Night of the Accursed Remakes of the Living Dead

George Romero's trendsetting NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968), the first Midnight Movie, isn’t just one of the greatest horror films ever made, but one of the most influential. It took the western trope of the siege and transplanted it into a horror movie narrative. Many other films after NIGHT would utilize the concept of the siege; and from there, Romero’s film was cited as an influence. Films like Sam Peckinpah's STRAW DOGS (1971), other zombie movies like the creep-tastic CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS (1972) and John Carpenter's action thriller ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 (1977) all use the siege plot device. 

Easily the most prosperous attribute of NIGHT is in how it rewrote zombie mythology; no longer were they automatons of some witch doctor but walking corpses with a taste for human flesh. Imagine the innate fear of seeing a friend or family member buried only to see them walking around a few days later. Imagine being in such a predicament and in your hesitation, revisiting what that person meant to you, time you spent with them, and now those memories are gone--replaced by empty, soulless eyes of a walking corpse that only wants to rip you apart and eat your flesh. Romero touched on the primal fear of these scenarios and made you not only think about them but made you afraid of them. 

Whenever there’s an announcement that a new version of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) is being produced, there’s very little, if any, positive anticipation from the horror community. It’s generally assured the end result will have all the finesse of actual zombies having made it. Due to the carelessness of the film’s original distributor, the Walter Reade Organization, who somehow managed to forget to add a copyright notice on their prints, George Romero’s classic independent horror has remained plagued by inferior imitations and outright ripoffs. 

This article examines ten films or instances where the original source is altered that either accentuate or devalue the legacy of the superlative 1968 original; ten examples that mostly take advantage of the film's public domain status. The novel that was intended to be filmed as a direct sequel to NIGHT is also covered. What’s most notable is how astonishingly superior NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) remains nearly 60 years after it was made. Only a few of the films discussed here are worthy of walking alongside Romero's Living Dead; the rest settle for a quick buck instead of a lasting impact. (Insert: a young George Romero)

RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD: THE NOVEL (1978)

George A. Romero and John A. Russo co-wrote NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) together. After their zombie opus was making lots of money for everyone but those who made it, Romero and his team pondered another horror film, this time an anthology of five terror tales. Deciding against this for the time being, they turned to making a movie in the spirit of THE GRADUATE (1968), the top-grossing movie of 1968. The end result was THERE'S ALWAYS VANILLA (1971), a romantic comedy that went nowhere. The two men eventually went their separate ways. (Insert: George Romero preparing to shoot a scene for a local TV station. Romero, John Russo in zombie makeup, Judith O'Dea and broadcaster Dave James)

With NIGHT continuing to play theaters all around the world, the two co-writers agreed that should they continue with additional zombie films, Romero would use 'of the Dead'  in the title whereas Russo opted to use 'of the Living Dead'. Romero would continue directing with little success (till the end of the decade) while Russo turned to writing horror fiction, the first of which he novelized NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD in 1974. His second novel was 'Return of the Living Dead', a sequel novel to NIGHT that was published in 1978. Meanwhile, Romero was making a movie sequel to NIGHT, the epic zombie horror that is DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978), considered by many to be THE greatest zombie film ever made; it is most definitely one of them.

John Russo's novel treads the same ground, taking place ten years after the dead first rose and attacked the living. The main setting is once again at a farmhouse where a group of varied individuals barricade themselves to survive a new zombie outbreak. There's a mean-spiritedness to the sequel book that is absent from NIGHT. Romero's movie is downbeat and gloomy in that everyone dies but Russo takes things much further into the darker side of humanity; that living man can be just as dangerous as the living dead. The novel, which reads more like a screenplay, is far more despairing but also redundant in that the same scenario plays out multiple times; there are two farmhouses and a mansion where, with little variance, the same events play out. The story is detailed below:

A truck carrying steel rods used to reinforce concrete crashes head-on into a school bus carrying 34 children, sending the bus over an embankment and killing everyone aboard. Sheriff McClellan, the lawman in NIGHT who famously says, "They're dead... they're all messed up", is a major character in this sequel novel. The outbreak in 1968 left the rural community shaken to the point that when anyone died, the fear of the dead returning to life to eat the living consumed them. When someone died, the local church would have a funeral service then proceed to drive a metal spike into the forehead of the deceased to ensure they won't be coming back. The news of the wreck reaches the congregation who then rush to the site to stake the heads of the dead to keep them that way. They only manage to spike 13 of the mangled dead when they hear the sirens. When the police arrive at the site of the crash, they find all the bodies have vanished. Needless to say, the dead do return to feast on the living. The cause is alleged to be an airborne malignancy that affects the recently deceased. The outbreak has spread nationwide. Within 48 hours, gangs of looters and rapists roam the woods and backroads terrorizing anyone left alive boarded up in their homes. The novel ends on a depressing note, replicating not only the ending of NIGHT, but many other details from the movie.

