The Flying Guillotine
The Flying Guillotine
血滴子
Overview
"The paranoid Emperor Yongzheng commissions the creation of the 'Flying Guillotine'—a horrific, hat-like weapon attached to a chain that encompasses an enemy's head and decapitates them instantly. A loyal imperial guard masters the weapon but becomes conflicted when ordered to execute innocent scholars."
Iconic Tracked Scenes
- ▶
The weapon's inventor demonstrates the terrifying spinning hat on a mannequin and then horrifically decapitates a condemned prisoner in front of the Emperor.
"inventing the flying guillotine""testing the hat weapon" - ▶
A squad of imperial assassins use the spinning guillotines to quietly and efficiently remove the heads of a group of targeted scholars in an ambush.
"guillotine ambush""spinning hat assassination" - ▶
Now hunted by his own squad, Ma Teng uses an iron umbrella he constructed to block the guillotines from dropping over his head during a tense showdown.
"blocking guillotine with iron umbrella""flying guillotine final fight"
Why It's Remembered
- ★The horrific first test of the Flying Guillotine on a melon, and then on a live prisoner.
- ★The terrifying sound the weapon makes as it spins through the air.
- ★The protagonist desperately trying to invent a counter-measure (an iron umbrella) to block the weapon from grabbing his head.
Cultural Context
- ◈Introduced one of the most famous and bizarre fictional weapons in cinema history, which has since been referenced in games (Mortal Kombat), music (Wu-Tang Clan), and Quentin Tarantino films.
- ◈Leans almost entirely into the gimmick of the weapon, combining martial arts with slasher-movie dread.
- ◈Extremely successful, spawning dozens of rip-offs and sequels, most notably Master of the Flying Guillotine.
About the Action Elements
The Flying Guillotine is widely celebrated among martial arts cinema fans for sequences involving demonstration, decapitation, hat, emperor, weapon invention. One of the most memorable sequences features Chen Kuan-tai naturally executing inventing the flying guillotine, where the choreography and unique set pieces become the unexpected highlight of the film.