Derek Yee about to, uh, intrude the Shaolin Temple.
Shaolin Intruders is a 1983 Shaw Brothers Martial Arts Movie starring Derek Yee, Jason Pai Piao, and Lau Yuk-pok. It is one of the various Shaolin-themed kung fu films released by the Shaws, during the peak of popularity of Shaolin-themed kung fu films.
When three martial artists - the drifter Lei Xun (Derek Yee), the gambler Qian Yi-duo (Jason Pai) and the daughter of a martial arts warlord Ye Qing-hua (Lau) find themselves suspected of being responsible for a series of murders in the world of kung-fu, they attempt to uncover the truth behind the killings, including a vital clue which they may obtain by infiltrating the Shaolin Temple. However, one of the three heroes may not be on the side of good, after all.
Notably one of two Shaolin-themed movies starring Derek Yee to be released in 1983, the other being Shaolin Prince.
Shaolin Intruders contains examples of:
- Action Girl: Ye Qing-hua, who allied with Lei-Xun and Qiao Yi-duo to infiltrate the Shaolin Temple for the scroll, is a capable fighter and trained swordswoman in her own right. But she turns out to be the film's Dark Action Girl later on.
- All Monks Know Kung-Fu: Unfortunately for the film's three heroes, in their attempt to infiltrate the Shaolin Temple through it's obstacle course, they find out that all the Shaolin monks do, in fact, knows kung-fu.
- Attack Hello: Lei Xun and Qian Yi-duo's first meeting had them fighting in a sword duel before talking.
- Attack Reflector: Lei Xun, who can deflect attacks with his blade, turning the monks' attempts to attack him back on themselves. Since the monks are only attempting to subdue instead of kill, they end up getting knocked down in a non-fatal way. When Qing-hua, revealing herself to be an enemy, tries to kill Lei Xun by throwing her sword at him, Lei Xun simply deflects her attack back into her guts.
- Blade Below the Shoulder: Qing-hua's preferred weapon is a pair blades attached to her wrists, which she use both at once in her fights.
- Chairman of the Brawl: One of the film's key action set pieces is a kung fu duel in a hall full of stacked benches, where the heroes, Lei Xun and Fang Yi-duo, must defeat the Shaolin Senior Abbot without touching the ground, or else fail the obstacle course and be forbidden into the temple's inner sanctum.
- Combat Pragmatist: All three of the heroes, who attempts to bypass the Shaolin monks' challenges by tripping them up or tricking the monks into falling.
- Daddy's Little Villain: Ye Qing-hua turns out to be infiltrating the Temple under the orders of her father, the Golden Tiger Escort chief who is the Big Bad of the picture.
- Death Course: The Shaolin Temple path leading to it's inner vault, where the intruders must face various obstacles and ambushes by the monks. Subverted that it's not a literal death course — anyone who fails simply gets kicked out the temple.
- Epic Flail: The six-sectioned chain dart is another one of the many weapons used by the Shaolin monks, particularly half a dozen of them who specializes in flail combat.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The film's protagonists must intrude the Shaolin Temple in search of a vital clue. With the process of infiltrating the Shaolin halls taking up most of the second act, halfway through the film.
- Fighting Your Friend: Lie Xun and Qian Yi-duo against Qing-hua, after discovering she is actually using them to steal from the temple at the behest of her father, the villainous Golden Dragon Chief.
- Gratuitous Ninja: The marauders that attacks the convoy at the start of the film are clad in traditional ninja gear, complete with hoods and face-obscuring masks.
- High Collar of Doom: During the flashback, one of the attempted challengers of the Shaolin monks, a martial arts warlord, is shown wearing a red cape with a massive high collar.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Qing-hua, in an attempt to kill Lei Xun, hurls her last remaining wrist blade at him, only for Lei Xun to deflect her blade... which goes straight through her gut.
- Human Ladder: When Lei Xun managed to cross the Shaolin Temple's main hall by avoiding all the monks' attacks, the monks, in order to stop him from reaching the other side, quickly stacks themselves on each others' shoulders, becoming a three-layer human wall. Lei Xun had to bypass this last obstacle by leaping through the monks' heads while avoiding their attacks from the middle.
- In a Single Bound: The three protagonists, all the time, a skill which comes in handy when they're running through the Shaolin Temple's obstacle course.
- Loophole Abuse: During the fight on stacked benches, where the loser is whomever that touches the ground first, Qian Yi-duo realize he's no match for the Shaolin Abbot — so he decides to instead kick the benches out of the way, knocking aside any extra benches the Abbot is using as a foothold, in order to trick the Abbot into landing on the ground. It works.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: For the lead characters, the far more enthusiastic and prone to action Qian Yi-duo is the red, while the cool, level0headed and comparatively aloof Lei Xun is the blue.
- Sword Fight: These are the type of action scenes peppered throughout the film, all over the place.
- Two Guys and a Girl: Lei Xun the protagonist, Qiao Yi-duo The Lancer, and Qing-hua the resident Action Girl.
