Chapter 99 Six "Painted Skins"

After revisiting the film shot by Hong Kong Phoenix Film Company in 1965, I just feel lost and always suspect that this is not the one I saw when I was four years old.Searching the Internet, I found out that there are not a few people who have the same feeling as me. Some people swear that he has seen a very scary movie, which is definitely not the one starring Zhu Hong. That movie has been banned for being too scary. It's hard to find now—it's a lost one. "Wang Sheng from Taiyuan went early and met a girl...", when Pu Songling wrote this article, he probably would not have imagined that this short chapter of more than a thousand characters would become one of the most famous chapters in the novel, and it will be used for many years. It was later adapted into four films and two TV series.Of course, this is also because of the most dramatic factors, horror, eroticism, family ethics, everything.

It was Hong Kong Phoenix Film Company that made it into a video for the first time. The film was shot in 1965, directed by Bao Fang, and starring Zhu Hong, Gao Yuan and Chen Juanjuan.Zhu Hong played the female ghost of unknown origin, Gao Yuan played the handsome and honest scholar, and Chen Juanjuan played the virtuous wife.This is almost the most faithful one to the original. In 1979, the most honest one was released in the mainland, but there are horror legends handed down.It is said that when the ghost appeared on the screen, someone was scared to death in the movie theater on the spot.

Next came Shaw Brothers' "Ghost Calls Spring" in 1979, written and directed by Li Hanxiang, starring Yue Hua, Hu Jin, Yu Sally, and Jiao Jiao. The story of "Ghost Calls Spring" jumps from Wu Zetian's era to Cao Xueqin's era. The first half tells the past life grievances between Wang Sheng and the female ghost, adding a color of fate to the story, while the second half is not much different from the original.The whole film is not only pornographic and scary, but also humorous. It begins with an old man telling a story under the moon. Before he starts telling the story, he drives all the children back, saying that this story is not suitable for children. The story often develops to critical moments. , the old man and the villagers will appear again, making jokes and commenting.

My favorite "Painted Skin" movie is "Painted Skin: The King of Yin and Yang" released in 1993, directed by Hu Jinquan, starring Wang Zuxian, Zheng Shaoqiu, Wu Ma, Hong Jinbao, and Lin Zhengying.No matter female ghost, scholar, devil king or exorcist, they are all chosen at the moment. Hu Jinquan's style is his poetic realism. The exorcist priest looks like an old farmer guarding an orchard, wearing a thick padded robe , in order to save the world, he cut down the peach tree, worked overtime all night, and caught up with the magic weapon to subdue the devil - this is my favorite movie, with a kind of primitive desolation, warmth like New Year pictures, and poetic simplicity.It's a pity that at that time, the audience had already been whetted by "A Chinese Ghost Story", and they would never turn their heads to appreciate the so-called strength of character. Seeing the people in the magical story panting while running, it was really impatient.The film was released in Hong Kong for six days in September 1993, earning more than 310,000 Hong Kong dollars, and ranked 117th at the box office that year.However, it also contributed two moving movie songs, the opening of which is "Picking the Starry Sky" sung by Zheng Shaoqiu, and the ending is "Only Come and Go in Dreams" duet by him and Chen Songling.

The fourth "Painted Skin" movie is directed by Chen Jiashang, starring Donnie Yen, Chen Kun, Zhou Xun, Zhao Wei, and Sun Li. And those two TV series based on the story, one is a few passages in the series of Asia Television in 1988, and the other is the first part of the "Liao Zhai" series broadcast in 2006, starring Jiang Hua and Zeng Li . People think that "The Lost" does exist, probably only because of the reappearance of the Phoenix version.After 30 years of experience in watching movies, it seems to us today that it is only dignified and elegant, not scary and gloomy.But in the memory of 1979, that night in the movie theater, there was indeed such an extremely frightening moment, and because of this, the legend of the movie scaring people was brewed.Carrying such urban legends and the expectations and memories of the 1930s, when I read the Phoenix version, I only feel sad and puzzled.As a result, there is a gap in memory, and this gap needs to be filled, so another non-existent movie was born.It must have existed, it must have disappeared, it must be hiding somewhere in the world, in some film library, full of dust.Although we can know after a little thought, even if there is such a film, it is absolutely impossible to release it in the mainland in 1979.

But it really exists, in the crevices of our memories and in our minds that are susceptible to suggestions, as Gustave Le Bon said in "The Crowd": "People are always willing to accept suggestions and self-suggestions , and contagious this emotion, the masses will see what they don't see, or distort what they see." Therefore, even collective memory may not be true, and even if everyone thinks they saw it together, it may not be reliable. "The Lost" can serve as an illustration.