Scorpion Thunderbolt

There were five Thunderbolt films released by Joseph Lai’s IFD Films and Arts Ltd.: Inferno, Majestic, Mission, Ninja and Scorpion. All were directed by Godfrey Ho, and all but Mission starred American actor Richard Harrison. Like several other films from IFD, Scorpion Thunderbolt is a movie mash-up, being composed of footage from Gang Beom-gu’s ridiculous 1983 South Korean monster movie 몽녀한 [Grudge of the Sleepwalking Woman], supplemented with new martial arts footage directed by Ho and featuring Harrison. Obviously, this makes for a confusing and disjointed viewing experience, and of special note is the ridiculous English dubbing peppered with a selection of regional accents!

A series of murders grips Kowloon. Fourteen women have been brutally slaughtered by what the police surmise to be some terrible snake-like reptile — its appearance always preceded by the presence of a bespectacled blind flute player. Head of the inquiry is Inspector Jackie Koh (Man Tai-Sin) assisted by his female colleague Lee (Guk Jeong-Suk). In the process of the investigation, Koh gets involved with nosey female reporter, Helen Yu (Chan Lai-Wan), but it soon becomes apparent that Miss Yu has a dark secret.

Interweaved in the footage purloined from the South Korean film, is new footage featuring Richard (Richard Harrison!) battling the minions of ‘The Queen of the Scorpions’ — an evil witch who invokes the metamorphosis of Yu into the reptilian anthropoid via a large glass sphere and a hypnotic drumbeat. One outrageously sleazy encounter sees Harrison seduced by female assassin Angela (Cathy Evan), who strips and gyrates to the sounds of Jean Michel-Jarre’s Oxygène Part IV, whilst footage of herself from Majestic Thunderbolt is projected on a screen behind!

Harrison’s character possesses a magical bejewelled ring, and thus equipped with a golden sword and mystical mirror (as featured on the film’s poster) he takes the fight to the witch queen’s own castle.