History Film / FiveDeadlyVenoms

This movie was provided star-making roles for all six of its leads. In the years to come they became known as the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venom_Mob Venom Mob]], and [[ProductionPosse would do many more films together]] as actors, stunt performers, and choreographers. Most of these films would also be directed by Chang Cheh.

** ScaryScorpions: Scorpion is the most mysterious of the bunch, with his true identity a secret until the climax of the movie. He is a cunning, elusive presence, playing the other four against each other.
** LovableLizard: Lizard is a charming and amiable policeman who tries to do the right thing.
** AmphibianAssault: Toad is a NighInvulnerable BoisterousBruiser. He and Lizard are the only good guys of the five.

* DirtyCop: Basically all of them except Lizard.

During the course of his journey, Yan Tieh meets all five students. Alternatively referred to by their number (the order in which they were trained) or by their [[AnimalThemeNaming animal style]], each student was taught only 1 of the 5 poison styles. Yan Tieh, number 6, was taught all 5 styles, but he had only 3 years of training so his master tells him "You must join up with one of the five, or you will have no chance of defeating them."

** The Toad is superhumanly tough, but [[spoiler:once his ears get smashed, he loses his strength and is killed]].
** Toward the end of the movie, Yang comes up with stratagems [[spoiler: that he and Lizard can use against Centipede, Snake, and Scorpion, based on what he knows of their respective styles. Centipede is vulnerable to be attacked from different levels, so Yang attacks the legs while Lizard attacks the head. Snake, by contrast, is vulnerable if attacked from different sides, preventing him from using his hands in tandem. We never actually hear his tactic against Scorpion, but it's implied he has one.]]

* BigBadDuumvirate: At first it seems like Number 1 is set up to be the main BigBad, but throughout the film, the balance of power among the antagonists' alliance sways between the central antagonists.

* BoisterousBruiser: Number 5, Brother Toad.

* APupilOfMineUntilHeTurnedToEvil: Head of Five Venoms House fears this to be the case for all his students except Number 6. Ultimately, it's only the first three who are evil.

* AchillesHeel: The Toad is superhumanly tough, but [[spoiler:once his ears get smashed, he loses his strength and is killed]].

* INeedAFreakingDrink: After Lizard returns from his trip to find that Centipede has been set free and Toad has been framed for the crime and tortured to death, he immediately makes his way to a local inn and practically crawls inside one of their massive jars of wine.

* NeverOneMurder: After the Yun massacre, Snake and Centipede have to frame Toad for their crimes and then commit two more murders to cover their tracks. [[spoiler: Snake grows increasingly uncomfortable with all this, even wondering aloud where it will end. Scorpion simply tells him that it won't.]]

* RedOniBlueOni: Number 1 (red) and Number 2 (blue) along with a similar relationship between Number 4 (blue) and Number 5 (red).

* WallCrawl: A Lizard style specialty

* BeardOfEvil: Number 1, aka Centipede, has this. It's even lampshaded by the witness. [[spoiler:Number 4, aka Lizard, aka Constable He]] has heavy stubble.

* TheStoolPigeon: Wong Fa, who witnessed the murders at the Yun residence and identifies Scorpion as the killer, is later intimidated into changing his story to implicate the innocent Toad.

During the course of his journey, Yan Tieh meets all five students. Alternatively referred to by their number (the order in which they were trained) or by their animal style, each student was taught only 1 of the 5 poison styles. Yan Tieh, number 6, was taught all 5 styles, but he had only 3 years of training so his master tells him "You must join up with one of the five, or you will have no chance of defeating them."

[[HotBlooded Number 1]] (played by Lu Feng) is the [[AnimalThemeNaming Centipede]]. His style mimics the hundred arms and legs of the centipede. He's fast. Really fast. As the {{Big Bad}} he wears [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience red]].

[[TheLancer Number 2]] (played by Wei Pei) is the [[AnimalThemeNaming Snake]]. He has a two pronged attack. He has the snake's mouth on one hand whereby using precise finger control he attacks the pressure points mimicking the poisonous effect of a snake bite. On his other hand is the stinging tail. He fights extremely well on his back. He and Number 1 trained at the same time. Nevertheless all students wore masks to hid their identities from each other. His color is [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience silver]].