It's likely a good thing this version of RETURN never made it to the screen. Elements of it did, however, in the 1980 zombie movie THE CHILDREN. In that film, a toxic cloud engulfs a school bus full of kids that turns them into zombies. They don't eat anyone, but they burn their victims to death by simply touching them. Instead of destroying the brain, the way to destroy the half-pint walking dead is to cut off their hands. Filming on Russo's book-to-screen adaptation was supposed to have begun in 1981 but stalled for several years. When Dan O'Bannon's version of RETURN was finally made, Russo wrote a novelization for it as well... which leads us to...   

RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD (1985)

Two workers at a medical supply warehouse accidentally unleash a toxic gas from a military canister stored in the building's basement that brings everything in the warehouse to life, including a corpse in a freezer. In an effort to cover up the incident, the body is cremated; only the toxic fumes then make their way into the sky and return to Earth in the form of acid rain. Seeping into the ground of a nearby graveyard, the chemicals bring the dead back to life ready to party and craving human brains.

Dan O’Bannon’s seminal and perfect merger of horror and comedy is the pinnacle of zombie films associating themselves with Romero’s timeless classic. After John Russo and George Romero, the co-creators of NIGHT, parted ways, Russo wrote a sequel novel to the film in 1978 titled ‘Return of the Living Dead’. It took several years for the film version to get off the ground, but when it did, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE's Tobe Hooper was originally attached as director. At this point, RETURN was still a direct sequel to NIGHT. As time went on, Hooper eventually left the project to film LIFEFORCE (1985) in London for Cannon Films. The co-writer of ALIEN (1979), Dan O'Bannon, stepped in as director and, feeling the original script was too similar to Romero’s work, rewrote it as the punk rock horror it is today. Unlike Romero, who would expand on the unique zombie mythos he created in 1978, again in 1985 with DAY OF THE DEAD and beyond, Russo’s RETURN was the best project post-NIGHT he was ever involved with.

Curiously, when Hooper made THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 (1986) for Cannon Films, it was done in a similar, blackly comical style to RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD with the infusion of humor and a punk rock soundtrack. O'Bannon's movie rewrote zombie history, giving birth to the running zombie that became annoying as hell as the years went by. It did retain a connection to NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) in that James Karen divulges to Thom Matthews that Romero's movie was actually a true story and the bodies the Trioxin gas brought to life back in '69 are stored in the basement. One of the film’s best attributes is that it’s such a fun experience, you don’t have to be a horror fan to have a good time with it.

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD IN COLOR (1986)

The first major misstep in NIGHT's lengthy living dead lineage was the attempt to present it in color. There were good intentions to colorizing the greatest zombie movie ever made; unfortunately, the end result came off like a means to mine more money out of the public domain property. The initial colorized version from Hal Roach Studios was embarrassing and turned what was pure terror into unintentional laughter; the process made the zombies look green. It would take a few more tries before the color process would look good and that came from the specialists at Legend Films. Still, even though NIGHT finally looked presentable in blood-red color, there was something uniquely frightening about the film's original B/W photography that the transfer to color couldn't replicate.

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1990)

As Tom Savini’s motion picture directing debut attests, the only admirable additions to Romero’s immortal horror film are those made by his closest associates. Savini’s remake is the best kind—it follows and respects its source, but takes new, inventive paths to build on the landmark motion picture that preceded it. There's some unique alterations throughout, and some unexpected changes in the latter half of the movie that will either surprise you or shock you. 1990s NIGHT vision only gets better with age.

Savini’s movie was recently released in a 2-disc UHD and bluray steelbook edition. One disc is the theatrical version and the other is the uncensored director's cut that reinstates cut gore footage removed for its original 1990 theatrical release. The opening graveyard sequence is now in B/W before switching to color right as the first zombie attacks Bill Moseley. When the remake first came out, the lack of excessive bloody scenes soured many genre fans on the film. By that point in 1990, fans expected blood and guts, especially from a zombie movie directed by Tom Savini. It’s only slightly gorier than the original. Once that initial shock wears off, the one genuinely good remake of Romero’s exemplar work is also the most respectable treatment.

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD: 30th ANNIVERSARY (1999)

We’re going from worthy addition to worthless regurgitation. The original film’s co-writer, John Russo, concocted this mess that should never have been made. When George Lucas decided to tamper with his original STAR WARS trilogy by shooting new, CGI-heavy scenes, it started a brief trend of filmmakers screwing around with their popular films; NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) was one of them. 

