Painted Skin (1992 film)

Painted Skin (Chinese: 畫皮之陰陽法王; pinyin: Huà Pí Zhī Yīnyáng Fǎwáng) is a 1992 Hong Kong supernatural horror film starring Adam Cheng, Joey Wong, Sammo Hung, Lam Ching Ying, and Wu Ma. It was directed by King Hu.

Painted Skin
畫皮之陰陽法王
Directed byKing Hu
Written byKing Hu, Ah Cheng
StarringAdam Cheng
Joey Wong
Sammo Hung
Lam Ching-ying
Release date
  • September 1992 (1992-09) (Tokyo International Film Festival)
  • 18 September 1993 (1993-09-18) (Hong Kong)
Running time
94 minutes
CountryHong Kong
LanguageCantonese
Box officeHK $1,315,857

It is based, very loosely, on a famous story in Pu Songling's classic short story collection, Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio.

Story

A scholar (Adam Cheng) encounters a beautiful maiden (Joey Wong) in an alley on his way home and leads her to his house, where he tries to marry her as a concubine. By chance, his wife and he discover that she is in fact a ghost, who must "paint" and graft a facial skin mask over her face to look human. Terrified, the scholar enlists the help of two Taoist priests, who give him a magic whisk to keep the ghost at bay. However, it appears that the ghost is benign – she merely wants to escape the clutches of an evil Yin-Yang King, a faceless, powerful spirit-king who shuttles at ease between the mortal world and the spirit, and who seems to be controlling the destinies of some recently deceased souls.

The two Taoist priests battle the King to release the ghost, but realize their magical prowess is not sufficient. Instead, they use the ghost to track down a highly skilled Taoist Master (Sammo Hung) in the countryside. Meanwhile, the Yin-Yang King has possessed the scholar and is wreaking havoc in the mortal plane. The priests finally discover and convince the Taoist Master, who decides to destroy the evil spirit-king so as to guide the ghost back to Hades.

Cast

Production

Painted Skin's was the last film directed by King Hu.[1] Its filming locations included Mount Wutai, Ming tombs, and Huairou.[1][2]

Reception

The film was released in the Tokyo International Film Festival in September 1992,[3] and in Hong Kong in September 1993, and the box office was HK $1,315,857.[4] It received generally mixed to negative reviews when it was released in Hong Kong,[2][5][6] and also received some positive reviews in 2020.[1][7]

References
  1. "一部被香港人低估的"聊斋片"，胡金铨最后的扛鼎之作". 163.com (in Chinese). 22 October 2020. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  2. "《画皮》：女鬼重现". sohu.com (in Chinese). 8 January 2008. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  3. "胡金铨口述自传出版：《侠女》对白为什么那么少". thepaper.cn (in Chinese). 3 October 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  4. "Painted Skin (1993)". Hong Kong Movie DataBase. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  5. "首位获戛纳国际大奖的华人导演". sohu.com (in Chinese). 23 December 2007. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  6. "独家评论：《画皮》四个版本比较 赵薇让人惊艳". sohu.com (in Chinese). 18 September 2008. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  7. "28年前，有一部奇幻片精彩不输《倩女幽魂》，却被时代严重低估". 163.com (in Chinese). 6 September 2020. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
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