Human Lanterns, the latest Shaw Brothers release in the ongoing “Eatern Masters” series from Celestial Pictures and Image Entertainment, finally puts to rest the burning age-old question of whether the martial arts and horror genres can be combined into one cohesive and entertaining film. The conclusion? Yes, as long as one of the two genres remains in the foreground, while the oter skulks in the background, occasionally stepping up to remind us all that it’s there. Wisely, producer Runme Shaw and writer/director Sun Chung (A Fistful of Talons, The Master Strikes Back) keep the focus on what fans expect from a Shaw Brothers film.
Human Lanterns sticks to formula for its central theme: a swordplay epic involving longstanding rivals battling over something of great importance to them. In this case, Lung Shu-Ai (Liu Yung, The Pure and the Evil) and Tan Fu (Kuan Tai Chen, Lightning Fists of Shaolin) are at war over social status and pride. At a ceremony announcing the beginning of a lantern-making contest, Lung is publicly humiliated by Tan and, to save face, boasts that he will win the contest. He seeks out the help of his town’s most noted artisan and finds out that he employs another of Lung’s old rivals, Chun-Fang (Lieh Lo, Clan of the White Lotus) as his lantern-maker. Blinded by his thirst for revenge on Tan, Lung agrees to allow Chun-Fang to make his lantern for the contest, as long as Lung promises not to interfere and agrees to wait until the final product is ready before even laying eyes on it. Around this time, women close to both Tan and Lung begin disappearing, kidnapped by a frightfully-masked but comically-portrayed madman, who hops around and laughs as he goes about his business. It’s evident almost right away that Chun-Fang is the culprit, and just what he does with his victims is presented to the viewer almost as quickly. He has vowed to make Lung pay for scarring his face many years earlier, and figures that using human skin to make lanterns while framing Lung is the best way to go about it (!).
As ludicrous as the synopsis above may seem, Sun Chung keeps the plot moving at a tight clip, with plenty of eye-popping battle scenes for the hardcore fan. Shaw Brothers films are known for their battles that take place in scenic vistas and historical villages, and Human Lanterns doesn’t disappoint in this regard. Beautifully shot, the battle scenes are extremely well-choreoraphed and they include plenty of reality-defying acrobatics. And of course we are treated to scads of swordfights, replete with the always welcome extreme sounds of swords clanging and punches being blocked. I mean, come on, can someone please enlighten me as to who decided that a blocked punch would sound like a wooden chair hitting a concrete wall? Having said that, though, would we have it any other way in a kung fu film?
Presented in its theatrical 2.35:1 aspect ratio, Human Lanterns looks great, but all we get on this disc in terms of audio is a Dolby Digital mono track; the film would have benefited greatly from a re-mastered sound mix.
Shaw’s Baby Doll: An Interview with Shawn Yin Yin
Most Shaw Brothers DVDs in the “Eastern Masters” series include no special features at all, so this 14-minute interview with Shawn Yin Yin, who plays one of the female victims in Human Lanterns, is a breath of fresh air. And it’s actually quite interesting, too. She discusses her career as a Shaw Brothers performer in what was essentially an Eastern version of the Hollywood studio system, where actors would sign contracts with production companies, basically granting the studio the right to use the actor or actress as often as they wanted during the duration of the contract, occasionally “loaning” the actors out to other studios. Sounds kind of dictatorial, but oddly enough Shawn Yin Yin looks back at the whole situation rather fondly.
The Skin Peel Scene (Alternate Take)
This is billed as an alternate take of a scene in the finished film, but it is so short in length that the untrained eye would have a difficult time discerning between the two.
Production Stills Gallery
Stills galleries in general are usually quite boring, unless they feature some behind the scenes pictures as well. Alas, though, this short gallery has very few interesting images.
Trailers
As with other releases in the series, the inclusion of close to thirty trailers of Shaw Brothers and other similar films warrants mention as a special feature. Close to an hour in length if they’re all played together, this is actually a highly entertaining way to view them.
Is Human Lanterns a kung-fu horror hybrid? Some may argue that it is, given the idea of using human skin to build Chinese lanterns. But as macabre as the notion is, the film isn’t even close to being scary or gory enough to warrant the horror tag apart from a couple of shots of Chun-Fang actually peeling the skin from his victims, which sounds a lot more gross on paper than it is on film. There’s really nothing that any fan of traditional swordplay epics hasn’t seen before. That’s not to say that it’s a run-of-the-mill kung-fu film, either. The horror slant gives it just enough of an edge for Human Lanterns to be considered a worthy and refreshing entry in the Shaw Brothers pantheon.
