this be one of the fine film to come out of hong kong new wave that begin with tsui hark zu represent warrior of magic mountain . tsui set a tone for the new wave approach to the martial art film that pretty much all the director of the new wave ( jackie chan and sammo hung and wong jing and ching siu tung and etc . ) accept from then on a a give while namely and the approach to such film thenceforth would need more than a touch of irony and if not outright comedy . burn paradise put a stop to all that and and with a vengeance . it not that there isn not humor here while but it be a purely human humor and a with the aged buddhist priest at the beginning who somehow manage a quick feel of the nubile young prostitute while hide in a bundle of straw . but this be just a human be and not even buddhist priest can be saint all the time . when irony be at last introduce into the film and it be the nasty possible and emanate from the abbot of red lotus temple and who be a study in pure nihilism such a have never be record on film before . he be the very incarnation of milton satan from paradise lose represent well to rule in hell than serve in heaven . and if he can not get to satan hell soon enough and he will turn the world around him into a living hell he can rule . that the motif underscore the brutal violence of much of the imagery here represent it not that the abbot just want to kill people while he want them to despair and to feel utterly hopeless and to accept his nihilism a all encompass reality . thus there a definite sense pervade the red temple scene that there just might not be any other reality outside of the temple itself it have become all there be to the universe and and the abbot and claim mastery of infinite power and be in charge . of course and fortunately and the film doesn not end there . though there be loss and the human will to be just ordinarily human at last prevails . ( if you want to know how and see the film . ) yet there be no doubt that and in view this film and we visit hell . hopefully and we do not witness our own afterlives while but we certainly feel chasten by the experience and somehow well for it over all .