The Flying Guillotine is an unusual kung fu weapon and the monicker of the man who wields it in Master of The Flying Guillotine. The weapon is a red-bladed hat attached to a chain that is thrown by the user onto the head of an enemy, whereupon a veil lowers and, somehow, the victim’s whole head is cut plum off. The user is a old monk named Fung (Kang Kam). The flying guillotine looks cool flying around a room at breakneck speed but proper use of it is completely impossible. That a blind man is the one flinging this thing around makes it even funnier.

Fung is flung into battle after learning that The One-Armed Boxer (director/writer/star Jimmy Wang Yu) has killed two of his disciples in battle. Swearing revenge, he grabs his flying guillotine - which folds into a handy travel-size that fits in the palm of the hand when desired - and heads off to The One-Armed Boxer’s temple. Meanwhile, a local kung fu tournament has drawn some of the world’s greatest fighters to the area. The real unfortunates are the guys in town who also happen to have only one arm and cross the path of Fung. As a blind guy, it’s tough to tell one one-armed dude from the next. Hell, it’s hard for Fung to tell a one-armed dude from a large wooden post. So he throws his guillotine first and asks questions later (such as “Did I kill him?”). Eventually he gets so frustrated at the overabundance of men with one arm that he vows to kill every single-limbed gentleman in the country until his bloodlust is sated.

The One-Armed Boxer - yes he has only one arm, though Wang Yu was not actually handicapped - appears to be a pretty decent guy when he first meet him, but lest there is any confusion, flashbacks show that he did indeed kill Fung’s disciples in combat. The Flying Guillotine’s a reckless lunatic, but The One-Armed Boxer isn’t much of a hero either. He will kill, and often quite cruelly, when he is confronted with a threat. This isn’t a traditional good-versus-evil confrontation, it’s a test of strength between two amoral kung fu killers. It’s like an old Universal horror flick where Frankenstein’s Monster and The Wolf Man would square off and nuts to who wronged who or why, it was just cool that they were tussling and we got to watch.

Wang Yu was a famous Hong Kong action hero, the biggest before Bruce Lee according to the entertaining and informative commentary on the Pathfinder DVD, despite the fact that he was a self-taught martial artist with no actual training. The One-Armed Boxer character is tailored to his talents as an innovative director while downplaying his physical deficits. For instance, The One-Armed Boxer is pursued by a Thai boxing master who has allied himself with the Flying Guillotine. Knowing he cannot beat him in a fair one-on-one battle - just as Wang Yu is a far weaker martial artist than the actor playing the Thai boxer - he lures him into a trap. The Thai boxer does not wear shoes, so The Boxer traps him inside a house set atop a fire, so that his feet are quickly burned on the metal floor, evening the odds and allowing One-Armed Boxer the opportunity for victory. It’s hard to believe that The One-Armed Boxer is a teacher; he’s spent a lot of screentime lecturing students on technique and breathing, then teaches by example when he cheats to win a fight and scorches a guy like an overdone Thanksgiving turkey.

These and other set pieces are carefully crafted and cleverly shot. The kung fu tournament has very little impact on the One-Armed Boxer / Flying Guillotine rivalry as neither one participates in it, but it is stacked with beautifully designed conflicts and characters. One yoga fighting master even has Extend-O arms that allow him to attack enemies from a distance (One-Armed Boxer later defeats him in extremely painful fashion). The effects are surprisingly good, rarely tacky or dated, and frequently quite believable.