The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter
The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter is a 1984 film from Hong Kong, directed by Lau Kar-leung, running 98 minutes. reelscum files it under martial arts.
- Year
- 1984 · 1980s films
- Country
- Hong Kong
- Runtime
- 98 min
- Director
- Lau Kar-leung
- Updated
- 10 Aug 2026
- Obscurity
- cult (44/100)
- Also known as
- Invincible Pole Fighter · The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter · The Invincible Pole Fighters · Eight Diagram Polefighter
Defined in the glossary: Martial arts
Lau Kar-leung's brutal last great Shaw film. A massacred family, and pole fighting as grief.
Lau Kar-leung's ferocious late masterpiece, in which the sons of a betrayed general are slaughtered and the survivors take refuge in a monastery, learning the pole-fighting style to take revenge. It is darker and bloodier than most of Lau's work, its production overshadowed by the death of star Alexander Fu Sheng during filming.
The final monastery battle, with its teeth-knocking pole techniques, is one of the great kung fu set pieces. It is a fitting near-end to the classical Shaw Brothers era, and among the most emotionally charged martial-arts films.
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