Payment In Blood is a 1973 Shaw Brothers gangster film directed by Kwei Chi-hung starring Yueh Hua, and is one of Yueh's films which is set in the modern day instead of a historical epic.
When Fang Chih-Kien (Yueh), a mechanic in 1970s Hong Kong with a wife and daughter, returns home after working overtime one night, he unintentionally witnessed a gangland murder. When the triad boss responsible for the killings, the local kingpin Boss Hsieh, gets arrested, Fang agrees to testify in court, only to find himself - and his family - marked for death by the mob. With the police being utterly useless and after repeated attempts on the lives of his wife and daughter, Fang decide to take matter into his own hands.
And YES, snakes do appear in the movie. But NO, despite what the poster on the right implies, they aren't gigantic anaconda-sized monsters capable of swallowing entire humans.
Payment in Tropes:
- Animal Assassin: One of the mob's methods to dispose of Fang's family is by sending a box full of poisonous snakes to Fang's apartment. Fang's wife is the one who opens it, and nearly gets bitten as a handful of deadly serpents slithers all over the hall.
- Buy Them Off: The mob tries this method to persuade Fang into keeping quiet towards testifying their boss for murder, via an envelope full of cash. It doesn't work.
- Car Bomb: The mob attempts to kill Fang by rigging his car with an explosive. But a random child in the neighbourhood becomes a scapegoat instead when the boy kicks his ball into Fang's back seat, and tries opening the car's doors to retrieve the ball, accidentally detonating the bomb meant for Fang in the process.
- Construction Vehicle Rampage: The final action scene had Fang ambushing the mob by commandeering a bulldozer to ambush the mob's meeting in a quarry.
- Covers Always Lie: Yeah, see that poster above with the giant snake? The movie does have one scene involving snakes, but the snakes are regular sized and the scene in question lasts for around two minutes. Taken out of context it makes the film look like a Killer Animal movie instead of a gritty crime thriller.
- Creator Thumbprint: Kwei Chi-Hung, who directed this movie, had a thing for snakes. He directed the schlocky thriller movie Killer Snakes as well as HEX and The Boxer's Omen, which involves snakes in notable scenes.
- Family Man: Fang Chih Kien the hero is a devoted man to his wife and daughter.
- I Have Your Wife: For the climax, the mob have kidnapped Fang's wife and daughter, and it's up to Fang to go on a Roaring Rampage of Rescue for his family. He managed to save his daughter from drowning, but not his wife.
- He Knows Too Much: The plot is kicked off when Fang Chih Kien, a mechanic, witnessed a mob killing and is targeted for death by the mob. It gets worse when they found out he had a family, and decide to eliminate his family as well.
- In the Back: While seeking his daughter at the end, Fang is shot from behind by the mob leader, Boss Hsieh. But before Hsieh can land a second, fatal shot, he's interrupted by another mob attack.
- Police Are Useless: Fang and his family are marked for death by a dangerous triad, and all the police did is to have a few of their officers conduct some sloppy interviews, and occasionally sending one or two officers to check on Fang... while doing NOTHING to prevent the mob from making repeated attempts on the Fang family's life.
- Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: An underling of the mob who knew Fang personally tries to bribe Fang to stay out of becoming a witness to his boss' trial with a hefty sum of cash. Fang is determined to testify in court and decide to report his witnessing of the triad murders to the police instead, which backfires horribly as this makes him - and his family - the next targets to be killed.
- Trojan Horse: Fang's wife receives a beautifully-wrapped present in the mail, which she assume it's a cake for the daughter's birthday. It turns out the present is filled with deadly snakes. Although, it does begs the question how the wife managed to open the box without hearing the sound of hissing.
- Would Hurt a Child: The mobsters who kidnapped Fang's family tried to drown his daughter, who is barely seven years of age.