Several of the original cast and crew worked on this project. Karl Hardman and Marilyn Eastman, who played the bickering Cooper couple (and were a couple in real life), helped out with zombie make-ups; Bill Hinzman reprised his role as the cemetery zombie, getting a useless backstory in the updated footage where he's noticeably older looking no matter how much batter is plastered to his face; he was also the director of photography for the new scenes. Russ "they're coming to get you, Barbara"  Streiner produced it; and John A. Russo wrote and directed the approximate 18 minutes of new scenes. The new footage featuring the crazy preacher was possibly taken from Russo's 'Return of the Living Dead' novel from 20 years earlier. Vincent J. Gaustini provided new gore effects that are the only worthwhile thing about the 30th Anniversary. In the end, it turned out to be an absolutely terrible idea; the impending disaster of which should’ve been foreshadowed early on. The end-result is a near unwatchable mess. The original footage doesn't match the new scenes at all.

As for Russo, he himself played zombies in the original film; he’s the zombie that exits a closet to get at Barbara but dies by a tire iron planted into his forehead by Ben; and later he’s the zombie that catches fire from a Molotov cocktail thrown by Harry from an upstairs window. Both Romero and Russo had great affinity for their original work of zombie horror even if the former was the more successful of the duo in bringing them to the screen. 

After Russo became a novelist, he later wrote two novels that he would turn into motion pictures: he wrote 'The Majorettes'  in 1979. Russo would later write and produce a film version in 1987 that was directed by Bill Hinzman, NIGHT's cemetery zombie. Hinzman would likewise direct himself as the FLESHEATER in 1988, a Pennsylvania-lensed companion piece to Romero's more polished NIGHT. In 1980, Russo wrote the horror novel 'Midnight'  and directed a film version in 1982.

The original NIGHT was like a family gathering—with each member bringing something to the table and pitching in wherever needed; this misguided overhaul was like a family reunion where, after 30 years, relatives have grown apart from one another and the younger generation can’t relate to the adversity and hard work of those that preceded them. Russo clearly had an enormous level of passion about NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. As it played out over the years, Russo--who was prolific as a novelist--was far more successful putting pen to paper than putting the image to film. (John A. Russo in zombie makeup)

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD 3D (2006)

Johnny and Barbara are driving to attend their mother's funeral. They arrive at the cemetery and find no one there... that is till a handful of zombies show up and Barbara's mom exits her coffin. Barbara manages to escape, finding her way to an isolated farmhouse populated by a family of marijuana growers just as the dead are coming back to life to eat the living. The connection to the resurrected dead is the local mortuary run by Gerald Tovar, Jr.

Marijuana plays such a huge role in the plot it’s a wonder the filmmakers didn’t rewrite the script and try to get Cheech and Chong to star and liven things up. Imagine the possibilities: C&C arrive at the farmhouse after their van breaks down. Realizing the cannabis oasis they've stumbled into, C&C want to lock themselves in the basement to get high till help comes. But all the supplies are upstairs so there's turmoil over who gets the groceries. The smell of Devil's Lettuce is so strong, it exits the farmhouse like clouds of toxic fumes. The walking dead inhale, get high, and get even hungrier for flesh than they already were. THE END. The tagline could've been, "The end may be nigh, but the survivors are getting high!" 

This was the first direct remake of Romero's original since Savini's version from 1990. Jeff Broadstreet's film starts off surprisingly well but quickly loses altitude, going into a nosedive. This 3D makeover rates nowhere near Romero’s living dead milestone nor Tom Savini's interpretation of it. Romero's original NIGHT probably holds the record for the film seen playing on television the most times in a movie; the weed-growing dwellers of the farmhouse are watching it when Barbara barges in. Sid Haig's participation and Cristin Michele’s stunning body are the film’s biggest recommendations. Aside from the opening and doom-laden finale, if tedium could turn you into a zombie, then this movie would cause an outbreak.

MIMESIS: NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (2011)

Horror movie fans attending a horror convention are invited to a party at a secluded farmhouse. Drugged, they awaken the next day and realize they've been dressed up like characters from George Romero's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. They see what they believe are zombies stumbling around the farmhouse, attempting to break in and feast on their flesh. The dwindling survivors soon learn that the truth is far more horrifying.

One of the most creative interpretations of the 1968 masterpiece is this shockingly good film whose title is Greek for imitation. What sets MIMESIS apart is that it’s not a remake of NIGHT, but a film about disturbed fans who are so obsessed with Romero’s classic, they act out a real-life version of the movie. Unlike a lot of the NIGHTmares on this list, there’s energy and adoration for the source material instead of lazily milking a few more dollars out of Romero’s property. Sid Haig sophomores his second NIGHT redux as a far better character here playing a famous horror filmmaker. He’s only at the beginning and ending but his presence is welcome. Courtney Gains, Malachai from CHILDREN OF THE CORN (1984), has a cameo and comes to a bloody end during the opening sequence. 

