grandmastersik Sigh. Donnie Yen, Wei Zhao, a killer concept - how could this not be great!Well, unfortunately, "they" found a way.There's honestly little point in giving a summary of the plot here, as it may make whoever reads this want to see it, only to turn it off a long time before the end credits roll.So, how best to describe this film honestly?Well, perhaps mumbled, confused, dull, with poor action sequences, humour that won't amuse and zero chemistry between those supposedly loving and trying to seduce one another would be a pretty good start.Seriously, films like this make me feel so sorry for all those aspiring writers, actors and film-makers who can't get the funds to put a low-budget project together, when such dismal trash is clearly tossing cash into the wind.I needn't have to advise anyone reading this to avoid it, but shall do all the same:AVOID IT.

dumsumdumfai Wouldn't say this is excellent but if you don't know this is a retelling of ancient Chinese ghost fable then you won't get the lack of 'scary' moments.The costumes alone is over-dominating. The close ups are well done. Just the quick black fades are kind of distracting. And the way the story is told with some timeline shifts is not bad, but at times, combine with the quick fade to black, loses me in the suspense for disbelief aspect. However, I suspect there's a 2.5 to 3 hr of stuff in the original idea. And some plot points are explained but didn't make sense - or kind of extraneously or makes things more complicate then it is.

BronzeKeilani26 "Painted Skin" draws you in with it's recognizable list of performers (Vicki Zhao, Xun Zhao, Donnie Yen) and gives off an air of mystique with its movie posters and unique storyline. Loosely based on the classic Chinese short story "Strange Stories From A Chinese Studio, "Painted Skin" revolves around a female demon that feeds off of human hearts to retain its human like skin. The movie takes liberty to add several of its own plot twists, the major one being a Gothic love triangle of sorts with the demon's desire to win the heart of General Wang and take the place of his wife. Ending gets pretty emotional. There is no vampires in the movie and it isn't a gory horror flick. It's one of the best Asian flicks I seen! In other words, "Painted Skin" is light years better than "An Empress and the Warriors" and proudly untypical from the flood of Chinese epic period pieces we have seen this year. One of China's most versatile actresses, Zhou is good at switching between Xiao Wei's evil and goody-goody sides. The characters are quite engaging, the acting is solid, and the action is exciting. Better yet, the fighting scenes doesn't go on and on for a million light years as with most Asian films. The mood shifts, dancing around between drama, fantasy, demonic, and melodramatic romance. Very entertaining and mesmerizing! I couldn't get enough and started to watch it again and again. I'm glad I ignored bad reviews and took a chance on this! It's definitely not one to be missed by lovers of Asian films!

muikkukala This movie is not a horror, monster or romance movie. It reflects very well social panic today in China: third leg in marriage. Almost all Chinese females start to discuss about this fiercely online after watching the movie. There wasn't much horror at least in my opinion, but mainly complicated relationships.Background: Traditionally Chinese men could have one wife and several concubines (with lower social position than the wife). Communist government made up law of one-wife-only since 1949. However, when China started to get rich, underground lovers start to emerge again and this trend is growing stronger each day since the last 15 years.Story and implication: The movie almost directly indicates this social phenomenon: The General indicates a powerful and rich man, his wife represents the Chinese traditional image of wife (she lives for her husband and is very tolerant until the last moment, but still would sacrifice herself for the husband's good). The fox woman and the lizard man are at lower social positions because they are monsters (just how the rich and powerful Chinese see the lower social class). They are highly skilled people though (we can consider them as freshly graduated university students). Just like many Chinese women struggling in the lower social class (in reality can be a nightclub waitress, erotic massager and so on), the fox woman met the General and gave him a "beautiful, weak, needs protection" impression. On the other hand, the lizard man was ignored by society (he was invisible sometimes in the movie), just as many male in the lower social level.The General let the fox woman into his private life, giving her many privileges that only wife can enjoy (having maids, managing daily stuff at home, can even take over the wife's order, see the dinner scene when the wife was late). The only thing that he has not given her is sex-of course in reality the powerful man must have had sex with this third leg in marriage. The fox woman, given so many indications, believed that she could take over the position of wife (social position up-climb), rather than just becoming concubine.However, ex-lover of the wife, and social order keeper (the joker-alike woman) showed up. In reality, there would not be ex-lover, but family and other supporters of the wife (possibly also powerful, like indicated in the movie), and social order keeper can be the public, mass media etc. Social order keeper seemed useless at the beginning in front of the General, which clearly shows today's society power in China. Supporter of the wife could not help much because the wife's own decision determines all.Lizard man's existence was considered redundant by many who could not read the social background of China. Lizard man is skilled but still helpless, struggles alone and loyal to the woman he loves, who only look up to power and money. This indicates a serious social problem in China: imbalanced male-female ratio causes many men with lower social-position to be left out in marriage, while richer and more powerful men can enjoy several women at the same time.It is a good movie after all, though if audience is non-Chinese it can be hard to enjoy: not much visual effect, not much fighting.