[[TheGhost Number 3]] (played by Sun Chien) is the [[AnimalThemeNaming Scorpion]]. This style is all about striking. Hard. His kicks are like the stinging tail and his fists are like the pincer. He trained alone with the master and never met Number 1 or Number 2. He remains in the shadows for most of the movie. His color is either [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience black or purple]].

[[TheSmartGuy Number 4]] (played by Philip Kwok) is the [[AnimalThemeNaming Lizard]]. The oldest of the fighters, he studied at the same time as Number 5. Remember that they all wore masks so none of them know the identities of the others. The lizard is an agile and nimble style. He can climb walls and fight with extreme dexterity from them. His color is [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience gold]].

[[TheBigGuy Number 5]] (played by Lo Meng) is the [[AnimalThemeNaming Toad]]. The movie's description of this style must be quoted and certain people may remember the line appearing a Music/WuTangClan song. "The toad style is immensely strong and immune to nearly any weapon. When it's properly used, it's almost invincible." He can bend metal. His color is [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience green]] as shown in the open sequence.

* AvengingTheVillain: [[spoiler: Snake for Centipede.]]
* ArrogantKungFuGuy: Most of them.
* BeardOfEvil: Number 1, aka Centipede, has this. It's even lampshaded by the witness. [[spoiler:Number 4, aka Lizard, aka Constable He]] just has a normal beard.
* BigBadDuumvirate: At first it seems like Number 1 is set up to be the main BigBad, but throughout the film, the balance of power among the antagonists' alliance sways between the central antagonists.

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: The one of the primary antagonists wears red. His second in command wears silver.
* DecoyProtagonist: It sways back and forth between Toad and the Sixth Student for a bit but possibly the true one is Lizard.
* DevilInPlainSight: [[spoiler:The Scorpion and Lizard are local constables, and the Snake is a rich nobleman. Subverted, in that the Lizard is actually good]].

* FinalBattleInducedShirtLoss: Everyone wears open-fronted shirts, but Lizard is shirtless during the final battle.

* OldMaster: It is implied that the head of Five Venoms House is this, but partially subverted due to the fact that he is dying at the beginning of the movie.
* APupilOfMineUntilHeTurnedToEvil: Head of Five Venoms House fears this to be the case for all his students except Number 6.

* SecretIdentity: Downplayed; most of the students used the name of their style to cloak their identity back when they apart of the Poison Clan. After they left, most of them either kept their name separate from their past or assumed a new identity after leaving the clan.
** The Centipiede is [[spoiler:Chang Hsiao-Tien; he doesn't really have much of a secret identity aside]].

* TheStoolPigeon: Wong Fa

* TokenGoodTeammate: [[spoiler:Meng Tien-Hsia, the practitioner of the Lizard Style, is the only one with a sense of justice and who used his skills afterwards for good despite his past]].

* WallCrawl: Lizard style specialty

* AchillesHeel: The Toad is superhumanly tough, but [[spoiler:once his ears get smashed, he's powerless]].

* HeelRealization: At the start of the third act, Snake takes a brief moment to lament to Scorpion that while he doesn't actually want the treasure since he's already rich, he keeps killing to keep himself out of trouble and mentions he only joined the clan to for the skills only, and asks when will it end. Scorpion laughs it off, saying that once started, it will never end.

* IronMaiden: The film features an iron maiden variant with the victim's head exposed. [[spoiler:Snake uses this to defeat Toad's "iron skin" power, but it only takes after Scorpion and Snake smashes his ears and disables ability]].

* NighInvulnerable: The Toad can shrug off iron spikes and bend sheet metal with his bare fists. [[spoiler: Just don't hit his weak point...]]

* ObfuscatingStupidity: Yan Tieh spends the bulk of the film pretending to be just a begger to go under cover.

* AchillesHeel: The Toad is superhumanly tough, but [[spoiler: once his ears get smashed, he's powerless]].

* BeardOfEvil: Number 1, aka Centipede, has this. It's even lampshaded by the witness. [[spoiler: Number 4, aka Lizard, aka Constable He]] just has a normal beard.

