Touch of Death

The fabled death blow, unique to the equally fabled martial art style of Dim Mak.

From what I've heard people blabber on about it, you supposedly use a few fingers (between 1 and 3) and strike somewhere at either the top, or the bottom of the sternum. This creates a small shard of bone, which travels it's way to the heart, causing massive damage to viens and the heart, and significant amounts of pain.

Another version I've heard is 3 strikes... Not likely to succeed, even against a moron, or drunk. One to the left side, about where the arm meets the torso, to shut off the left arm's chi, then one to the right, to do the same. The final blow is to the center of the body, near the heart region, which is supposed to overload the chi and wreak holy hell with one's body, killing it, instantly.

Mind you, no one really thinks either of these is true, but I may be being fed that line, just to continue the cover up, against us all, so we're doomed to die when the shit hits the fan. Be warned.

A "fake" Bruce Lee movie made seven years after his death (directed by Matthew Mallinson, written by Ron Harvey). The full movie title, "Fist of Fear, Touch of Death" is a montage of several old Bruce Lee clips wrapped around the vague notion of a plot in what could be not only the worst martial arts movie ever made, but quite possibly one of the funniest -- depending on your sense of humor.

The severely anaemic plot revolves around a contest at Madison Square Garden for the title of greatest martial arts master, and relies heavily on interviews of old "friends" of Bruce Lee, who talk about his accomplishments and ponder his mysterious death. The theory is that Bruce Lee had mastered -- and was subsequently murdered by -- the "touch of death".

The filming is poor, the plot thin, and the acting abysmal, but what makes this movie truly magnificant is the way old Bruce Lee clips are incorporated into the movie. Instead of reusing shots that might be familiar to the viewer, we are shown rare interviews and demonstrations by the master. The filmmakers even used old footage from a soap opera Bruce had acted in while still a teenager. The horrendous and hilarious dubbing done to this section cannot be done justice.

How this movie was ever released without a lawsuit by the Lee estate is a mystery to me, but it can usually be found in either the Martial Arts or Cult Film section of your local video store. You can also find the full movie on the web with several different stream rates at Moviehead.com.

Touch of Death is a mid level advanced dungeons and dragons adventure. This is one of the ravenloft adventures that feature scary things like vampires and mummies. The adventure is a for a group of 4 to 6 players with a third to fifth level. The adventure takes place in an egyptian style setting. Someone in the adventure party should have a cure disease capability and magic weapons are recommended. This adventure is in Har'akir, from the ilses of terror.