Painted Skin: The Resurrection

A demon can spend centuries on earth before taking human form, and even then it cannot feel what people feel without possessing a human heart. Legend holds that a demon who is freely given a pure human heart may become mortal and know real life. In this story, the demon Xiao Wei is drawn to Huo Xin, a military commander, while Princess Jing, whose scarred face she longs to have healed, has her own interest in him. Xiao Wei also consumes human hearts to keep her beauty and youth, and the deaths of men whose hearts have been taken spread through the town. The commander's wife, Pei Rong, grows suspicious of the woman her husband has brought home and turns to the warrior Pang Lang for help.

The film is directed by Wuershan and written by Ran Ping and Ran Jianan, produced by Kuo-Fu Chen, Zhang Dajun and Hong Pang. It is a sequel to Painted Skin (2008), set around the Qin and Han dynasties, with Zhou Xun as Xiao Wei, Chen Kun as Huo Xin, Zhao Wei as Princess Jing, Yang Mi as Que'er, William Feng as Pang Lang and Chen Tingjia as the Queen of Tianlang.

It was released in 2012 and runs 131 minutes. Its worldwide box office came to about 103 million dollars, a strong return for a Chinese fantasy drama. Audience scores are moderate and close to each other: 6.2 out of 10 on IMDb from roughly 3,800 votes and 5.9 out of 10 on TMDB from far fewer. A small set of critics' reviews averages 4.4 out of 10, below the audience ratings.