Taking a break to pose for the camera, in-between killing a few hundred mooks, Shaw Brothers-style.
The Devil's Mirror is a 1972 wuxia directed by Sun Chung, one of the many films of its kind produced by Shaw Brothers… and among the goriest. (Seems like there's a clearance for fake blood in 1972, considering that's the same year the Shaws made The Casino and The Imperial Swordsman)
Once more, the martial world is in uproar with a new, dangerous villainess hell-bent on the massacre of entire clans: the vile, power-hungry Jiuxian Witch who leads the Bloody Ghouls Clan, a legion of ruthless marauders, seeks two enchanted mirrors, the Wind Mirror and Thunder Mirror, two artifacts under the ownership of the respected Bai Clan and Wen Clan, where both mirrors are required for her to unlock the Emperor's Vault, storing an ancient, thousand-year-old Ganonderma capable of granting immortality, and a powerful Weapon called the Emperor's Fish Intestines Sword (YES, that's seriously its name) which will make her invincible. But the mirrors are well-kept in the vaults of each clan, and failing to locate them, the Jiuxian Witch will stop at nothing to have the artifacts uncovered, her minions' killing spree leaving behind scores and scores of dead bodies and turning the world of kung-fu in an uproar.
Two heroes are out to stop this deadly villainess. Bai Xiaofeng, daughter of the Bai Clan (played by Shu Pei-pei) and Wen Jianfeng, son of the Wen Clan (played by Shaw B-lister Lau Dan who somewhat faded from popularity after this movie) are on-off lovers, and when Wen Jianfeng gets framed for the theft of the Thunder Mirror, he will attempt to uncover the truth while being hunted by all martial sects...
The Devil's Mirror contain examples of:
- Absurdly Sharp Blade: The evil Jiuxian Witch managed to grab hold of the Emperor's Fish Intestines Sword and wield it, the first thing she did which is breaking Bai Xiao-feng and Wen Jian-feng's swords with a single sweep.
- Acid Pool: The Bloody Ghouls Clan have one of these in their hideout. As does the Emperor's Mausoleum, where the titular mirrors are dropped into during the final battle.
- Almost Dead Guy: Wan Xing-he survives his battle against the Jiu-xian Witch, despite being mortally wounded, and lives long enough to warn Master Bai of the Witch's arrival.
- Ancient Tomb: The Emperor's Mausoleum where the Fish Intestines Sword is kept, guarded by a spell that can only be broken by combining the Wind Mirror and Thunder Mirror together. The Jiuxian Witch and her army of underlings managed to breach its entrance while leaving behind mooks to ambush the heroes, with the finale being Bai Xiao-feng, Wen Jian-feng and Master Bai battling the Witch and her horde of underlings in the crypts.
- The Baroness: The vile Jiuxian Witch who leads the Bloody Ghouls Clan serves as the film's Big Bad.
- Battle Couple: Bai Xiao-feng and Wen Jian-feng throughout the film, slicing up entire legions of faceless mooks.
- Beware the Skull Base: The lair of the Jiuxian witch is filled with skull motifs, including the doors leading to her inner sanctums which is a massive skull mouth. Even her throne is located in the nose and mouth of a massive skull sculpture, with two burning torches in place of eyes - yeah, really
◊. - Bloodier and Gorier: Compared to most Shaw outputs from the 70s.
- Blood from the Mouth: Victims poisoned by the Witch's Corpse Worm Pills, when the Witch refuse to undo the poison, will die in this manner. And then there's the Witch herself after breaking through the enchantment locking the Emperor's Tomb using the titular mirrors, only to suffer an internal bleeding in the process.
- Cave Mouth: The cave lair of the Jiuxian Witch has its entrance being a skull-like mouth.
- Chain Pain: Unlike most of the heroes, Master Bai instead fights with a chain made of gold circlets, which he can transform alternately as a whip, a chain for strangling enemies, or even solidify it enough to become another sword. He managed to impaled the Jiuxian Witch using the third form towards the end of the film.
- Cool Old Guy: Master Bai, the lord of the Bai clan and Bai Xiao-feng's father, an elderly kung-fu master who can still kick all sorts of ass... with only one leg. Of course then again he's faking his disability.
