House of Traps

House of Traps is a 1982 Shaw Brothers film directed by Chang Cheh,[1] starring the Venom Mob. The story is based on the 19th-century novel The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants.[2]

House of Traps
movie poster
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese沖霄樓
Simplified Chinese冲霄楼
Directed byChang Cheh
Written byChang Cheh
I Kuang
Produced byMona Fong
StarringPhilip Kwok
Chin Siu-ho
Lung Tien-hsiang
Sun Chien
Ngaai Fei
CinematographyTsao Hui-chi
Edited byChiang Hsing-lung
Li Yen-hai
Music byEddie H. Wang
Release date
  • 9 January 1982 (1982-01-09) (Hong Kong)
CountryHong Kong
LanguageMandarin

Plot

When a corrupt prince arranges for the theft of a highly valuable jade antique the emperor dispatches his best men to retrieve it. The only problem is that the prince has hidden the antique in the infamous 'house of traps' from which no man has ever made it out alive. Royal investigator Yan Chunmin and his men mount a daring raid on the prince's birthday which results in the usual mayhem expected from a Venoms film.

Cast
Cast Role Description
Sun ChienYan ChunminInspector
Lau Fong-saiYumoYan Chunmin's servant
Ngaai FeiZhao JuePrince of Xiangyang
Philip KwokZhi Hua"Black Demon Fox"
Chin Siu-hoBai Yutang"Brocade-Coated Rat", 5th sworn brother
Chu KoLu Fang"Sky-Penetrating Rat", 1st sworn brother
Yu Tai-pingHan Zhang"Earth-Piercing Rat", 2nd sworn brother
Cheng Tien-chiXu Qing"Mountain-Boring Rat", 3rd sworn brother
Chiang ShengJiang Ping"River-Overturning Rat", 4th sworn brother
Lung Tien-hsiangShen Zhongyuan"Little Zhuge"
Yau LeeAi Hu"Little Hero"
Lu FengHua Chong"Butterfly"
Wong LikDeng Che"Sick Giant"

Production notes

House of Traps was previously considered one of the rarest Venom films, as it was only available on poor VHS and VCD formats. However, House of Traps was remastered and released on DVD 9 September 2008 by Image Entertainment . The DVD includes the original Mandarin language soundtrack with subtitles, as well as an English-dubbed soundtrack. The DVD is from the Shaw Brothers Collection series, which is distributed under the Celestial Pictures banner of Image Entertainment.

Despite the DVD release, the film falls under WTO regulations for fair-use and free distribution. Celestial's release is approximately 20 minutes shorter than the VHS and VCD versions, as many of the most damaged frames were cut entirely. The Celestial version of the film, under Chinese law, is materially different enough to be classified as a new work and is copyrighted as such. Only a handful of VHS originals are known to exist.

References
  1. House of Traps (1982), retrieved 20 October 2023
  2. ""House Of Traps" a.k.a. (Chong xiao lou) (1982)". Classic Kung Fu Movies. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
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