Five Fingers of Death

Five Fingers of Death (1972) is the Shaw Brothers kung fu classic you can watch online on iFILM. Promising fighter Chao Chih-Hao leaves his sweetheart and his old teacher behind to train at a master's school ahead of a major tournament.

A rival school runs the town, and its thugs will maim or kill to thin the bracket before the first match is even fought. Chao steps in to protect a street singer, makes enemies fast, and lands squarely in the gang's crosshairs. His way out is the forbidden Iron Palm: when his hands glow with power the frame floods red and that wailing alarm cue kicks in. Lo Lieh carries the lead, with a young Bolo Yeung turning up in support.

Korean director Jeong Chang-hwa shot it, and this was the first kung fu picture to genuinely break through in the West, opening the genre to American audiences a year before Bruce Lee's rise. Tarantino later lifted that Iron Palm siren cue for Kill Bill. Essential viewing for anyone who loves old, hard-hitting martial-arts cinema. Stream Five Fingers of Death (1972) online on iFILM.