Dai Yilin

Meng Po is the Chinese goddess of Oblivion. She lives separated from her lover, Meng Qing, who finds her after years of searching. Sadly, their reunion is cut short by Asura, who needs something from Meng Po. Meng Qing is furious and vows to protect her with all his power, but Asura is a menacing villain.

I'm not sure I've seen anything from the Meng Po story before, but the more you watch them, the more you'll find that these stories are all very much alike (it's not that much different from Greek mythology either). It's a good thing then that the focus lies on flashy, fast-paced action scenes, not so much on the plot and characters. I had good fun, but that's because I love this kind of thing.

A young girl is looking for her master, who disappeared one year ago. She enters a local competition that will grant her one question to the Ghost King. He shows her that her master is currently stuck in hellfire. Hoping to get another wish granted from the Ghost King, she helps him out with some odd chores.

The CG is subpar, though that's only a real issue at the very start of the film. The sets look pretty nice, the action is fast-paced, the fantasy elements are properly executed, performances are amusing, and the plot is fun enough. It's nothing you haven't seen before, but the short runtime and skillful execution turn this into tasty filler.

General Yang is sent to Mirage City, where the Demon Lord resides. He is to win his trust first in order to defeat him, but the Demon Lord has plans of his own. He uses one of his subjects to confuse Yang by impersonating his wife. Meanwhile, the woman has fallen in love with Yang and has to choose between Yang and her master.

There isn't too much action here, instead the film focuses more on fantasy and romance. The costumes are lush, the sets are great and the little action there is in done well. CG is still subpar and the extra 20 minutes don't really add much, but I had a good time with this latest Painted Skin adaptation. Yilin is the man to look for if you want to breach Chinese streamer genre cinema.

Luckily, most of them are pretty basic fantasy tales. Take a dragon that threatens the neighborhood, a haunted general who protects the people from the dragon and an inn where most of the action takes place, and you have all the ingredients for a solid action film with strong fantasy elements.

The cinematography is beautiful, sets and costumes are lush and the action choreography is pretty impressive. The dragon lair is a bit of a bummer though, relying quite heavily on subpar CG to create a high fantasy setting. Performances are pretty decent and the short runtime is a definite plus. All in all this is great genre fare, the kind I can keep watching. It's a good thing then the market is being flooded with these films.

The story of Monster Hunters is nothing special. A talented Monster Hunter arrives in a town where he finds a master possessed by the Demon King and a young girl who can't control her Soul Power. They band together to exorcise some local demons terrorizing the town, a fight that will lead to a face-off with the Demon King himself.

The CG in these films is mostly functional, the nice thing about Dai's work is that he at least has the rest of the styling down. Settings, costumes, and props look good, and so do the camerawork and other practical effects. The pacing and length of the film are perfect. Good fun if you love the mix of fantasy and martial arts.

Chai Hu is a mentally challenged man, but legend says there's a dragon inside his body, causing him not to age. Reporter Wei Yu Tong hears about his story and together with her father, she organizes an expedition. The goal is to use Chai Hu to wake up a dragon who resides in the Eight Hundred Mountains.

With Dragon Hunting King, Yilin returns to the tomb-raiding genre. I figured it had died out somewhat over the past year, but apparently, there's still room for a couple more films. Dragon Hunting King isn't quite as spectacular as it needed to be though, and the little extra drama felt a bit unnecessary. But if you're just here for the genre thrills, this film won't disappoint.

Sima Cong and Lisa form a strong expedition team. An evil businessman forces them to raid a tomb, as he is looking for the Golden City. Then Cong's dad turns up out of nowhere, claiming he knows the location of the city, and he's willing to take his son there. The three of them set out on an adventure to the depths of the Earth.

It's nice to see a bit more variation in plot and genre elements, but in the end their impact is rather minimal. The film feels a bit too fluffy for a bona fide adventure, and the CG can really get below acceptable quality levels. Still, thanks to the solid pacing and short runtimes, films like these are hardly ever boring. I just wish they paid a little more attention to the details.

When Guan Xing's father is killed in battle and his weapon is taken by the leader of the Wu, Guan wants revenge. Two years later he gets his chance, when a map is discovered that leads right into a nearby city controlled by the Wu. With a small team, Guan is tasked to explore and infiltrate the city, but the closer they come to their goal, the more obvious it is they are running into a trap.

The CG is a little dodgy and the lack of massive battlefield scenes is hard to miss, but the focus on a small infiltration team is smart and the film looks pretty solid beyond its budgetary limitations. And so Knights of Valour is pretty decent filler, much like all the other short streaming fodder. Not bad, just don't expect it to stand out.

In the 80s, Hu Bayi and his friends travel to a small mountain village in the north of China, where they gather to attend the wedding of their friend. There's some strange folklore in the neighborhood involving weasels, and it's not long before Bayi and his companions are drawn to another tomb mystery.

Yilin's films are fun because they're short and punchy. The added 30 minutes of runtime is spent on pointless conversations, bland character development, and build-ups that lead nowhere exciting. It's still a decent enough genre film, it's just that he's made better films with far less effort.

A team of explorers is checking out the caverns deep inside the Qinling mountain, hoping to find access to a hidden palace. When they finally manage to open the passageway, they are attacked and obliterated by an army of giant spiders. Only one of them manages to escape. In a town nearby, a new expedition prepares to take on the spider army.

Pretty cliche, with few redeeming qualities. I'm getting rather bored of giant spiders (especially when the CG is poor), the tomb raiding elements aren't too exciting either and the action is pretty dull. It's short and fast-paced genre fluff, and in that sense it's watchable, but there are 10 films just like this which do a much better job.

The Pig King functions as a prequel to the classic Journey quest, explaining how Tainpeng became the infamous pig character. After Wukong makes a terrible mess in the heavenly Palace, he is banished to Earth, to live on Five Finger Mountain. Tianpeng is sent after him to prevent any future troubles, but romantic woes will complicate Tianpeng's quest.

Like most other Monkey King films from the '10s, the CG is a real eyesore and kills most of the film's fantastical appeal. The background story The Pig King provides isn't all that interesting either unless you're really invested in these characters. Not the film I was hoping for, Yilin has made much better ones under more stringent circumstances.