Writer: Abe Kwong

It has numerous nods to the Shaw Brothers classics and harks back to those swordplay flicks of yesteryear, making you smile, cry, jump for joy and shout like a banshee, like any good martial arts film should.

Not to everyone’s tastes, could have been a little shorter and hardcore Yen fans may be let down by the lack of dynamic hand-to-hand combat but ‘Painted Skin’ is still a stylish slice of fantasy filmmaking.

If the rest of the film had been as good as the last half hour then ‘Prince of the Sun’ would be more fondly remembered.

This leans more towards the quick-cut close ups of more recent Hollywood efforts. Most of the fights are also glossed over as short “highlights” rather than letting us see the full action.

Although it’s not a laugh a minute showcase, it does feature some watchable routines and it is certainly good to see stars such as Sandra Ng and Anne Bridgewater in early roles.

Those who have difficulty sitting through long sequences of Hong Kong slapstick would be best advised to avoid this film as the main concentration of Wellson Chin is comedy and the usual antics of his stars.

‘Undercover Hidden Dragon’ is better than the past few Ronald Cheng films, but not as consistently entertaining as ‘Super Model’, perhaps the benchmark for his comedy.

Indebted to ‘The Sixth Sense’ it may be, but ‘Visible Secret’ eschews the surreal shocks of current Japanese and Korean horror cinema.