Product Details

• Actors: Willie Chi, John Ching, Chun Lam, Carman Lee, Kam-Kong Wong
• Directors: Ringo Lam
• Producers: Benzheng Yu, Hark Tsui
• Format: Color, Letterboxed, Subtitled, NTSC
• Subtitles: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Tai Seng
• VHS Release Date: December 7, 1999
• Run Time: 104 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304534345
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #487,874 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars dark, slick, and entertaining action piece, May 20, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Burning Paradise [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Burning Paradise is one tite action movie. All, the cinematography was great and the strong character development. There is a lot of blood and gore in the movie, one memorable one when a outraged Shaolin student was fighting with the woman ninja-type bodyguard, and spikes came out of the bridge, exploding through his legs. The plot was good. The only thing I wasn't really satisfied with was the action choreography. Man, Chris Lee can't direct action. He's incomparable to Yuen Woo-ping and his troup of "brothers", or Ching Siu-tung. Plus, Chris Lee is a rookie and there's only one action director and that's always worse. The fight sequences are so slow you can actually follow their movements in combat. Also, the movie took place mostly in the Red Lotus Temple, and it gets boring, not scary, there. You just see too much of it. Anyway, I'd give it a four since there were so many positive comments about the movie from other reviewers that compensate for my negative ones.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars dark, brooding and entertaining, December 8, 1999

By 

Matthew D. Phillips "zax93" (Outer Limits) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Burning Paradise [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Burning Paradise stands on it's own as an unique piece of HK movie magic. The hero of the story is the legendary "Fong Sai Yuk" a rebellious and headstrong shaolin monk. The story revolves around the attempts of the "Red Lotus Clan" to wipe out the "Shaolin Temple". A Deadly Prison laden with traps is built by the Clan's leader as a symbol of hell and the monks are captured and imprisoned therein. The movie deals with the monks attempts to escape and contains some great characters. The Clan's leader is a mad artist (the actor who plays him is an artist in reality) and other Clan members include a traitor from the shaolin camp that must battle "fong sai yuk" and a female ninja type of guard who loves him. The cinematography is slick and their are some great action sequences and character development, lot's of fire is incoporated into this "living hell" making for many dramatic scenes. This film was made with a very high budget in HK terms but lost out at the box office - perhaps due to some rash comments Ringo Lam made about the Tianneman Square massacre which were misunderstood/taken badly by the public at large who decided not to see his movie. All in All, "Burning Paradise" should be seen by any fan of Hong Kong Cinema, it's a good story with plenty of adventure, romance, tragedy, betrayel etc. - add it to your basket!

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, December 10, 2001

By 

Jonathan Schaper (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Burning Paradise [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The story, acting, etc. in Burning Paradise does not quite reach the grandeur of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. For example, the acting and the romantic subplots aren't one bit as compelling. However, on its own merits, this is an excellent martial arts movie with a very effective gothic horror edge to it that makes it unique. The setting is mostly inside of a temple/prison filled with traps, wells full of bodies, and pits of flame representing as close an approximation of hell anyone could create on earth. Captured Shaolin monks who manage to fight their way past ruthless guards just find themselves impaled by snares. The temple is run by a sadistic old man who follows the old philosophy "it is better to rule in hell..." who also keeps a collection of dead girls. The scenes where he is painting images of hell or threatening the young heroine are extremely chilling. However, he makes the mistake of imprisoning the hero of the story who, of course, attempts to free the young maiden and all of the other captives in fighting scenes which are almost as good as anything in Crouching Tiger (and far more believable). The action keeps the more horrific aspects of the movie from overwhelming the audience, and it has a few moments of humour as funny as anything in Iron Monkey. But be prepared to see some slightly more graphic violence.