The original title was “Tang Lang”, conspicuously free of references to Shaolin Temple. I suspect that Shaolin was tacked on during the Ocean Shores video release. My copy has a relatively professional looking title that says “Deadly Mantis”, and the title “Shaolin Mantis” added by some pre-Amiga video titling system, coincidentally in the same quality as the Ocean Shores mark. O.S. was probably trying to capitalize on the fame of Lau Kar Fei in his Shaolin monk roles. The title Shaolin Deadly Mantis is probably an effort to reconcile the two titles, or possibly scam people who have seen the film already.

Happy to say, these days there are companies like HKL and IVL putting out high quality releases of the best films from the era. Even Bonzai discs sometimes feature full frames with the original soundtrack. I still pick up titles from the discount bin from time to time, but these days I have a much better idea going in whether I should hold out for a better disc.

And wonderful review, as always.