With this adaptation of Huanzhu Louzhu’s Legend of the Swordsmen of the Mountains of Shu, Tsui Hark delved into the world of wuxia and fantasy, for which he had long held a fascination. Set in Mount Zu during the Uprising of the Five Barbarians era, the film’s plot centres around Ding Yin (Adam Cheng), a master swordsman who has been possessed by Blood Demon. Three youths manage to escape Ding’s attack, and together they embark on a journey to ask for help from the powerful Li Yiqi (Judy Ongg).

Not only did Tsui Hark convince Golden Harvest to invest in Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain, he also hired Hollywood special effects experts who had worked on Star Wars (1977). In addition, he set up his own visual effects team and used numerous practical effects. His design of the fortress where one of the film’s key battles takes place was inspired by the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang; while the twin Purple and Green Swords were created using special optical effects. Crucially, Zu represents Tsui’s imaginative efforts to modernise traditional Chinese mythology, blending it together with the wuxia genre and Chinese history to present a spectacular, fantastical vision that is distinctly Eastern in flavour. Drawing from Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, the film’s story covers the realms of humans, demons and gods. Epic in scale, the grandeur of Zu is matched by the vivid imaginativeness of its images. In times of crisis, everyone must unite to overcome disaster, even when one’s instinct may be to withdraw and protect one’s interests—ultimately, the film expresses a sentiment very typical of Tsui’s martial arts cinema.

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