BLACK LIZARD is a typically convoluted film from Shaw Brothers director Chor Yuen, made during the studio's transition from straight kung fu fare into more mystical magically-focused oddities. This one's quite straight forward for Chor Yuen, but the plot involves the titular monster that's hundreds of years old and demands a sacrificial victim every now and then.

Given the director's pedigree, it's no surprise that the thrust of the plot is more about involvement in the martial world, with all of the intrigue you'd expect. Derek Yee teams up with underutilised Venoms star Sun Chien to investigate the mystery and come up against various dark or sinister personalities, including a cameoing Yuen Wah and a sweaty Yueh Hua. The sets are dark, the characters brooding, the women beautiful, but the lack of involving action and less horror content than expected means that this isn't one of the director's best.

Scooby Doo Kung Fu.

Secret passages. Rubber Masks. People pretending to be monsters. Spooky mansion. It ticks all the Hannah Barbera boxes. All it needed was Scrappy Doo to annoy everyone and it would've been like a lost episode.

Despite not understanding the majority of what was happening, I persisted if only for the strange goings on, hoping it'd all be clear by the end. It wasn't.

Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of Black Lizard. Before we get into it, here are my ratings:

Story - 0.75 Direction - 1.00 Pace - 1.25 Acting - 1.25 Enjoyment - 1.00

TOTAL - 5.25 out of 10

Two essentials let Black Lizard down; the story and the direction. The writers throw too much into the mix and don't possess the skills to give a clear, concise, and believable conclusion. Plus, there's an unnecessary opening sequence. The way both writers and directors handle it makes the segment frantic and disconnected from the rest of the picture. Therefore, when we start the main story thread, we're already confused about the timeline. It would have been preferable if they had included the Black Lizard Lake mythos a little later into the tale and started the story from the point where Stranger From Hell makes his appearance. But the writing issues don't stop there. For me, the story felt too coached. It lacks a sense of natural flow, and it became too jagged and messy. But the concept is a good one shame the delivery is off a tad.

Apart from the sloppy beginning, the rest of the direction is passable. Though, two fight sequences take place in darkness. It's a pity as you cannot observe the actors' skills at sword-wielding. All their training has gone to waste. Apart from that, the greatest element of the film is the pacing. The sword and martial arts fighting are enthralling and exciting. That is the reason I thought the story revolved around these fights.

The cast is average, though their martial arts skills are superb. Had the tale and the filming been better, the actors and actresses might have had more to get their teeth into. The cast who appear to add more persona to their characters is the older supporting cast; the master's elderly and last servant, and the grave keeper.

I would recommend this to all the martial arts fans and possibly some of the more die-hard thriller devotees. Somebody new to the genre may turn off after the first ten minutes. I love this genre, and I nearly hit the off button. Even though they could have improved some elements, the film is still enjoyable and worth one watch.

Please feel free to visit my Killer Thriller Chillers list to see where I ranked Black Lizard.

Take Care & Stay Well.