperor, who is using the guillotine squad against them. Once again, palace intrigue abounds.
Although the film is nominally a remake of the 1975 version, Lau told the Post that “such elements as the plot, its focus on the brotherhood theme, its visual style and choice of ending come from me”.
In this regular feature series on the best of Hong Kong cinema, we examine the legacy of classic films, re-evaluate the careers of its greatest stars, and revisit some of the lesser-known aspects of the beloved industry.
Want more articles like this? Follow SCMP Film on Facebook


Is the ‘flying guillotine’ a real weapon? How Hong Kong martial arts films created a myth

Hong Kong picks action movie set in Kowloon Walled City for Oscars race

Maggie Cheung turns 60: from beauty queen, Hong Kong film icon and global stardom to DJing with Aaron Kwok and Nicholas Tse at a recent Gucci party

What’s the future of filmmaking in Hong Kong? This year’s Fresh Wave film festival winners on telling personal stories and trying ‘too hard’

Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

A still from The Flying Guillotine (1975), which spawned a number of films that featured the fictional assassin’s weapon of the same name.

Chen Kuan-tai as Ma Teng (centre) in a still from The Flying Guillotine (1975).

Chin Kang as Fung Sheng Wu Chi in a still from Master of the Flying Guillotine (1976).

How the Pang Brothers’ The Eye movies led Hong Kong cinema’s horror genre in the 2000s

Angelica Lee Sinje in a still from The Eye (2002), directed by twin brothers Oxide Pang Chun and Danny Pang Fat.

Danny Pang (left) and Oxide Pang at an interview with the Post in 2003. Photo: SCMP

A still from The Eye.

Lawrence Chou (left) and Angelica Lee in a still from The Eye. Photo: Applause Pictures and Raintree Pictures

Shu Qi in a still from The Eye 2 (2004).

Chen Bo-lin (left) and Isabella Leong in a still from The Eye 10 (2005).

How Hong Kong’s gambling film genre was spurred by Andy Lau, Chow Yun-fat and Stephen Chow

Andy Lau in a still from Casino Raiders (1989). Photo: Eureka Entertainment

Chow Yun-fat in a still from God of Gamblers, Wong Jing’s gambling classic that broke Hong Kong box-office records in 1989, and, along with Casino Raiders the same year and All for the Winner in 1990, set the gambling movie genre in motion.

(From left) Andy Lau, Chow Yun-fat and Ronald Wong in a still from God of Gamblers (1989).

(From left) Sharla Cheung, Stephen Chow and Ng Man-tat in a still from All for the Winner (1990). Photo: Win’s Movie Production.

Andy Lau (left) and Stephen Chow in a still from God of Gamblers II (1990), which introduced All for the Winner star Chow to the series.

3 of the best Hong Kong crime movies of the 2000s and how director Derek Yee created them

Daniel Wu (left) and Andy Lau in a still from Derek Yee’s Protégé.

(From left) director Derek Yee, Daniel Wu and Cecilia Cheung on the set of One Nite in Mongkok in 2004. We unpack this crime film and two others he made in the 2000s,  Protégé and Triple Tap. Photo: Handout

Daniel Wu as the hitman Lai Fu in a still from One Nite in Mongkok (2004). Photo: SCMPost

Director Derek Yee and Cecilia Cheung on the set of One Nite in Mongkok. Photo: Handout

Andy Lau as crime lord Quin and Anita Yuen as his wife in a still from Protégé (2007). Photo: Handout

Louis Koo as Kwan (left) and Daniel Wu as Jerry Chang in a still from Triple Tap (2010). Photo: Handout

Why Tsui Hark’s Shanghai Blues, shown at Cannes 2024, is one of his best films 40 years on

Sylvia Chang in a still from Shanghai Blues. Photo: Film Workshop

Sally Yeh in a still from Shanghai Blues. Lively and packed with romcom tropes, it remains one of its director Tsui Hark’s favourite films. Photo: Film Workshop

Kenny Bee in a still from Shanghai Blues. Photo: Film Workshop

(From left) Nansun Shi, Sylvia Chang, Kenny B and Tsui Hark at an exhibition entitled A Tribute to Romantic Visions: 25th Anniversary of Film Workshop in 2009. Photo: SCMP

Sally Yeh (left) and Sylvia Chang in a still from Shanghai Blues. Photo: Film Workshop

(From left) Brigitte Lin, Cherie Chung and Sally Yeh in a still from Peking Opera Blues.

Is Bullet in the Head John Woo’s best film? Its focus is male friendship, a Woo go-to

Tony Leung Chiu-wai (left) and Jacky Cheung (right) in a still from Bullet in the Head, a John Woo film that has long been loved by critics and fans alike.

(From left) Waise Lee, Jacky Cheung and Tony Leung Chiu-wai in a still from Bullet in the Head.

John Woo at an interview with the Post in 1993. Photo: SCMP

Jacky Cheung (left) and Tony Leung in a still from Bullet in the Head.

(From left) Jacky Cheung, Waise Lee and Tony Leung in a still from Bullet in the Head.

(From left) Waise Lee, Jacky Cheung and Tony Leung in a still from Bullet in the Head.

Lifestyle

Entertainment

Culture

Film & TV

An assassins’ weapon that removed heads, the fictional ‘flying guillotine’ was featured in a number of Hong Kong wuxia films


An assassins’ weapon that removed heads, the fictional ‘flying guillotine’ was featured in a number of Hong Kong wuxia films.
