HUMAN LANTERNS (dvd) *NEW* Chinese martial and 11 similar items

Brand new factory sealed dvd from Image Entertainment is Out Of Print (OOP) and barely still available on blu-ray only. The back cover declares "Now with shocking scenes too extreme for its Asian release". All of the gore has been re-instated here. Original Mandarin with optional English or Spanish subtitles. One of the extras is an alternate take of the skin peel scene. Whether or not its gorier than the scene in the film, its here. There is also a stills gallery and some trailers. Desperate to best rival Tan Fu in the annual lantern contest, impudent nobleman Lung Shu-ai discovers that his usual craftsman is not the one responsible for the construction of the exquisite ornaments. The true designer is Chao Chun-fang, a disfigured hateful man who dwells in a dilapidated mill deep in the woods. Years earlier, the two met in battle and the contest ended with Lung deeply scarring Chao's face. Although he initially spurns the idea of helping his greatest enemy, Chao has a change of heart when Lung impresses upon him the wealth and fame that will result from victory in the lantern competition. The man does insist on one condition, however: Lung may not visit his home at anytime and will be contacted only when the lantern is finished. Lung views the lantern-maker as a benign eccentric, but Chao is actually quite insane, using human skin as raw material, and pledging that "I must have whatever Master Lung has and destroy whatever he owns". Seeing that his adversary is in love with prostitute Yen-chu, Chao dons a mask and gloves that make him look like a simian demon and abducts the woman. Back at the mill, he kills her, peeling the delicate skin from her body. With the police suspecting Lung (who had a very public quarrel with Yen-chu the night before), Chao proceeds to carry away Tan's teenage sister, effectively setting Tan and Lung at each other's throats. Tan hires a wandering swordsman to mutilate his rival and, to stir the pot some more, the incredibly limber Chao ambushes and murders a group of Tan's men, leaving their heads hanging in the marketplace. While the two of them continue to point fingers, Chao claims more human epidermis to use for his creations. Based in part on true life ghoul Ed Gein who also made lamp shades from corpses and inspired films like 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' and 'Psycho'.