For old-school kung fu movie fans, Blood Debt is the perfect candidate for a binge-watch. Unfortunately, the martial arts genre has enjoyed only a small number of TV shows in comparison to other mediums. However, there have been outstanding martial arts TV shows over the years, including Into the Badlands, Warrior, and Cobra Kai.

However, none of the high-profile shows associated with the martial arts genre bear any resemblance to the 1970s and 1980s movies tied to “the kung fu craze.” Most are either modern-day action shows or fantasy shows where most of the fighting is built around martial arts.

Separating itself from the pack is Blood Debt, a project made in the spirit of an old-school kung fu movie, but in the format of a TV series. It’s currently streaming on Prime Video, but is also available on Tubi.

Blood Debt Is Like A TV Version Of An Old-School Kung Fu Movie

Blood Debt is a 33-episode Hong Kong TV show set during the Ming Dynasty. The show was made in 1982, at a time when this specific brand of martial arts entertainment was in its waning years. The series was one of several from this period to bring this formula to the small screen, but is one of the few widely available to be streamed today.

Featuring an ensemble cast, Blood Debt tells a story about a bloody and bitter feud between two clans, which kicks into high gear after a murder prompts an investigation. It plays out very much like an old-school kung fu film, with the biggest difference being that it has so much more time to tell its story and develop its characters.

The series is chock-full of all the hallmarks of the old-school kung fu movie genre: heroes seeking revenge, rivalries between fighters, sword fights and kung fu battles, martial arts techniques, well-choreographed fight scenes. There’s also the same sorts of costumes and set pieces one would expect in the films of Shaw Brothers.

And, true to the essence of those movies, Blood Debt features in its colorful cast of characters one protagonist who starts the series possessing no martial arts skills of any kind. As the story unfolds, he has to go through rigorous training and eventually becomes a force to be reckoned with. Such a journey is a fundamental part of kung fu movies.

As a TV show, it naturally doesn’t have the production values of Shaw Brothers’ best movies, but that doesn’t stop it from maintaining a similar feel. When watching Blood Debt, it’s easy to forget that you’re watching a show and not a Shaw Brothers kung fu film, especially in light of all the familiar faces you’ll see from their films, including Lily Li, Hsueh-Erh Wen, Walter Tso, and Chan Ming.