Painted Skin

Painted Skin follows a myth brought to life on screen, where a beautiful fox spirit hides a dangerous hunger and a vulnerable longing. Xiao Wei, a supernatural beauty who feeds on hearts to stay young, slips into a bustling world when she is rescued from a bandit raid by General Wang Sheng and taken to his home. The general, his loyal circle and a wary scholar become entangled as her true nature begins to unsettle the uneasy balance between village life and danger from darker forces. The arrangement tests trust, loyalty, and the costs of mercy, as human tenderness clashes with ancient power and a demon's yet uncertain affections. Romance lingers as decisions threaten every relationship around her and futures.

Directed by Gordon Chan, Painted Skin arrived in 2008 as a lush fantasy action drama drawn from Pu Songling's Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio. The film features Donnie Yen, Zhou Xun, Chen Kun, Zhao Wei, and Sun Li globally.

Painted Skin helped bring Pu Songling's fox spirit into contemporary Chinese cinema with a bold blend of romance and supernatural suspense. Its aesthetic emphasis on beauty, danger, and moral choice made the character archetypes linger in public memory and fed later genre experiments. Fans debated themes of trust and power.

Critics gave Painted Skin a mixed reception, noting its striking visuals and choreographed action alongside uneven pacing. The film foregrounds questions of identity and mercy as a demon and a human form an uneasy bond, testing loyalty and illustrating how love can complicate duty. A glossy fantasy with emotional undercurrents.

Box office data for Painted Skin are not widely documented, so it is difficult to gauge its commercial performance. Still the film drew attention for its star power, visual spectacle, and the audacious blend of martial arts fantasy and myth.