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Released by: Image Entertainment
Released on: Jun 10, 2008.
Director: Sun Chung
Cast: Liu Yung, Chen Kuan-Tai, Lo Lieh, Tanny Tien Ti
Year: 1982
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The Movie:
From director Sun Chung, the same man who gave us Big Bad Sis, The Sexy Killer and City War comes this grim martial arts/horror film, Human Lanterns, also known as Human Skin Lanterns.
The film follows the rivalry between two men, Tan Fu (Chen Kuan-tai) and Lung (Lau Wing), who are competitive on pretty much any level they can be. They bicker over money, prestige, and fighting skills and lust after the same women. When it comes time for the local lantern festival, an important local event that carries with it some sizeable ego boosting prestige and notoriety, Lung decides that he's going to beat Tan Fu for good by enlisting the aid of his former rival now turned lantern maker, Chun Fang (Lo Lieh), widely regarded as the best lantern maker around.
This may seem like a great idea initially, but when the local stock of pretty girls starts to dwindle, it soon becomes obvious where Chun Fang is getting the delicate tissue that he makes his lanterns with - right off of the bodies of the nubile young ladies who live in the area! You see, Chun Fang is still pretty pissed off that Lung whupped him all those years ago and he carries a pretty serious grudge. He's also more or less completely insane and prone to zipping around town wearing a cloak and a skull mask. Of course, while Chun Fang is abducting women, Tan Fu and Lung are suspecting one another as the actual culprit, which leads to plenty of fisticuffs and macho chest pounding on their parts.
The kung fu on display in this film is decent enough, but Human Lanterns doesn't really do anything we haven't seen countless times over in that regard. The horror elements are pretty keen, however, and while more frequent macabre set pieces could have helped things along, there's enough skin peeling and bloodshed in the movie to rightfully assert its place in horror film territory.
Chen Kuan-tai and Lau Wing are decent enough as the 'protagonists,' but it's Lo Lieh who steals the show this time around. He's pretty sinister in this part and he makes the most out of his character's more devious traits. He's also quite a bit more likeable than the two supposed heroes of the film, both of whom are absolute pompous douche bags. The rest of the cast, made up of a few pretty lady types like Shawn Yin Yin, are serviceable enough, particularly when you consider that they're basically nothing more than background characters. The three leads do all of the heavy lifting here and they do a pretty fine job of it.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Human Lanterns is presented in its original 2.35.1 aspect ratio in a decent anamorphic transfer. While the picture is quite clean and clear, it is interlaced so depending on your video set up you may or may not notice some combing effects. Aside from that, the picture is decent. Color reproduction is nice and natural looking while black levels stay strong throughout the film. There aren't any major issues with print damage, edge enhancement or mpeg compression and skin tones look lifelike and natural
The sole audio track on this release is a Chinese language Dolby Digital Mono mix that comes with optional subtitles available in English and Spanish only. The audio is a little flat in some spots but is otherwise fine. There aren't any problems with hiss or distortion even if once in a while you might notice the occasional pop in the mix. Dialogue stays clean and clear throughout and the English subtitles are easy to read.
Aside from some animated menus and chapter selection, the extras consist of Shaw's Baby Doll: An Interview With Shawn Yin Yin (14:01) which is, as the title suggests, an interview with Shawn Yin Yin. Originally recorded for French company CTV, it's in Chinese with English subtitles and in anamorphic widescreen. The instantly recognizable actress talks about her work in the Shaw studio system, tells some stories about some of the people she worked with, and about the types of characters she played. She discusses the nudity in the films she worked on and about the power that the newspapers had to make or break a star and what it was like to be blacklisted.
Image has also supplied an alternate take for the infamous skin peel sequence (2:38), a still gallery, a trailer for the feature and trailers for sixteen of other Shaw Brothers titles that are available on DVD. It should be noted, however, that these are newly created Celestial re-release trailers and not original theatrical trailers - at least they're all anamorphic.
The Final Word:
While not on the same level as some of the more insane Shaw Brothers horror films, Human Lanterns has got enough action, chaos and carnage to make it worth a look. Image's transfer leaves room for improvement but the bonus interview is a nice extra and the movie itself is pretty entertaining.