If you are a fan of A Chinese Ghost Story, or if you simply enjoy a solid supernatural film, there’s a lot to love in Enchanting Shadow. It’s the sort of elegant, artfully crafted sort of film you don’t see much of any more, with an attention to detail that wouldn’t be matched until Chu Yuan started directed wuxia movies for the same studio. Enchanting Shadow is one of the first significant films in the fledgling Hong Kong horror scene and would be worth seeing for historical importance alone. Luckily, it has a lot more to offer the viewer than a mere film history lesson. It’s a beautifully acted, beautifully crafted, genuinely creepy high point in the long tradition of good old fashioned ghost stories.
#1 by Jen S on July 28, 2010 - 4:00 pm
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Do you happen to know if the book you mentioned, Strange Tales From A Chinese Studio, is available anywhere in English? It’s exactly the kind of thing my husband would adore.
#2 by KeithA on July 28, 2010 - 4:03 pm
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It is. Penguin Classics published it. Should be able to find it on Amazon, among other places. I just ordered mine this weekend.
#3 by The Rev. D.D. on July 29, 2010 - 4:52 pm
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Keith–Having seen neither this nor the film it inspired, and having the chance now to watch them together, do you think I should watch them in chronological order, or the reverse?
Also, that book? IT MUST BE MINE.
#4 by DamonD on July 30, 2010 - 5:26 am
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Colour me interested. This looks like something I would enjoy, thanks for the review.
#5 by KeithA on July 30, 2010 - 1:44 pm
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You are most welcome.
I just used the Kindle app for Droid to download the book from Amazon
#6 by KeithA on July 30, 2010 - 8:01 pm
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Looks like an old 1916 translation is online via google books:
http://bit.ly/chA5Ju
#7 by Blake on July 31, 2010 - 6:23 am
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I’m about a third of the way through the book right now. In the first part of the book are the stories that inspired “A Chinese Ghost Story” (“The Magic Sword”), “A Touch of Zen” (“The Magnanimous Girl”), and “Painted Skin” (same name). I’m told that the story that inspired ‘An Erotic Ghost Story” is also to be found in there.
#8 by Blake on July 31, 2010 - 6:36 am
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I repeated some information that was in the review (sorry Keith).
You can also find the book to download at the Internet Movie Archive (I believe via the Canadian Guttenberg Project).
One of the best things about the book are the footnotes, which give lots of good insight into Chinese culture. Things I’m learning: as evil as they may be, if you make friend with a fox spirit, you’ll be set for life. Also, if you’re a man and fall in love with a fox spirit, just a wait a while and your wife/girlfriend will die at a convenient time so you can marry said fox spirit.