- Cool Sword: A standard practice for wuxia. The Emperor's Fish Intestines Sword is an enchanted ancient blade hidden in the Emperor's Tomb, which the Jiuxian Witch spends the whole movie trying to retrieve and unlock its powers.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: This wuxia probably had the most amount of one-sided battles between named characters and nameless mooks.
- Dismemberment Is Cheap: Master Bai's left leg may be severed and replaced with a metal peg leg, but it doesn't stop him from kicking ass and leaping all over the place in classic wuxia manner. Of course, the fact that his left leg was NOT actually severed and he practically faked his injury to flush out a traitor in his clan, helps.
- Elite Mooks: The personal guards of the Jiuxian Witch are clad in red instead of the usual black, fights bare-chested, and can be identified by their long, flowing red or white hair. They also put up a slightly better fight than her common mooks, although they fared barely any better against the heroes in the finale.
- Evil Gloating: The Jiuxian Witch, all the time. Especially in the Wen clan massacre, where she cackles amidst the chaos.
- Facial Horror: The victims poisoned by the Jiuxian Witch and her Corpse Worm Pills will have their faces melted alive, with extreme agony.
- Forced into Evil: The Seven Disfigured Swordsmen who serves the evil Jiuxian Witch are practically forced to be her servants, having suffered the effects of her Corpse Worm Pills. They will die within days unless they consumed the antidote from the Witch, which will stop the poison from spreading... for a few weeks. Then they must return to serve her, or the poison's effect returns, and so on.
- Forced to Watch: After Wen Jian-Feng gets captured alive by the Jiuxian Witch and Deputy Leng, and refuses to surrender, the Witch decides to have him strung to a rack and make him watch as she instructs the Deputy to poison two Mauve Shirt heroes which are Jian-Feng's friends, by Force Feeding both victims Corpse Worm Pills causing their faces and bodies to dissolve.
- Handicapped Badass: Master Bai, an elderly warrior who lose a leg in battle years ago and walks with a left leg made of metal, but can still kick all kinds of ass with a sword-crutch, as well as using the pointed tip of his prosthetic leg to stab and impale enemies. But then again, he's not as handicapped as he seemed.
- Heel–Face Turn: The last two disfigured swordsmen, having served the Jiuxian Witch long enough, eventually decides to turn against her, firstly by saving the heroes Bai Xiao-feng and Wen Jian-feng before the Witch can force the Corpse Worm Pills into them, releasing both heroes from the dungeon. They both died after the Jiuxian Witch and her lackey, Constable Leng, caught up, but at least they died as heroes.
- High-Pressure Blood: The Shaws must've gotten a really, really, really good bargain on cheap red sauce for this film. The amount of blood and gore that accompanies each and every of its 200-ish onscreen deaths is amazing. Especially for Master Wen, father of Wen Jian-feng, who upon being poisoned by the Jiuxian Witch, then gets seven swords from various mooks thrushed from all around him. Resulting in a literal geyser of red sauce that reaches the ceiling.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: How Deputy Leng died in the hands of Master Bai, while trying to kill him. Impaled on Bai's metal leg, no less! ... and then said metal leg turns out to be hiding Bai's true, unsevered right leg.
- Impairment Shot: Victims poisoned by the Jiuxian Witch and her Corpse Worm pills will start staggering in a daze, with the camera jerkily tilting and fuzzing from their point-of-view.
- Impromptu Tracheotomy: The Bloody Ghoul mooks tries to ambush Wen Jian-feng while he's sleeping with his comrades in the hall of an abandoned temple, by sticking a hollow bamboo pipe and blowing knockout gas. Wen however awakes, notice something's amiss, and shoves a palm into the pipe, which went through the blower's esophagus. With gory results.
- In a Single Bound: Most of the named characters. The Jiuxian Witch, Bai Xiao-feng, Wen Jian-feng, Deputy Leng, Master Bai (despite having only one leg!) in classical wuxia fashion.
