Flying Guillotine II Blu-ray Review: The Aliens of Flying Guillotine Movies

The most famous flying guillotine movie is Master of the Flying Guillotine, but it’s a whole franchise. In fact, it’s a shared universe as Master pitted the One-armed boxer against the Flying Guillotine. Flying Guillotine 2 is now on Blu-ray from Arrow.

Now there’s a whole army of Flying Guillotines so it’s like the Aliens of the series. Plus, they have new and improved, even deadlier models. 

There is impressive sword fighting with traditional weapons and wild new contraptions for assassination attempts. This sequel really delivers the best of both worlds for Shaw Brothers martial arts. 

The Arrow Blu-ray includes a commentary by experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema. They are super enthusiastic and breathless sharing their research on the film. Highlights include creative differences in the direction of the sequel, the myth of the flying guillotine including speculation on the cleaning and maintenance, its legacy in other movies and Shaw Brothers talent and the functioning of the studio. 

The trailer has no narration. It’s all action, and there’s a beautiful collection of stills from the set. 

Barry Forshaw writes an essay for the booklet that includes a good recap of the history of ‘70s Kung Fu and the specific director and cast of Flying Guillotine 2.