Human Lanterns (1982)

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Wealthy rivals Master Lung (Tony Liu Yong) and Master Tan (Chen Kuan Tai) are always trying to outdo each other. When Tan makes his adversary lose face, by parading Lung's whore of choice Yen Chu (Linda Chu) in front of his wife (Ni Tien), Lung vows to even the score by beating his opponent at the village's forthcoming lantern festival, enlisting ex-love rival turned craftsman Chao Chun-Fang (Lo Lieh) to design and build a very special lantern.What Lung doesn't realise is that Chun-Fang is still harbouring a serious grudge against him for winning the affection of Chin (Ni Tien), and has devised a gruesome plan to get revenge: dressing himself up in skull mask, Tina Turner wig, hairy clawed gloves and Ugg boots, he kidnaps the loved ones of both Lung and Tan. While the two men are locked in battle, convinced that each other is responsible for the missing women, Chun-Fang prepares his masterpiece, a set of lanterns using the skin of his helpless victims.A heady mix of wuxia martial arts and grisly Grand Guignol horror, Shaw Bothers' Human Lanterns is well deserving of its cult status, the film delivering a delightfully macabre premise, a memorably manic villain in cackling loon Chun-Fang, lots of nasty violence (mostly against defenceless, pretty women), plenty of kung fu (with some great weapon work), and impressive visuals, director Chung Sun (The Avenging Eagle) making excellent use of atmospheric lighting and lavish sets (Chun-Fang's lair—an subterranean charnel house—is a marvel to behold).While some of the wire-work is a little OTT for my taste, the majority of the fighting is of the high standard one would expect of Shaw Brothers, highlights being Lung (armed with a sword) versus Tan (equipped with a halberd), and the final fight at Chun-Fang's hideout, which includes a terrific moment where a whole building collapses beneath the feet of several stuntmen.7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for having the cojones to kill off the most sympathetic character, Lung's wife.

Hammer horror meets wuxia. It makes about as much sense tonally as it sounds. Storywise, it's a barely coherent morality play about pride and greed that comes across like an excuse to string together some swordplay, some reasonably nasty flaying scenes, and very pretty setpieces. It is a great looking movie, I have to admit--the use of lighting is otherworldly. Sun Chung was easily one of the best directors Shaw Bros ever had, but when he wasn't doing cookie cutter martial arts stuff, he was seriously wasted on misguided crap (let's face it) like this.There's something really "off" about how simultaneously Asian and European this movie feels. My instincts tell me it's not supposed to exist. Dramatically it never really takes off, but it's interesting enough in the context of "what were they thinking?" curio.

Human Lanterns is probably widely talked about as a cult martial arts film with some dabbling on the macabre. The opening credits show a warehouse with plenty of human remains atop a bloody grinder. In fact, it has all the ingredients of a torture porn flick, except that, horrors of horrors, this DVD edition comes censored! So gone are the scenes where the victim's skin are peeled off their bodies to make the titular lanterns, though there was a fleeting boob shot from afar that the censors seemed to have missed.Anyway, the story is nothing remarkable, with two town braggers, Master Lung (Tony Liu Yong) and Master Tan (Chen Kuan Tai) at loggerheads and always scheming to be one up against the other. Tan shows off his latest human-sized lantern which gets the admiration of the simple townsfolk, and Lung decides to go one up on his rival. His search for a master lantern maker leads him to one time love rival Chun Fang (Lo Lieh), who agrees to make him the most stunning lanterns ever seen, with a condition that he never visits his workplace. Best of all, they celebrate their strange union by visiting the whorehouse. Hmm.Also, a mysterious masked creature looking like an overgrown hairy ape with highly skilled kungfu start to terrorize the town, kidnapping young nubile females such as the #1 courtesan and the sister of Master Tan, and given the nature of the disappearance, the animosity between the two men deepen to a deadly duel. However, it doesn't take you a second to figure out just who the man is behind the creature, and there's some needless tension built up around this mystery which seemed a little waste of time. The "police" too turn out to be rather foolhardy and inept, with the sergeant always listening to the two rich men, allowing his investigations to be poisoned by ill opinions from each of them on the other. Talk about siding with those who are rich or in power.While it can't be comparable to stuff we see today, for it's time I think the fight scenes were still interesting enough to engage audiences, given its myriad of weapons from swords to fans (and the creature's gloved claws), and stunts. In fact, the stunts and sets were really impressive for its climatic battle, and I thought there was no stinginess in creating multi- layered sets for the actors to ply their martial arts abilities. What seemed to be interesting here though, is not the choreographed martial arts display, but rather the portrayal of the women's role in cultures back then. They are treated like playthings, with zero say in the ways of the world, reduced to gossipy aunties, and helpless damsels in distress. In fact, Lung's wife had to even tolerate, and even approve of her husband's infidelity. That said, Human Lanterns could have been a more entertaining watch, if not for the censoring of those crucial moments, making it like eating Char Kway Teow without the See Hum!

HUMAN LANTERNS (Ren Pi Deng Long)Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (Shawscope)Sound format: MonoA vengeful craftsman (Lo Lieh) sets two warring noblemen (Lau Wing and Chen Kuan-tai) against each other by abducting their loved ones and peeling their skin, which he uses to embellish a series of prize-winning lanterns.Old-fashioned kung fu thriller with horror asides, distinguished by balletic fight scenes and expansive widescreen cinematography, in typical Shaw Brothers style. Ni Kuang's screenplay (co-written with director Suen Chung) is fairly detailed, and the pace is fast and furious throughout. But the film is weakened by pantomime performances and generic post-sync dialogue, and by an uneasy combination of martial arts mayhem and Hammer-style horror. Beautiful sets and costumes.NB. The film played uncut on its original theatrical release, though most subsequent video prints have been censored, eliminating nudity and graphic violence. However, the UK DVD (issued by Momentum Asia in 2005) appears to be intact.(Mandarin dialogue)