- Invincible Villain: The Jiuxian Witch might be one of the most overpowered villains in Shaw Brothers wuxia (and that's saying a lot), easily slaughtering named characters and overpowering entire armies of redshirts with ease in her unstoppable rampage for domination. The only reason the heroes, consisting of Bai Xiaofeng, Wen Jianfeng and Master Bai combining their powers, managed to stand a chance against her in the finale is because the Witch had spent much of her life-force in order to overpower the mausoleum's defenses and is internally injured. Even then, they still barely managed to win, with Master Bai giving his life for the heroes.
- Magic Mirror: The Wind Mirror and Thunder Mirror, two ancient artifacts held by the two seniors of the martial world, Master Wen and Master Bai, which the vile Jiuxian Witch seeks. Because using those mirrors she can uncover the Emperor's Tomb, guarded by an enchanted lock, allowing her to retrieve the Emperor's Sword and dominate the martial world.
- The Mole: Deputy Leng, supposedly the sworn brother of Master Bai and Number Two of the Bai clan, secretly serves the Jiuxian Witch. He's also her lover... or so he thought.
- Master Swordsman: It's a wuxia, and the martial world is filled to the brim with expert swordfighters. Including the heroes Bai Xiao-feng and Wen Jian-feng, the powerful Villainess Jiuxian Witch, Deputy Leng Xun, the Witch's Mook Lieutenant underlings, and so on.
- Mutual Kill: The climatic final battle ends with Master Bai and the Jiuxian Witch impaling each other through the hearts with their respective weapons.
- No Time to Explain: When the heroes, Bai Xiao-feng and Wen Jian-feng, rushes to help Master Bai, knowing that Deputy Leng, the traitor, is going to assassinate him... and then realizing their assistance isn't needed since Master Wen's disability is faked, and he had single-handedly killed the traitor by himself. Master Bai simply tells his daughter he'll explain on their way to confront the Jiuxian Witch for the finale.
- Obfuscating Disability: Master Bai, the Handicapped Badass leader of the Bai clan, is anything but handicapped. Turns out underneath his metal left leg is a perfectly fine leg, where he had faked his injury to flush out a traitor. Even his daughter Bai Xiao-Feng fell for it.
- Off with His Head!: Early in the film, the Seven swordsman kills off a bunch of unfortunate guards, and as the last of them tried fleeing to raise an alarm he gets his head sliced off.
- Power Floats: The Jiuxian Witch can float all over the damn place in numerous fight scenes using the sheer power of her qi, thanks to some impressive wireworks. She tends to gloat consistently while doing so, too, mocking the valiant efforts of heroes trying to (unsuccessfully) defeat her.
- Quirky Miniboss Squad: The Jiuxian Witch has a legion of seven Mook Lieutenant expert fighters, who serves her directly and carries out theft and assasinations under her orders. Subverted when it turns out they're actually righteous warriors whom are forced into servitude thanks to the Witch poisoning them, where by carrying out her orders she'll prolong their lives.... for a few more weeks.
- Sacrificial Lion: Wan Xing-he, Wen Jian-feng's follower and The Lancer for the first half of the film, who tags along Jian-Feng throughout the film until he ends up becoming a victim to the Jiuxian Witch, to prove the villainess as a legitimate threat.
- Slap-Slap-Kiss: The two heroes, Bai Xiao-feng and Wen Jian-feng (the Love Interest of each other) spends as much time duelling each other as they did fighting evil together. It's somewhat justified the first time however, as she suspects that he had stolen her father's prized magic mirror, but not that much in later instances.
- Sword Fight: All over the place, with satisfyingly massive amounts of red sauce being used.
- Third Eye: The Jiuxian Witch has an extra eye on her forehead, for reasons never explained in the film.
- The Vamp: The Jiuxian Witch gets Deputy Leng to become hopelessly loyal to her via a combination of seducing him with power and sex. It's quite obvious she never saw him as a lover though, barely even showing any sadness after learning of Deputy Leng's death.
- Wuxia: One of the gorier examples.
- You Killed My Father: The Jiuxian Witch killed Master Bai, the father of Bai Xiao-feng, making him swear vengeance. And towards the end of the film, she does the same to Master Wen, father of the heroine Wen Jian-feng, though in this case it's a Mutual Kill moment.
