Painted Skin: The Double Mask

午夜整容室

China, 2018, colour, 2.35:1, 83 mins.

Director: Cao Zhipeng 曹志鹏.

Rating: 4/10.

Cosmetic-surgery horror, set among a group of female students, is basic, entry-level stuff.

STORY

A city in Qinghai province, northwest China, the present day, autumn. Talented fine-arts student Li Yafei (Lai Jingjing), the daughter of wealthy parents, returns to college after a special research trip to Europe during the summer vacation. She’s welcomed back by her tomboy roommate Shang Xiuxiu (Chen Yao). Another girl in the class, tall glamourpuss Liu Siqi (Pan Yanfei), returns looking very different, after extensive cosmetic surgery. Shang Xiuxiu points out to Li Yafei that Liu Siqi has copied the abstract style Li Yafei is using for an exhibition of paintings by the class arranged by their teacher, Zhao (Li Du). Li Yafei also suspects that Liu Siqi is after her boyfriend, Li Zehao (Lei Nuo’er). Some of her classmates have cosmetic surgery done at the private backstreet clinic that Li Siqi used, and finally Li Yafei decides to go for a consultation. The surgeon, Mary (Wang Li Danni), recommends several small improvements but at the last moment Li Yafei flees, later claiming she saw a female ghost in white. Two classmates who had work done at the clinic – Xiaojie (Li Enqi) and Xiaotong (Xin Tong) – end up with scratched faces and hanging skin after “ghostly attacks”. Liu Siqi becomes angry at Li Yafei’s story that the clinic is haunted, and Li Zehao doesn’t believe her either. But Li Yafei believes the ghost is taking revenge on those who’ve had surgery at the clinic, and now even Li Siqi is starting to feel haunted.

REVIEW

A solid, entry-level horror that could have earned a further point with some small improvements, Painted Skin: The Double Mask 午夜整容室 throws together a group of female fine-arts students, a shady cosmetic-surgery clinic, and some ghostly “hauntings” that we all know will be logically explained at the end (per Mainland rules). The scabrous black satire The Truth about Beauty 整容日记 (2014), starring Bai Baihe 白百何, already said pretty much everything there was to say about cosmetic surgery, but there’s always room for a quickie horror on the subject and the script of Double Mask, to its credit, doesn’t pretend to cover the general subject in any depth. It just about does the job and gets across the 80-plus minute finishing line in a reasonably satisfying way. Shot in late 2015, it eventually reached screens three years later, with an average hawl (RMB3.2 million) for a no-star, modest horror.

It’s the first feature by Shenzhen-born writer-director Cao Zhipeng 曹志鹏, then 25, who had a prior background in graphic design, photography and several shorts. Partly backed by Golden Rose – the Shenzhen company behind the Golden Rose Short Film Awards in which Cao had won best new director for his 24-minute black psycho-comedy The Critical Verge of Gong Jun 宫俊的临界边缘 (2014) – it lacks the visual design of that impressive short but has a generally lively young cast, a vigorous and spooky musique concrète soundtrack, and a storyline that at least keeps moving even when it’s not going far in any one direction.

A frantically edited opening, mostly composed of later material, introduces the main character, cute rich girl Li Yafei who’s studying fine arts, has a boring boyfriend, and is doted on by her tomboy roommate. When the class’ glamourpuss returns from vacation with extensive cosmetic surgery, some of her colleagues try the same clinic, and eventually Li Yafei decides to check out the shady backstreets business. However, it appears to be haunted, and the surgery has some unexpected after-effects.

Newcomer Lai Jingjing 赖晶晶 is cute enough as the prim little rich girl, but the main honours go to three of her colleagues in flashier roles: actress-model Wang Li Danni 王李丹妮, then 26, camping it up as the mysterious plastic surgeon; Chen Yao 陈垚 as the lead’s Plain Jane, doting roommate; and especially actress-model Pan Yanfei 潘彦妃, then 28, having a whale of a time as the class glamourpuss who’s had everything fixed except her mouth. It’s their performances, and especially Chen and Pan, who keep the film motoring when some of the gaps in the script could do with more interesting filling. Technically, the film is just OK, with so-so widescreen photography by Huang Bin 黄斌 that has no special atmosphere or look, and some poorly staged action that robs the film of real climaxes.

The Chinese title means “Midnight Cosmetic Surgery Room”. The film’s production title was 画皮之诡面少女 (“Painted Skin: The Girl with the Eerie [or Sly] Face”), which perhaps explains the first part of the English title, as the film has no connection with the classic short story Painted Skin 画皮.

CREDITS

Presented by Shenzhen Golden Rose Film & TV Media (CN), Shenzhen Qianhai Thaito Culture Media (CN), Shenzhen Woxi Film & TV Production (CN), Shaoshang Film (Shenzhen) (CN).

Script: Shi Yao, Cao Zhipeng. Photography: Huang Bin. Editing: Zhang Lei. Music: Xu Wenlin, Xue Yuan. Art direction: Wang Hongli. Styling: Liu Yuan. Sound: Li Jing. Special effects: Yang Xinglei.

Cast: Lai Jingjing (Li Yafei), Chen Yao (Shang Xiuxiu), Pan Yanfei (Liu Siqi), Lei Nuo’er (Li Zehao), Wang Li Danni (Mary, doctor), Wu Yanze (Gao Liang), Li Enqi (Xiaojie), Xin Tong (Xiaotong), Lin Yunxiu (Jingjing), Zhang Lijing, Guo Letong, Zeng Qiuyu, Huang Yu (students), Wang Zihan (Xiaolan, Mary’s assistant), Li Du (Zhao, teacher), Zhu Chenchen (singer), Yuan Yuan (female teacher), Guo Yujing (female beggar), Xiang Yuanhong (man in bar), Chen Wei (woman in bar), Zhang Yulei (Li Zehao’s teammate), Ma Jingxuan (gallery curator).

Release: China, 14 Dec 2018.