MIMESIS stands out due to its refreshing approach and refusal to mimic Romero’s landmark movie strictly to make money off his property that is still in the public domain all these years later. This is the high point for the NIGHT influenced films of the new millennium; it's all downhill from here.

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD 3D: RE-ANIMATION (2012)

Mortician Gerald Tovar, Jr accidentally unleashes a zombie outbreak after dead bodies in his mortuary are exposed to toxic waste. Tovar's brother, Harold, drops in uninvited seeking a bite of Gerald's inheritance and eventually learns his brother has zombiefied their father.

Director Jeff Broadstreet returns with a three-dumb-ensional prequel to his 2006 3D do-over. Sid Haig's Mr. Tovar is now played by Andrew Divoff (the villain in the first two WISHMASTER movies). Jeffrey Combs (Dr. West of the RE-ANIMATOR movies) also stars. In more focused hands, this could've been a good horror flick with the brotherly rivalry and the two bickering lady embalmers offering a striking character dichotomy amid the rising dead. Instead, Broadstreet's screenplay doesn't know what to do with his movie nor the people populating it. Divoff and Combs have so much screentime and so little to do in it with pacing that's slower than the zombies in NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968). 

Broadstreet brings back the reefer for a nonsensical 15-minute weed-smoking sequence. Then there's the intrusively unfunny political humor that likewise seems to have been written while under the influence. There's one, albeit brief, moment of creativity found in a dialog exchange uttered by Jeffrey Combs regarding zombie outbreaks in '68, '78, '85 and '90; all of which were far more animated than this movie.

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD: RESURRECTION (2012)

A British family living in an isolated farmhouse in the middle of nowhere must deal with personal issues as well as a sudden zombie outbreak. As the number of zombies grow both inside and outside the house, a gang of violent teenagers attack the family.

This British interpretation is a boring, load of bollocks. Scenes riff on better movies like a moment where an old man turns his vehicle lights on but instead of a group of zombies standing in front of his car like in RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD (1985), it’s a gang of psychotic youths. This band of thugs figure heavily into the finale when they lay siege to the farmhouse in the last 25 minutes. There’s a character named Ben whose participation is reimagined from that original NIGHT in 1968; that’s the extent of this film’s ingenuity. The anemic zombie apocalypse is sloppily handled, exemplifying just how passionate Romero was about his project back in 1968 with equally, if not an even greater, lack of resources. 

There are scratches on the film for that old-school look, odd camera angles throughout and an occasionally mild sense of dread drudged up, but these fleeting moments are quickly dispatched by a growing amateurishness infecting the monetarily famished production. To be fair, there are some good ideas here (some of which appears to have been taken from John Russo's sequel novel), only they're never successfully realized on the screen. An ugly, nihilistic film, the last scene goes a few steps further when the would-be rescuers show up looking to do far worse than save the remaining survivors.

FESTIVAL OF THE LIVING DEAD (2024)

The granddaughter of Ben, the man who fended off a zombie horde during a 1968 zombie outbreak, gets tickets to a local festival commemorating the original tragedy. On their way to the festival, the teens run into an actual zombie. They later discover that this all-new outbreak is related to a crashed meteorite after they witness some of the festival attendees snorting the residue from the crashed rock like a drug. Before you can say "METEOR SHIT!", a new zombie plague ensues…. And eventual boredom.

Despite being well acted and looking more polished than most on this list, FESTIVAL holds the distinction of having the dumbest plot of the lot. An original production made by the Tubi streaming service, it's just another zombie movie attempting to attach itself to a genuinely great one. In a world where teens drink tide pods and set themselves on fire for internet clicks, the idea that influencers would do lines of space dust off a crashed meteorite isn't so farfetched. This meandering movie directed by the Soska sisters tries mightily to be hip with its premise, while fans of Rob Zombie's movies will rejoice at the sloppy script and use of the word ‘fuck’ every other sentence. The zombie attack on the festival goes on forever with little variance. FESTIVAL would probably play better without its crutch; with it, this expletive-filled pretender is incapable of shambling around on its own two feet.

NIGHT OF THE RISING DEAD (2026)

The only thing RISING is the terrible odor emanating from this movie.

This was originally going around as simply NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (2026); then, bizarrely, as BASED ON THE ORIGINAL NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. The title was then changed again, replacing LIVING with RISING. You can find it streaming under both titles, or better yet, don't bother. Regardless of the moniker, it’s yet another poor imitation that never feels like anything but another money grab. The acting is almost as bad as the CGI and the unspecified setting never looks like anything but modern; you need more than an old phone and vintage radio to recreate the year 1968. The movie can't make up its mind what time period it wants to be set in as much as it can't settle on a title. 

