5 reasons you might like Bloody Parrot (1981)

Bloody Parrot is a 1981 Shaw Brothers film that asks the question, “What if we smashed all genres into one film?” Well, the answer is, it would make absolutely zero sense but would still be immensely entertaining.

I’m Jason Kleeberg, this is Force Five, and today I’m going to give you five reasons you might want to watch Bloody Parrot.

Reason number 5, and this might be all you need to know if you’re in or out on this one…there’s a scene in which a woman who’s wearing only half of an outfit while her other half is nude eats a rock and becomes possessed, throwing tables around and grabbing her breasts. She finds another big pearl and…inserts it into herself and then attempts to kill the guy who she snatched the rock from. Why this happened in the movie is never explained.

If you’re still with me, at number 4 is the incredibly well done title sequence. Watch as swordsmen and birds, presumably parrots, fly and meld into other objects, including a nude woman at one point. It’s a truly breathtaking sequence and while there have been some really cool Shaw Brothers opening credit sequences, this one might be my favorite.

At number 3, despite all of this insanity going on in this film, it looks stunningly beautiful. I love the contained style of the Shaw Brothers sets and they look amazing, but the lighting is fantastic, the colors pop and if you get a chance to check out the Arrow Blu-ray, I doubt it’s ever looked better than it does now.

At number 2 I’m going with the gore. If you like gory movies, this one delivers. Throats are cut, bodies are dissolved, stomachs are slashed open, a guy even cuts his own arm off after it becomes possessed and in true 80’s Shaw Brothers fashion, we get to see it all. There’s a great shot of blood running down a beach after a big battle, it’s super well done. There’s also a fantastic character who uses one of the most unique weapons I’ve ever seen in a movie, it’s a thrown hollow disc that acts as a boomerang and takes peoples’ eyes out but the most interesting thing about it is that it has the skin of a human face stitched on top of it.

And the number 1 reason if you’re not sold already, is the mashing of genres that I had mentioned at the start of this video. If you’re someone who likes to see a variety of things on screen in one film, Bloody Parrot delivers. Aside from the demonic possession I mentioned and the bizarre Bloody Parrot, which at first seems to be a supernatural force, there are sword battles, there’s comedy - our hero cuts a guys clothes off instead of killing him inside of a store and then he cuts a sausage link from the wall showing him what could have been, there’s some mystery as our hero searches for some stolen treasure meant for the emperor and someone who’s poisoning people, there’s some erotica, it really is a mishmash of all genres rolled into one.

Bloody Parrot is definitely one of the wilder Shaw Brothers films out there and I think it’s a really fun time at the movies.

Have you seen Bloody Parrot? What’s your favorite Shaw Brothers film? Let me know in the comments below or email me at forcefivepodcast@gmail.com.