If you weren’t aware, Celestial (www.celestialpictures.com) has undertaken a massive project to remaster and restore the entire Shaw Brothers catalogue (hundreds and hundreds of movies) on Reg. 3 DVD, in original audio, subtitled, and widescreen. While a lot of the extras fell by the wayside early on, it’s been a great opportunity to catch up on some classics in a form better than any available before. Celestial has now released a limited list (in Chinese) of some of the classic Shaw Brothers movies that they will be releasing next year. Some highlights:

Black Magic 2 - Sequel to the already released Black Magic, an exceptionally trashy horror film starring Lo Lieh, Ti Lung, Ku Feng, Tanny Tien Ni, and a whole bunch of nasty centipedes, cheesy special effects, and naked people. BM 2 is reputed to be better, so that’s something to look forward to. It has some of the same cast, and is also directed by Ho Meng-hua, one of the great Shaw’s sleazemeisters, and genius behind such films as The Flying Guillotine, Vengeful Beauty, Mighty Peking Man, Kiss of Death and Oily Maniac. Note that the new year’s batch also includes the entertainingly titled “Sex Maniac” by Ho. Oh Ho, you never cease to deliver, do you.

Killer Constable – An old-school fu fest - supposedly one of Chen Kuan-tai’s better and darker roles. Chen Kuan-tai (Crippled Avengers, Boxer from Shantung, Executioners from Shaolin) is one of our favorite fu stars here, and elevates the quality of anything he’s in (see the amazing fight scene in the beginning of The Master aka 3 Evil Masters).

Kid With the Golden Arm – Best of all. This is one of the movies that made me a kung fu fan. Full on Venom action from the master, Chang Cheh, and one of the few post-5 Deadly Venoms movies to include Wei Pai aka Snake Venom. Full of the outlandish fighting and costumes we’ve all come to expect from late-period Chang Cheh. Don’t miss it.

Corpse Mania – I don’t really know anything about this movie except it has a fantastic name, and is directed by Kuei Chih-hung, the sick mind behind Killer Snakes, The Teahouse, and The Delinquent.

Tragically absent are supernatural freak-outs Seeding of a Ghost and Boxer’s Omen, and far more importantly, the mind-boggling Chinese Super Ninjas aka 5 Element Ninja, one of my all-time favorite movies. I hope that it appears on the final list so I don’t have to dig out my crappy old dubbed panned tape yet again.

The full list and translations are posted at this Kung Fu Fandom post.

Big thanks to everyone at Kung Fu Fandom (pub3.ezboard.com/bkungfufandom) who gathered this information.