TERROR OF THE TONGS (1961) **
The reviled Red Dragon Tong keeps the streets of Hong Kong in constant fear as they kill anyone who crosses them in broad daylight with a hatchet. The captain of a British ship (Geoffrey Toone) goes after the Red Dragon Tong gang after they murder his daughter. He then smashes up the Asian underworld as he seeks revenge on the head of the organization, played by Christopher Lee.
I know that Terror of the Tongs isn’t really a horror flick, but since it’s a Hammer film and features Christopher Lee in Asian make-up, it’s good enough for me to include it. Besides, the murder sequences are pretty bloody for the time. Hatchets get plunged into people’s hands, chests, and shoulders on a regular basis, so there is no shortage of violence at any rate.
If anything, the film feels like a warm-up for Lee’s Fu Manchu movies as most of his screen time is spent sitting on a throne while barking orders at his minions. I’m sure you can probably guess that his scenes are easily the best in the flick. That doesn’t mean it’s good though. Really, it’s only marginally better than any of the Fu Manchu entries, which is about the faintest of praise.
The pacing is the big problem. Even though there are bursts of violence throughout the film, the stuff that occurs in between isn’t very involving. The scenes of Toone looking for Lee aren’t bad as they play out more or less like a revenge flick. (Imagine Death Wish in the guise of a Yellow Peril movie.) It’s the scenes in which he talks endlessly with the revolutionaries that want to bring down the Tong that pretty much stop it on a dime.
AKA: Terror of the Hatchet Men.
The next Horror-Ween movie will be The Vengeance of Fu Manchu!