In 1979, director Li Hanxiang and producers decided to shoot a "painted skin" movie of their own style. After careful adaptation of the original work, he cleverly combined the story of "Three Ladies Harming People" in "The Legend of Hedong" with the "Painted Skin" chapter in "Liao Zhai", and connected the two anecdotes through the technique of "cause and effect reincarnation" to form a retribution plot across time and space.
This innovative attempt to integrate multiple stories makes the film present a unique world of chatting that is different from the original book and previous adaptations.
Different from the tone of Fengyue costumes in Li Hanxiang's early works, this time he incorporated a lot of horror and thriller elements. The three ladies turned into demons and used blood to cook cakes and harm people; Hua Niang cultivates into a white bone corpse for revenge; The painting skin is vivid...... These thrilling episodes made the audience shudder.
Li Hanxiang uses symbols such as "baked cakes" and "painted skins" to create a strange and treacherous atmosphere. At the same time, many charming and charming female images have been added, such as the Hua sisters and Wang Xiucai's niece and daughter-in-law Hui Yinghong, whose colorful and charming shapes and temperaments inject charming charm into the picture.
It can be said that this is a rare bold attempt and breakthrough in Li Hanxiang's directorial career. Under his seemingly contradictory style fusion, the perfect combination of oriental horror elements and western aesthetics makes this Liaozhai world present an unprecedented fantasy color.
"Hua's Ghost Feud" not only shows the new style of director Li Hanxiang, but also pushes the theme of Hong Kong films to a new height.
In the first year of the Shenlong in the Tang Dynasty, in a desolate valley on the southwest border, the "Huajiayi" run by the three sisters ushered in a group of forbidden troops led by General Wang. The three sisters of the Hua family are as beautiful as flowers, talk charmingly, and frequently show favor to the soldiers.
General Wang warned his subordinates to strengthen their guard at night, for fear that this was a routine thief stack.
That night, General Wang hid in a dark corner and peeked, only to see the three sisters dancing with swords in the courtyard, and suddenly cut their fingers, allowing the congealed blood to drip into the dilapidated basin. They muttered a mantra, and after a few moments, young green shoots suddenly sprouted in the pot, which was very strange.
It turned out that they used the ancient Chinese "blood and qi forbidden spell" to raise creatures with their own flesh and blood, which was extremely anti-science and anti-humane. General Wang was immediately alert that this was a banshee casting a spell.
The three sisters chopped the grown leeks and made the noodles into delicious pancakes. Late at night, they beckoned the soldiers to taste the baked cakes. Two of them couldn't resist the temptation of beauty and entered the room to get a glimpse of their youthful body.
After dawn, when General Wang ordered Mao, he found that two sentinels were missing, and the eldest sister of the Hua family was leading two cows to the market to sell. Only then did General Wang realize that the disappearance of the soldiers was closely related to the banshee.
In order to unravel the mystery, he deliberately pandered to the Hua sisters and made the three soldiers eat the strange cakes they baked.
General Wang finally saw through the banshee's trick of using baked cakes to attract lustful thoughts, and then cast a spell to turn them into livestock. So he ridiculed the three sisters' baked cakes for not being as good as the hawkers, and even sent his own packaged cakes to try their taste.
With wisdom and wit, General Wang saw through the banshee's tricks, and used his human way to treat others, and finally turned the three evil Hua sisters into cattle to avenge the murdered souls.
A thousand years later, General Wang of the Tang Dynasty has been reincarnated as a talented Wang of the Qing Dynasty, who is in the prime of life. One day, Wang Xiucai met a young woman with a miserable background on the street, and couldn't bear to take her to the other courtyard at home for a temporary stay.
Wang's wife, Chen, has a strong personality, and Wang Xiucai didn't dare to let her know, but hoped that this beauty could warm the spring cold.
As everyone knows, this flower girl is the eldest sister of the flower family who did evil back then, and after thousands of years of cultivation, she has turned into a white bone corpse demon. All this is her ploy to take revenge on Fan. One day, Wang Xiucai went to the other courtyard, pushed the door and saw the terrifying painted skin and dry bones, and was so frightened that his soul was scattered.
Fortunately, he met the Taoist to save him, and he hung up a charm to save his life.
Hua Niang did not forgive Wang Xiucai, but turned into an old lady and blended into the Wang family. Late one night, she suddenly appeared and pulled Wang Xiucai out of her heart.
then hijacked Wang Xiucai's newborn nephew and wanted to put the whole family to death. Wang Xiucai's younger brother and daughter-in-law Hui Yinghong witnessed this scene and was overwhelmed with grief.
Fortunately, they found a Taoist to help. The Taoist and the white bone corpse launched a shocking battle, and finally subdued the flower girl, avenging Wang Xiucai's blood revenge thousands of years ago. However, Wang Xiucai was already exhausted, and they could only turn to a more advanced master for help, and spent a lot of money to hire a mad Taoist to appear, and cast a spell to successfully save Wang Xiucai.