Dee Wallace has become the horror genres cameo queen at this point. She appears during the opening CGI-infused zombie attack sequence in Beekman's Diner, which you only hear about in Romero's movie. Just like with the awful 30th Anniversary Edition of NIGHT where we needlessly learn who the cemetery zombie was, we now see what happened while Ben was at the diner; only RISING rewrites the original NIGHT's history. There is no longer a Ben as played by Duane Jones in the original and Tony Todd in the 1990 remake, but an Ellie played by Vivica A. Fox. There's also Robert Carradine in one of his final roles before his death on February 23rd, 2026. Then there's former professional wrestler Rob Van Dam and his modern hairstyle leading a vigilante group to stop the zombies--unlike the civil volunteers helping the police bring down the dead in the original movie... and Ben in that film's shocking final moment. The only thing shocking about the newest NIGHT is in how much of an unnecessary waste of time it is.

There are other versions of Romero's zombie horror classic, including an animated film and even a NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD LIVE! stage play that's been going since 2013. Many consider Romero’s DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978) to be the greatest zombie film of all time; it certainly widened the landscape in its depiction of zombies taking over the world. Containing unsurpassed gore effects by Tom Savini, it wasn't so much scary as it was fear sharing the screen with abject hysteria. NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD is certainly a scary, unnerving viewing experience. As good as the equally influential DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978) is, you wouldn't have the DAWN without the previous NIGHT. Looking back, who would've thought a little independent movie that cost $114,000 to make would inspire countless flesh-eating ghouls the world over. There will always and only be one true NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. A film whose power lies in its documentary style of shooting; the dedication of the performances; and the passion of George A. Romero and his crew who fashioned the scariest and most pivotal zombie film of all time.

*Some images sourced from John Russo's The Complete Night of the Living Dead Filmbook*

Portrait In Crystal (1983) review

 

PORTRAIT IN CRYSTAL 1983 (Chinese title: CRYSTAL MAN)

Jason Pai Piao (Lung Fei), Liu Yu Po (Crystal), Wang Jung (Prince Jin Tian Di), Chen Szu Chia (Du Sha), Chin Huang (Fatty), Teng Wei Hao (Poison Yama), Lin Hsiu Chun (Jade), Hsiao Yu Ming (Poison Yama's Son), Wu Yu Fen (Zi Juan), Hon Lai Fan (Pearl)

Directed by Hua Shan

The Short Version: Director Hua Shan returned to Swordplay Horror immediately after completing THE BLOODY PARROT (1981) with the exploitation-heavy PORTRAIT IN CRYSTAL—a film that went through a lot of changes in its storyline and the tone of the film. Based on a novel by horror writer Huang Ying, it’s a confusing, mess of a movie but one that thrives on atmosphere, gore and splashy special effects. If popcorn flicks are your thing, get ready to overdose on garishly decorated, cramped sets; flying skulls; laser light shows; a Phantom of the Opera-style villain; deadly traps; exploding bodies; ghosts; and lots of frantic sword action that easily overpower the uninspired plot that flatlines the movie the handful of times things aren't being blown up, set on fire, or engulfed in fog. Simply put, this is a Portrait in Excess.

 

In Ancient China, alchemic manuscripts portend that 10,000 year old crystals, aside from being valuable jewels, possessed magical properties. If blood came into contact with them, the crystal would take on whatever form it was carved in. Long Fei, a well-known sculptor living in seclusion on an isolated mountain, tests the myth, smearing his five-year crystalline masterpiece with his own blood. Unknown to Long, a vengeful spirit begins attacking members of the Poison Yama Clan. Discovering his crystal statue has disappeared from his vault, Long and his apprentice, Fatty, head out to retrieve it while the masked Poison Yama seeks revenge against him and the spirit entity wiping them out. Long and Fatty meet a mysterious woman on the way, who turns out to be Crystal, presumed to be the female embodiment of Long's statue. She's injured by Poison Yama's Seven-Step Soul-Chasing Needle and is separated from Long and Fatty. The two carry on to find the injured Crystal. 

 

 

They end up on Phantom Island, arriving at the spooky residence of Du Sha, the wife of the equally mysterious Heavenly Emperor. She's a powerful fighter who creates crystal killers in a hidden torture dungeon for assassination plots. Those who fail to endure the sadistic training become her zombie servants. Poison Yama, his clan eradicated, arrives at Du Sha's trap-filled mansion and learns who is behind the assassinations of his family and clan members. After a bloody fight, Long Fei learns who the actual owner of the Du Mansion is and where both he and his crystal creation fit into the real mastermind's evil plan.

