Wei Feng (David Chiang),who is both an outstanding scholar and martial artist, is put to the test by The Emperor and overcomes a Mongol and a priest (Gordon Liu). Satisfied that Feng is up to the task, he dispatches him to the home of the Tien Clan (whom he suspects are guilty of treason) to spy on them. To ensure that Feng does as he's told, The Emperor blackmails Feng, threatening his family. Feng meets Zhizhi, Tien's granddaughter, and she fancies him right away. When Tien learns that Feng is a spy, he makes plans to kill him- whereupon Zhizhi saves Feng by claiming that the two of them are lovers. Instead of the "proposed" execution, a wedding is planned. When Feng insists on returning to his family, he and Zhizhi must run a family gauntlet to get out of the Tien home. This is where some beautifully choreographed fight scenes come in- fight scenes that rival the director's work in the later LEGENDARY WEAPONS OF CHINA. There's a wildly improbable escape that involves the sudden appearance of a dummy (strapped to Feng's back!),but the subsequent scenes wherein Feng observes and then imitates the fighting style of a praying mantis more than makes up for it. Throughout the dubbed version, the Goblin soundtrack from George Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD is put to good use. But it's the twist ending that makes SHAOLIN MANTIS most memorable.

Okay, I don't expect any classic kung-fu movie to have an intricate, well-crafted plot. But most classic kung-fu movies do have a simple, but understandable and logical plot. You understand why the characters behave the way they do.

Not in this movie. Most of the characters in Shaolin Mantis behave in unnecessarily homicidal & down-right dirt stupid ways. Backstabbing deaths that could have been avoided with just a little discussion between characters who are supposed to care about one another, aren't avoided. Unnecessary deaths & conflicts which could have been avoided with just a little common sense, aren't avoided. It's like most of the characters in this movie took a permanent dumb pill. Too many things in this movie just don't make sense, and that includes the stupidly plotted twist ending.

Some classic kung-fu movies I've watched again & again & again (like Fatal Needles, Fatal Fist). This one I don't want to ever see again.

Still, I give it 3 stars because the set decorations and the fights are decent enough.

Wei Fung (David Chiang, King Boxer, The Boxer from Shantung) has been given an assignment from the Emperor himself: work his way into the Tien Clan rebels, gain evidence of their connection to a series of enemies and report back. If he fails, his entire family will be punished. Complicating the mission is the fact that he's already fallen for one of his enemies, Tien Chi-Chi (Huang Hsin-Hsiu),the granddaughter of the rebel leader.

The rebels have already learned that Wei-Fung is a spy, yet Chi-Chi has already fallen for him. Her grandfather Tien (Lau Kar Wing, the choreographer of so many movies, including Master of the Flying Guillotine) doesn't want to break her heart, so if she can gain Wei-Fung's hand in marriage - and he pledges to never leave - he may live. However, if he doesn't come back with the list of spies, his entire family will be decapitated. And what does the praying mantis have to do with an entire new style?

Unlike so many Shaw Brothers martial arts movies, the fighting is part of the story instead of the entire tale. It naturally comes out of the human drama within the movie, making Shaolin Mantis a movie worth discovering. It also has a shock ending that made me love this film.