* BeardOfEvil: Number 1, aka Centipede, has this. It's even lampshaded by the witness. [[spoiler: Number 4, aka Lizard, aka Constable He]] just has a BadassBeard.

* ShirtlessScene: Everyone wears open-fronted shirts, but Lizard is shirtless during the final battle.

* DevilInPlainSight: Two of the Venoms are local constables, and one is a rich nobleman. [[spoiler: Subverted, in that one of the constables is actually good]].

[[TheSmartGuy Number 4]] (played by Kuo Chui) is the [[AnimalThemeNaming Lizard]]. The oldest of the fighters, he studied at the same time as Number 5. Remember that they all wore masks so none of them know the identities of the others. The lizard is an agile and nimble style. He can climb walls and fight with extreme dexterity from them. His color is [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience gold]].

** Brother Centipiede is [[spoiler:Chang Hsiao-Tien; he doesn't really have much of a secret identity aside]].
** Brother Lizard is [[spoiler:Chi Tung; he is back to being a rich nobleman like he originally was]].
** Brother Scorpion, the most enigmatic of the three, is [[spoiler:Kao Chin; he goes by the new identity of Chief Constable Ma Chou, and has been keeping Brother Lizard at bay the entire time to make sure everything went smoothly for himself and regarding the assassination of Liang Shen]].
** Brother Lizard, is [[spoiler:Meng Tien-Hsia; he goes by the new identity of Constable Ho Yuan-Hsin and is the one of the few good constables amongst them]].
** Brother Toad, is [[spoiler:Liang Shen; he is just a drinker at the tavern who acts an ally to Tien-Hsia]].

** Brother Centipiede is [[spoiler:Chang Hsiao-Tien, who doesn't really have much of a secret identity aside from being a criminal]].
** Brother Lizard is [[spoiler:Chi Tung, who is back to being a rich nobleman like he originally was]].
** Brother Scorpion, the most enigmatic of the three, is [[spoiler:Kao Chin, who goes by the new identity of Chief Constable Ma Chou and has been keeping Brother Lizard at bay the entire time to make sure everything went smoothly for himself and regarding the assassination of Liang Shen]].
** Brother Lizard, is [[spoiler:Meng Tien-Hsia, who goes by the new identity of Constable Ho Yuan-Hsin and is the one of the few good constables amongst them]].
** Brother Toad, is [[spoiler:Liang Shen, who is just a drinker at the tavern who acts an ally to Tien-Hsia]].

* SecretIdentity: Each of the assassins have a new identity after leaving the clan.

* HeelRealization: At the start of the third act, Snake takes a brief moment to lament to Scorpion that while he doesn't actually want the treasure since he's already rich, he keeps killing to keep himself out of trouble, and asks when will it end. Scorpion laughs it off, saying that once started, it will never end.

* SixthRanger: TheHero is this.

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: The judge does not get any punishment]] but one character does suggest it, only for another to say that his replacement could be worse.

* TheDogBitesBack: [[spoiler: Brother Scorpion turns on Brother Snake in the final fight, which [[TakingYouWithMe turns out to be a mistake...]]]]

[[TheLancer Number 2]] (played by Wei Pei) is the [[AnimalThemeNaming Snake]]. He has a two pronged attack. He has the snake's mouth on one hand whereby using precise finger control he attacks the pressure points mimicking the poisonous effect of a snake bite. On his other hand is the stinging tail. He fights extremely well on his back. He and Number 1 trained at the same time. Nevertheless all students wore masks to hid their identities from each other. His color is [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience silver]]. His identity is a rich nobleman.

[[TheBigGuy Number 5]] (played by Lo Meng) is the [[AnimalThemeNaming Toad]]. The movie's description of this style must be quoted and certain people may remember the line appearing a Music/WuTangClan song. "The toad style is immensely strong and immune to nearly any weapon. When it's properly used, it's almost invincible." He can bend metal. His color is [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience green]] as shown in the open sequence. However, he wears a brown or black coat or goes bare-chested for most of the film.

* HangingJudge: The local Judge