 

Director Hua Shan made films of various genres although he was closely associated with modern crime thrillers such as BROTHERHOOD (1976), various segments in a few of the five-film THE CRIMINALS (1976-1977) series and THE BROTHERS (1979), a precursor to John Woo's A BETTER TOMORROW (1986). In the early 80s, Hua Shan got on a bit of a martial arts horror kick, helming three back to back. BLOODY PARROT (1981) sourced from novelist Huang Ying's original work was first, and as soon as it wrapped, Director Hua dove into another horror swordplay adaptation. Based on another Huang Ying novel, PORTRAIT IN CRYSTAL (1983) is a typical Martial World tale, but one that's told with a horror movie ambiance. If you're expecting a coherent story, you'll probably have to watch the movie a few times to cobble it all together since the delirious visuals and rapid-fire action scenes sabotage any attempt at following along.

It might be short on logic but there's lots of bloody violence such as a man having his arm cut off, only for his severed arm holding his sword gets planted into the top of his head; another poor sap is impaled through the mouth with dozens of chopsticks; faces are burned off, bodies are blown up, stomachs erupt in geysers of blood, and on and on. ALIEN (1979) had been a major hit in Hong Kong; so much so that the Shaw Brothers, as well as some of their filmmakers, wanted to do a movie like it. Science Fiction films weren't big moneymakers in Hong Kong, but horror was; so likely the famous chest-bursting scene inspired PORTRAIT's exploding intestines.

Possibly the most gruesome spectacle is a crucified naked woman with netting tied tightly to her body that rips through her flesh. The Shaw's always managed to find the best bosomy actresses so if that isn't Jenny Liang (whom the Shaw's heavily promoted for her nude scenes in BLOODY PARROT) standing in for Lin Hsiu Chun, then Lin is giving the then exploitation Queen a run for her money. Elsewhere, there's the magical lute whose strings deliver ear-destroying sonic attacks; and a sword that sets things on fire including the air!

 

‘Crystal Man’  was written by horror novelist Huang Ying. It was part of a horror-themed hexalogy titled ‘Six Tales of Horror’ started in 1974. These supernatural swordplay thrillers were outlined by author Ku Lung (or Gu Long) in what was intended to be a break from his usual Wuxia literature. In the mid 70s when he began working on the series, Ku stated “true terror comes from the depths of the soul”. Horror was an unusual avenue for Ku Lung to take, and different from his prominence writing about heroic and villainous swordsmen of the Martial World. Huang was known for his spooky writings, so the subject matter was ideal for him.

The stories in the series are ‘Blood Parrot’ (the film version adds the letter 'y'), ‘The Vampire Moth’, ‘Crystal Man’, ‘The Black Lizard’, ‘Rakshasa Woman’ (a Rakshasa being a shapeshifting, flesh-eating demon) and ‘The Wingless Bat’. Ku wrote the first four of thirty chapters of ‘Blood Parrot’, and wrote outlines of the other stories; but due to deadlines with other novels, he left this series to be completed by Huang Ying, Hong Kong’s version of Stephen King. Huang’s writing style was similar to Ku Lung so it was a good fit to have him take over the series.

The film’s English title was originally the same as the title of the novel, that being ‘Crystal Man’. With the film’s plot changing early into production this necessitated a new export title. Presumably, CRYSTAL MAN was deemed confusing to non-Chinese speakers—most of whom would be unfamiliar with the novel it’s adapted from; so the English title was changed to PORTRAIT IN CRYSTAL. That there's no Crystal Man depicted, but a Crystal Woman, that would've only added to the confusion. Even so, the Chinese title remains CRYSTAL MAN. In the novel, as it is in the movie, it was a female assassin that called itself a "Crystal Spirit". 

 

The description of the Crystal Man in the novel was a key element for director Hua Shan to bring to the screen. The visual of swarms of green fireflies flying out of the spirits face is realized as multi-colored bugs flickering around the crystal assassin. These fireflies are even used as a lethal weapon that fries the flesh on a targeted victim.

 

Additionally, whenever the character is referenced on-screen, it’s called “Shuijing Ren”, which means ‘Crystal Man’ and sounds like “Shay-jing Yen”. On various releases, subtitles translate it as “Crystal Portrait” or “Crystal Being”. Moreover, a little passed the 50 minute mark there's a plot dump of details that reveals, among other things, an actual Crystal Man is in the making.

When it came to adapting the novel for the screen, Huang Ying wrote the script that, aside from the main character, seemed to be faithful to his original work. Changes were made over the course of the near year and a half the film was in production. Early plot descriptions before the entire cast was set read as follows: 

“The story of CRYSTAL MAN revolves around the legendary swordsman, Shen Sheng Yi, who is drawn into a pre-planned battle within the Martial World. After several perilous twists and escaping his enemies’ pursuit, Shen and the wounded Gong Sun Bai arrive at the mysterious Du family mansion; a large, secluded manor nestled in the middle of a vast lake. Amid these strange events, Shen Sheng Yi encounters the deadly assassin, the Crystal Man, who hasn’t been seen in many years. A fearsome and enigmatic killer, several renowned martial arts masters have fallen to the sword of the Crystal Man. Shen Sheng Yi is shocked by the assassins sudden reappearance, sensing an extraordinary event is about to unfold”.

