Since ancient times, although there are many ghosts and monsters in "Liaozhai Zhiyi", most of the male and female protagonists are cute and kind, and educate everyone with supernatural things, which is the core that Pu Songling wants to express, of course, many of the plots are not lacking in the personal judgment of the old man, and there are many views of "foolish people, their demons can also be", and no matter at any time, the vicious and beautiful banshee in "Painted Skin" has always been the different point of the whole novel
Just as the lyrics of the song "the ghost is not the ghost, the strange is not that strange", most of the works in Pu Songling's novels are told about human affairs with the shell of "ghosts", and many of the storylines also criticize the various criticisms of the dynasty of the times in which they live, which seems to be the love story of shusheng and the good banshee, but in fact, it is to express the author's contrast between warm ideals and reality
Many people may not know that in fact, there is a story adaptation about "Liaozhai" earlier than the "Four Masterpieces" series, in the 60s of the last century, we made a horror movie about "Painted Skin" in Hong Kong, which caused great repercussions in China at that time
1. The influence of "Painted Skin"
This film was first released in Hong Kong in 1966, it is also the earliest horror film in China, entering the mainland screening time in 1979, because the domestic film and television circle was just developing at that time, people did not have much contact with horror movies, coupled with the spread of "Liaozhai" itself in China, it is said that the first day caused a huge sensation
Because there are rumors that at the premiere of the movie, an old lady watching the movie was scared to death by the plot because she could not withstand the horror atmosphere brought by the film
The original version of the film was also banned for this incident in the newly built China Film Archive
It was not until after 2010 that CCTV 6 re-released the deleted version of the film
2. The main storyline of "Painted Skin"
The heroine invited by the movie "Painted Skin" was Zhu Hong, a famous beauty artist in Hong Kong in the last century
The name of the female ghost in the film is Mei Niang, and she transforms into a young woman and Xiucai Wang Sheng meets by chance
In order to win Wang Sheng's sympathy, Mei Niang fabricated her own life
She calls herself the daughter of the township examiner in order to escape the marriage arranged by her parents
Only to be forced to run away from home
Wang Sheng was originally a talented man who was worried about the township trial
Seeing that Mei Niang is a beauty, or the gold of the township examination examiner
Nature was very moved, so I didn't think about it and led this beautiful woman home
Ready to start a happy life
In fact, when I wrote this, Mr. Pu Songling also had such a sentence in the original work
"Foolish people, demons think beautiful"
This sentence is not only a criticism of Wang Sheng's behavior, but also a sigh that he has repeatedly failed to pass the village test
Throughout the story, the monster Mei Niang in "Painted Skin" has taken advantage of people's weaknesses to set a trap
If Wang Sheng can not be moved by beauty, he will participate in the township examination with his own strength
Nor will the monster be brought home
Sure enough, after returning home, Mei Niang immediately began to plot to mutilate Wang Sheng's life
But don't look at the strength of the male protagonist is not good
His relatives are all masters
In particular, Wang Sheng's younger brother Wang Chongwu
Not only is he armed with martial arts, but he is bold and careful
And full of righteousness
After Mei Niang entered Wang Sheng's house, she first used a strategy to drive her husband's original wife and children out of the house
On the way home, he happened to meet Wang Chongwu, who was returning home from a business trip
After listening to the original situation, Wang Chongwu felt that the matter was strange, so he took his sister-in-law home to find out the truth
As a result, that night, Wang Sheng, who heard his brother's advice, gathered outside Mei Niang's study
See the next scene
Mei Niang, who is extremely beautiful on weekdays, is actually an ugly monster behind her
Although he had seen through the true face of the youkai, Wang Sheng already owed too much
Distraught, he went to the mountains for help from an old man, who gave him a sword
The king hung this sword at the door on his birthday night to ward off evil spirits
As a result, the night the female ghost came, she covered the sword light with blood stains
Successfully entered Wang Sheng's room and took his heart
In fact, the original version has a heart-digging close-up here
Later too horrible was cut off
3. The meaning expressed in "Painted Skin"
Frankly speaking, as a 1960 work, "Painted Skin" is the closest to the original book in terms of shooting technology and special effects, although the story is very simple, and even the audience can predict the ending after seeing the opening, but this does not affect its warning effect
In 2008, Zhu Xun's version of "Painted Skin" was released in China, and it was adapted from special effects to human settings, but in this movie, in order to highlight Zhou Xun, the director shaped the female ghost into a kind, humane and thinking person, but it was not as good as the classic after the original "Painted Skin" amplified horror
And in terms of soundtrack, although the old version of the skin painting technology is limited, but still carefully selected the atmosphere music suitable for the scene, especially the scene under the window to watch Mei Niang, the original beautiful woman turned her head to become a ghost with green fangs, the music also changed, the fear brought by this huge contrast, people can not forget, which also expresses the director's personal opinion on this movie: everything has pure color, black is black, white is white, there is no so-called confusion
From a personal point of view, although "Painted Skin" is a roughly produced work from now on, it represents the early development of our domestic film history, and although the plot is simple, it indirectly expresses the core of Pu Songling's creation of the novel "Liaozhai", that is, "the misfortunes and blessings are self-inflicted, and the gods and ghosts have no basis", from this point of view, "Painted Skin" is a rare film and television masterpiece in the early days of our country
I don't know if any of you have seen this movie?