TRAILER: Gordon Chan’s ‘Painted Skin’

A trailer is out for Donnie Yen’s new movie PAINTED SKIN. It’s the latest screen adaptation of author Pu Song-ling’s Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, a Qing-era collection of supernatural stories previously adapted by numerous Hong Kong filmmakers including King Hu.

Directed by Gordon Chan, the $10 million costume thriller stars Donnie Yen and Zhao Wei (SHAOLIN SOCCER) in a macabre tale set in the 18th century about a vampire-like woman who eats the skin and hearts of her lovers.

I don’t know if it’s the music, the presentation, the quality of the compressed video, the production design, or all of the above but the trailer makes the film look a little bit like a TV costume drama. I’m hoping my eyes are deceiving me but so far what I am looking at is not cinematic apart from the desert footage. In contrast, stills and promotional pics from PAINTED SKIN look much more promising (see below).

Up to this point, buzz surrounding PAINTED SKIN has played it up as a horror movie. That may lead to some disappointment. The supernatural stories of Pu Song-ling are more like fanciful ghost stories than horror as movie goers tend to think of it today. The trailer depicts scenes that appear consistent in tone with past adaptations of Pu’s works including King Hu’s PAINTED SKIN (1993) and Ching Siu-tung’s A CHINESE GHOST STORY (1987).

Gordon Chan’s PAINTED SKIN opens in China and surrounding territories on September 28th.

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Tags: Donnie Yen, upcoming, Videos