If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll notice a few major differences in the direction the film was originally going. The character of Shen Sheng Yi is a swordsman in a series of novels by Huang Ying. Director Chu Yuan adapted one of them, ‘Silver Sword Shen Sheng Yi’ as THE ROVING SWORDSMAN (1983) starring Ti Lung as Shen. The character was changed from a swordsman to a sculptor named Long Fei who also happens to be a master of the blade. 

 

Long Fei is actually the name of the main character in the novel, described as a wandering swordsman. In the novel, Gong Sun Bai is a wounded swordsman Long met on the road who had been gravely injured by Poison Yama's venomous arsenal. Poison Yama was chasing Swordsman Gong because he believed he knew the Crystal killer's whereabouts and reasons for targeting Yama and his Tang Clan of fighters. The search for an antidote to Yama's poison leads the two men to Phantom Island and the Du Mansion where celestial beings are said to reside.

 

As the film version plays out, Long is a hermetic sculptor and Fatty is his doting assistant. They initially set out to find Long's stolen crystal portrait and discover Long has been framed by unknown parties leading to Poison Yama being after him. Fatty is indeed injured prior to their arrival at Du Mansion to attain an antidote; although Fatty's injuries aren't due to a fight with Poison Yama but members of Yama's clan referred to as the Tang Clan in the book.

Due to the downward trend of Swordplay pictures at the time, it was decided to likewise swap out Gong Sun Bai with a comedic sidekick, the above-mentioned Fatty. This new character, played by the rotund Chin Huang, originally had an actual name, that being Li Siao Tian. 

 

When asked in a 1982 interview what he thought was the key to reviving Swordplay films, director Hua said there needed to be something new on top of innovations in storytelling. PORTRAIT is overzealous in horror-fused motifs but nothing original in how the story unfolds. As convoluted as it is, the premise is the basic Martial World scenario: one clan uses magical assassins to wipe out members of another; numerous instances of subterfuge and deception follows. It's really that simple.

As it turned out, Huang's novel wasn't considered one of his highly regarded works, nor was this film version any better a representation of it--from a narrative perspective, that is.

The cast were the usual quality performers even though the material given them wasn’t. The most seasoned thespian among them was Taiwanese actor Wang Jung. He’d been in the industry for 20 years at this point. A big name in Taiwan, Wang started out at Taiwan’s major studio Central Motion Pictures. He and director Ting Shan Si (800 HEROES), along with their friend, actor Jimmy Wang Yu (THE CHINESE BOXER), founded Giant Films in 1971. A gambling problem and a divorce in 1973 led Wang Jung out of the industry and out of Taiwan and Hong Kong altogether. He moved to America and remained there for four years, returning to Hong Kong in 1977 upon completion of a movie he shot in the US. He stated in interviews at the time that for this second phase of his film career he was simply having fun.

 

Pai Piao was enjoying a career resurgence of his own. He began his career as a stuntman, and was in line for a major role in Chang Cheh's THE WATER MARGIN series. It didn't work out so he found plenty of films as a leading man at Yang Tze Films, an independent studio born out of the remnants of major company, Cathay.  Unfortunately, none of the films Pai made for Yang Tze made money in Hong Kong. He then moved to television in the latter part of the 70s where his star soared. He ended up back at Shaw Brothers where he got numerous major roles like this one, although this film isn't indicative of his best work. As with everything else, the performers in PORTRAIT are only there to accentuate the visuals. 

Actress Tai Liang Chun was originally cast as Du Sha, but the role went to Taiwanese model Chen Szu Chia (above and insert) when Tai quit the industry approximately two years into her five year contract to enter into what quickly became a volatile marriage to action superstar Tony Liu Yung (Law Wing). Barely a year into the relationship, it spiraled out of control, leading to him disfiguring Tai's face. She co-starred with Liu Yung (the evil eunuch in SECRET SERVICE OF THE IMPERIAL COURT) in 1982s PASSING FLICKERS and was the leading actress in the troubled horror production, CURSE OF EVIL (1982). To expound further, Tai’s awful luck didn’t end there. Her second marriage to a doctor ended in divorce and her third husband, a Japanese doctor, ended when her violent second husband tracked her down and killed the third husband.

 

As for Chen Szu Chia, this was one of, if not the meatiest, role she ever had, and possibly her best. She shines as one of the main antagonists.

