The Blue Lamp in Winter Night

Dir: Yao Fung-pan
Scr: Yao Jen-shih (aka Yao Fung-pan)
Prod Co: Phoenix's Crown
Cast: Chiang Min, Kou Feng, Roy Chiao, Ko Hsiao Pao, Pai Lin, Meng Ti-chen
1975 / Colour / D Beta / Mandarin / Chi & Eng subtitles / 90min

Yao Fung-pan, like Sung Cheun-sau of Ghost of the Mirror, graduated from his tenure working with Li Han-hsiang in the 1960s with an eye for ornate mise-en-scène and an ear for evocative historical dramas. He embellished his version of Pu Songling's Nie Xiaoqian with elements of horror films from the West, from eerie atmospherics to grotesque makeup to blood sucking a la Dracula to a Wizard of Oz-like ending. Chiang Min's portrayal of the enchanting ghost Nie Xiaoqian may not be as graceful and sorrowful as Betty Loh Ti, but her modern sensibilities are nonetheless precursors for the ones to come in the 1980s.