After Wang Xiucai escaped death, he suddenly realized that he was more courteous and gentle to his wife, and the husband and wife were as harmonious as ever.
After Wang Xiucai was killed, the white bone corpse flower girl was still holding his newborn nephew hostage at home. Her brother-in-law Hui Yinghong was overwhelmed with grief when she saw this scene. She picked up the baby and went out in search of a life-saving straw, and went out into the street to beg passers-by, but she was scared away by her crazy appearance.
In despair, Hui Yinghong suddenly remembered that Wang Xiucai had mentioned that there was a fat Taoist priest with strong Taoism in the town before his death. She came to the door of the Taoist priest like a life-saving straw and knocked hysterically and cried, and the fat Taoist priest took pity on her and took her back to the palace.
When the two saw the terrifying scene of painting skin and bones, the fat Taoist priest was also shocked. He recited a spell and sacrificed magic weapons to fight with the flower girl. In the end, he was defeated due to lack of mana and left in a hurry.
In desperation, Hui Yinghong went to the street again to look for someone, and finally found an old man wearing a Taoist crown, who was the Taoist who had advised the three sisters of the Hua family back then. The old Taoist priest returned to the palace and started a shocking battle with Hua Niang.
After a life-and-death situation, the old Taoist priest finally succeeded in subduing the evil spirit. Hui Ying wept silently and begged the old man to save Wang Xiucai's life again, and the old Taoist said that he could only exorcise ghosts and catch demons, so he recommended them to find the crazy Taoist with great powers.
With the help of the old Taoist priest, Hui Yinghong was reborn. She begged hard day and night in the Taoist temple, and finally hired a master to save Wang Xiucai, and the family was reunited.
Hui Yinghong has admired and loved her husband even more since then.
Decades have passed, and Wang Xiucai and Hui Yinghong have entered their twilight years, full of gray hair, and are shopping for ingredients in the village. A group of children gathered around and begged them to tell their stories.
Wang Xiucai smiled and mentioned the past of the veteran of the forbidden army, describing the terrifying scene of the bloody battle with the banshee; Hui Yinghong then narrated the twists and turns of the flower girl harming people and the Taoist priest saving each other.
The children listened with relish, both shocked and yearning.
At this time, a young man disagreed, and laughed at them for saying that there were no demons and monsters in the world. Wang Xiucai and Hui Yinghong's eyes darkened, and they said in a deep voice that these were real encounters that they had personally experienced.
Other villagers in the surrounding area also said that the story of the haunting of the Wang family many years ago is well known to the people, and only the younger generations will be suspicious and unbelievable.
When the young man heard this, he wanted to argue, but the village chief sternly scolded him for being ignorant, pointed to the white-haired old man and said that this was General Wang and his younger wife who had fought against demons back then. They have rescued the whole village regardless of life and death, and if it were not for the help of the monks, how would the descendants still be able to live in peace?
Wang Xiucai patted him on the shoulder, saying that if he sincerely seeks the Tao, he will be able to witness the truth of the gods and ghosts.
In 1979, after the release of Li Hanxiang's version of "Hua's Ghost Hatred", its unique "karmic reincarnation" design immediately set off a lot of waves in the Hong Kong film industry.
Many directors have been inspired to use this element in their own work. Data shows that from 1979 to 1989, there were as many as 83 Hong Kong-made films with reincarnation themes or plots, which shows that "reincarnation movies" became a popular darling in the market for a while.
The first to bear the brunt is director Yang Quan, who combines traditional Chinese reincarnation ideas with Western horror film aesthetics to launch the suspense thriller blockbuster "Demon World". The film tells the story of a feng shui master who is commissioned by a mysterious woman to choose a cemetery for his long-deceased father, only to discover that his past life was the enemy who killed the woman's entire family.
The whole movie is full of oriental demonic colors, and in the end, the protagonist cannot escape the tragic reincarnation of fate, and the Chinese retribution idea contained in it has aroused widespread discussion.
In addition to horror films, the fantasy genre also borrows from this novel rhyme story structure. "The Great Reincarnation", directed by Hu Jinquan, tells the story of Zhang Liang of the Han Dynasty who was reincarnated in Hong Kong in the 80s, and searched for the lost national treasure with the descendants of several historical celebrities.
This kind of fantasy expression is cleverly combined with the theme of "causal cycle", which has received a good market response.
It is foreseeable that the "reincarnation fever" driven by Li Hanxiang's version of "Hua's Ghost Feud" will continue to ferment and spread in the Hong Kong film industry. More and more creative and imaginative directors will also join in to present more wonderful "reincarnation movies" to the audience.