Director Hua occasionally made movies outside of Movietown. As long as an independent picture didn’t interfere with filming at Shaw’s he could shoot what he wanted. This is where that third martial arts horror movie comes in. During downtime on CRYSTAL, Hua Shan took a crew on location to shoot the cult favorite KUNG FU ZOMBIE for the Eternal Film Company; that film starring Billy Chong, Kwan Young Moon and Chiang Tao. This was another Huang Ying story, and some of his CRYSTAL crew worked on it like martial arts choreographer Teng Te Hsiang and Hua’s regular assistant director Tsai Nai Pin.

Like many filmmakers on the Movietown payroll, the vast resources of the company offered a congenial atmosphere for making movies that differed from the unstable nature of working for an independent company. Hua Shan was one such director who had gotten comfortable working within this gated filmmaking community. He viewed Shaw Studio as his home, and whenever he filmed outside, he referred to it as a vacation.

The irony was that Director Hua preferred making modern day films versus the period pieces he was doing in the 1980s. He was also highly critical of the label given a select group of young filmmakers at the start of the 1980s, “the New Wave”. Hua helmed period movies till 1985, returning to the industry six years later for one last picture—a modern day actioner starring moon Lee—ANGEL FORCE (1991).

 

PORTRAIT IN CRYSTAL was completed in September of 1982. The test screening at the studio was reportedly a positive one—leading the studio executives to spend some more money on it. Hua Shan did some additional post-production in October and November of ‘82, adding some special effects shots. Director Hua was also critical of Chinese filming methods of the time period. Prior to PORTRAIT’s release, he pointed out that Hollywood was properly equipped to pull off special effects; Hong Kong was only capable of what he called “special shots”.

By 1983, Shaw Brothers were well aware that, domestically, their production style was viewed as largely outdated. Faced with stiff competition from rival studios, they changed their methods of having directors shoot 3-4 films at one time and had them focus primarily on a single feature before moving on to the next one. 

 

In turn, this affected the number of productions made per year. The company went from 40+ films a year in the 70s to approximately two dozen by 1983; the numbers dropped even further over the next two years they were in operation. The export of their martial arts pictures on the international market was what was keeping them open for the next two years. In Hong Kong, the Shaw's would have at least one or two films in the top ten, but they'd be dramas or romantic comedies which were now big box office along with the modern day action stunt comedies that the company were hesitant to get on board with. And when they made them, there simply wasn't enough of them to reclaim audience interest in their films that, in Hong Kong at least, were viewed as old-fashioned filmmaking.

Swordplay films were losing steam in 1983 versus the gaining momentum of modern day action. To use one example, the heavily hyped ZU: WARRIORS FROM THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN (1983) was a bomb that year, making only HK$1.5 million. PORTRAIT made HK$1.3 million in comparison. There was so much similar product on television, that to get people into theaters, it had to be something unique. PORTRAIT was certainly different, only local audiences weren't interested.

Director Hua’s next film was another wild swordplay movie, the gloomy USURPERS OF THE EMPEROR’S POWER (1983) starring Tony Liu Yung, Chao Kuo, Liu Hsieh Hua, and Lung Tien Sheng. Part historical epic and another part gory supernatural fantasy, it’s in the class of Hua’s co-directed THE FLYING GUILLOTINE 2 (1978) and WHAT PRICE HONESTY (1979) as the darkest Shaw Brothers pictures ever made. It was a bigger failure at the box office than PORTRAIT IN CRYSTAL was.

Interestingly, Hua Shan didn’t like making violent movies. You’d never know that by looking at his resume like the vicious Shaw Brothers Triad actioner BROTHERHOOD (1976); and THE GORY MURDER (1978), whose Chinese title translates to BRUTAL DISMEMBERMENT. This was an independent film Hua made for Eternal Films, founded in 1973 and one of the more prosperous Indy film companies. Their success was largely due to Ng See Yuen, an ambitious film director who later founded Seasonal Film Corporation.

 

Hua Shan’s movies tend to have very little fat on them—moving at a frenetic pace. PORTRAIT IN CRYSTAL is an example of this. Aside from the comedic scenes that slow things down in the middle act, the visual barrage seldom lets up—holding the viewers attention when the flimsy storyline cannot. Unfortunately, the film's trim running time doesn't allow for characterization. The voluminous plot details unloaded on the viewer in the last half, along with a few twists, do nothing to enhance the proceedings because you don't care about anyone on-screen. As a movie, PORTRAIT IN CRYSTAL is poor; but as an entertainment, it's an assortment of colors splashed across a canvas of craziness--an amusement park ride that becomes more wild and exhaustively bizarre right up till it abruptly hits the brakes for a noticeably hasty ending.

This review is representative of the Imprint bluray from Australia (all region) limited to 1,500 units. Specs and extras: 1080p HD 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen; audio commentary with Justin Decloux; Portrait in Plasma: interview with James Mudge; running time: 01:20:51