You want a double feature? This isn’t a double feature—this is a two-fisted, beer-drenched riot that kicks your door in, raids your fridge, and leaves boot prints on your couch. The Black Panther of Shaolin (aka Bamboo Trap) comes out of the gate like it’s already mid-fight, a jungle-soaked, sweat-glazed slugfest where Ron Van Clief and Leo Fong move like human weapons in a world that’s permanently set to “kill or be killed.” The kidnappers barely register as characters—they’re targets, meat for the grinder—and the film treats every encounter like a chance to test how much punishment the human body can take before it folds.
Van Clief fights like coiled dynamite, all explosive fury and snapping precision, while Fong brings that cold, unshakable calm that makes every strike feel inevitable. The jungle setting isn’t just backdrop—it’s a pressure cooker, thick with humidity and danger, where every clash feels louder, nastier, more immediate. It’s messy in the best way: edits that lurch, sound that crackles, and choreography that occasionally feels like it might go off the rails entirely—and that’s exactly why it rules. This is grindhouse martial arts at its most unfiltered, where polish is the enemy and chaos is king.
Then comes the hard left turn into asphalt and gasoline with The Black Six, directed by Matt Cimber, and suddenly the fists are backed by engines that sound like they’re chewing nails. This isn’t just a biker movie—it’s a rolling act of defiance, one of the first all-Black biker films, powered by the presence of Gene Washington, Mean Joe Greene, and a crew that doesn’t so much act as occupy the frame. Their mission—revenge against white supremacists—is delivered with zero subtlety and maximum force, like a steel-toed boot meeting a locked jaw.
What makes The Black Six hit isn’t finesse—it’s momentum. The film just keeps stacking confrontations: barroom brawls, roadside clashes, standoffs that feel like they could erupt into total chaos at any second. It’s rough, it’s jagged, and sometimes it feels like it’s held together with duct tape and righteous anger—but that energy is exactly the point. You don’t come here for elegance; you come here to feel the rumble in your chest as bikes roar and fists fly, and the movie delivers like it’s got something to prove.
So yeah—this is a skull-cracking, knuckle-splitting double shot straight from the vaults of American Genre Film Archive, dragged back into the light with all the grit still caked under its nails. Long thought lost and denied a proper home video run, The Black Panther of Shaolin storms back alongside The Black Six, a one-two punch of jungle fury and highway vengeance. And just when you think you’ve taken enough damage, the set unloads all three volumes of Martial Arts Mayhem from Something Weird Video—a delirious, eye-gouging barrage of trailer madness that turns this release into a full-on endurance test. This isn’t just a collection—it’s a grindhouse brawl that keeps swinging until you either tap out or ask for another round.
This special limited edition spot gloss slipcover is limited to 2,000 units and is only available on our website and at select indie retailers. Absolutely no major retailers will be stocking them.
Blu-ray Slipcover in Original Pressing / Limited - 2,000 copies
Home Video Distributor: AGFA
Available on Blu-ray - September 30, 2025
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles: English SDH
Video: 1080p
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
Discs: Blu-ray Disc; two-disc set
Region Encoding: Locked to Region A
A skull-smashing double feature from the AGFA grindhouse! Once lost and never legitimately released on home video, THE BLACK PANTHER OF SHAOLIN (aka BAMBOO TRAP, 1975) is a Filipino knockout that finds martial arts legends Ron Van Clief and Leo Fong locked in mortal combat with a gang of kidnappers. From there, THE BLACK SIX (1974)—directed by Matt Cimber (GLOW: GORGEOUS LADIES OF WRESTLING) and one of the first all-Black biker movies—tells the story of a motorcycle club (led by NFL stars Gene Washington, "Mean Joe" Greene, and more) that seeks revenge against white supremacists. But the action doesn't stop there. The second disc of this bone-cracking collection features all three volumes of MARTIAL ARTS MAYHEM—the beloved eye-gouging, gut-kicking VHS trailer compilation series from Something Weird Video.
Video
For a pair of films that look like they were rescued from the trunk of a ’72 Dodge and run through a projector powered by cheap beer and bad decisions, this release from American Genre Film Archive is a legit glow-up miracle.
The image still carries that gritty, grindhouse DNA—scratches, specks, and all—but colors finally punch through the haze: jungle greens pop, skin tones stop looking like wax, and those blacktop biker sequences actually have depth instead of murky sludge. Detail gets a surprising boost too, with sweat, dust, and fabric textures coming alive without sanding off the films’ rough edges.
It’s not about making The Black Panther of Shaolin and The Black Six look pristine—it’s about making them look alive again, like battered reels that finally got the respect (and light) they always deserved.
Audio
The audio on this set—courtesy again of American Genre Film Archive—doesn’t magically turn these films into hi-fi showcases, but it absolutely rescues them from the mud. Dialogue in The Black Panther of Shaolin still has that rough, sometimes tinny edge (like it was shouted across the jungle and caught on a half-working mic), but it’s far more intelligible, and the bone-crunching impacts finally have some bite instead of sounding like muffled thuds.
Over on The Black Six, the real win is the engine roar and soundtrack—bikes growl with presence, and the music doesn’t collapse into distortion every time things get loud. There’s still hiss, still imperfections, still that analog grit baked in—but like the visuals, it feels cleaned up without being sanitized. This is the kind of track that keeps the scars visible while making sure you actually hear every punch, rev, and scream the way it was meant to hit.
Supplements:
Commentary:
- None
Special Features:
This 2-disc, region-free Blu-ray set from American Genre Film Archive comes locked and loaded with a serious amount of grindhouse history, all backed by English SDH subtitles.
Disc One delivers the main event: The Black Panther of Shaolin (aka Bamboo Trap, 89 minutes), painstakingly preserved from the only known 35mm print in existence and paired with a commentary track by film historians Chris Poggiali and Andrew Leavold, alongside The Black Six (94 minutes), also restored from a 35mm print and presented with all its raw, biker-fueled fury intact.
Disc Two cranks things into overdrive with all three volumes of Martial Arts Mayhem (a staggering 282 minutes total), preserved from the original 1990s S-VHS tape masters courtesy of Something Weird Video—a delirious, nonstop barrage of vintage trailer insanity that turns this set into a full-blown archive of fists, fury, and exploitation excess.
DISC 1
- THE BLACK PANTHER OF SHAOLIN aka BAMBOO TRAP (1975, 89 mins): Preserved from the only known 35mm print in existence
- Commentary with authors and film historians Chris Poggiali & Andrew Leavold
- THE BLACK SIX (1974, 94 mins): Preserved from a 35mm print
DISC 2
- MARTIAL ARTS MAYHEM VOLUMES 1-3 (282 mins total): Preserved from the original 1990s Something Weird S-VHS tape masters
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