Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

HOUSE OF TRAPS is a typically flamboyant early 1980s outing for the Shaw Brothers studio. It marks the final outing for the popular Venoms mob, who had so memorably appeared in THE FIVE DEADLY VENOMS and so many films after that. This time around they're involved in a tightly plotted mystery thriller which doesn't skimp on the martial arts action, which is inventively gory and remains a highlight as always.I found HOUSE OF TRAPS to be a slightly lesser work due to the plot being a little convoluted and confusing, particularly in the first half. It all works out well in the second but until then I was scratching my head a few times. It's one of those films where every character seems to have an ulterior motive or hidden agenda so you're never quite sure where the loyalties lie. The titular location hangs heavily over the production and is an impressive design, a little like those booby-trapped temples that Joseph Kuo always had in his movies. I was a bit disappointed that the traps are limited to a single room but the set design is very inventive and heavily stylised.There's not a wealth of action in this film but that doesn't really matter when the costumes, props, and set dressing are all so beautiful to look at. The actors inhabit the roles well and as always they excel in the fight scenes, which are the more dramatic for being kept relatively brief. As is usual, the large-scale climax never fails to disappoint.

I watched the dubbed English version (I usually prefer the original cantonese or mandarin soundtrack) but some Kung Fu-movies are obviously meant to be enjoyed like this. The dialogue is outright hilarious, unprecedented by any Kung Fu-flick I've ever seen so far (probably about the hundreds). The story is impossible to keep track of, I honestly still, after watching the whole movie, don't know who I was supposed to root for or who was bad and who was good. But in this movie, it just adds to the chaotic watching experience it is from start to finish. As usual with Chang Che's venom movies, there are so many characters introduced to us, and many of them look deceptively identical to one another that knowing who's who unless you are a die hard fan is pretty much impossible. That being said, the movie is practically devoid of fighting scenes, which came as a surprise to me. I read that a large proportion of the movie had to be cut out during the restoration, something that might explain the lack of action, but I honestly didn't mind, since the end fight (roughly 10 minutes) is amazing, and probably one of the absolute best fights in any venom movie. Just fast forward to that one if you're only in it for the fighting and marvel. The story? Eh.. well.. Chinese king (sic!) has many men, prince wants.. a throne..? Someone built a house of traps because someone died.. something is stored in there.. and the prince recruits men.. somehow, they fight! The end. Watch it for the laughs and the superb last fighting scene.

Chang Cheh's martial arts movies, more often than not, were built on solid foundations- and this holds particularly true for HOUSE OF TRAPS. The basic idea is a good one: that vital information (not to mention some purloined antiquities) are being kept hidden in a booby-trapped house. One by one, the seekers who enter in search of these treasures fall victim to these widely varied traps. Unfortunately, not enough time is spent exploring this house by either the characters in the movie or the filmmaker(s) to build any real tension or suspense- and the traps themselves are something less than they might've been. (A little more imagination in the devising of the traps would've gone a very long way here.) Still, HOUSE OF TRAPS is well worth a look for anyone interested in Old School Hong Kong film-making or the sometimes eccentric shenanigans of one of the most individual of all martial arts movie makers. (If you're interested in offbeat but still very interesting and entertaining movie-making, check out Cheh's part musical, part kung fu epic, HEAVEN AND HELL.) (And, if you're more into the straight-laced stuff, seek out THE LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES, which was directed by Roy Ward Baker, with help from Chang Cheh.)

I saw this movie on videotape. The copy of this film is terrible. Most of the time, I couldn't read the dialogue or saw what was going on. The most intriguing thing about the movie, as the the title suggest, is the house itself. Apparently, some royal king decided it would be best to hide a valuable artifact in a house filled with traps. Not only with bodyguards of swordsmen but with grounds that popped out with long spears and stairs that chopped off legs. The artifact is on top level of the house. I still don't get why anyone who knows about the trap insist on going up that way. Why couldn't they just go on top of the house and drop in from there like Tom Cruise did in Mission Impossible 2. The only reason to see this movie are the traps but you have to sit around for a long time to see that. It could've been more interesting if I knew what the characters were talking about. I couldn't tell why they were fighting each other. Anyone who has a better copy of this please tell me where they got it.