Curious Tales of a Temple

A slow, painterly drift through ghost stories that shifts visual style with each tale, feeling like leafing through an old, haunted picture book.

Directed by

Cui Yuemei, Liu Yuan

Genres

Drama, Comedy, Fantasy

Starring

Lu Lifeng, Lin Qiang, Zhang He

Overview

An epic animated fantasy anthology film intertwining six storylines from China's classic supernatural story collection "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio" by Pu Songling. The six stories center on Lanruo Temple, an ancient ruin haunted by spirits. Weaving in classic tales like "Taoist from Laoshan Mountain," "Princess Lotus," "Nie Xiaoqian," "The Painted Skin" and "The Daughter of Magistrate Lu." These stories — spanning humans, ghosts and demons — explore love, death and morality against shifting time. The film merges six distinct styles into one anthology. For example, "Taoist from Laoshan Mountain" uses felt-textured animation, while "The Painted Skin" mirrors Song dynasty painting aesthetics.

How it feels

Eerie, melancholic, whimsical and dark. Measured and needs your attention.

About

Death, love, morality, identity

Content

Mild violence, gore and sexual content. No swearing.

Note

Written by AI, so it can be wrong. Full breakdown

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Watch the trailer on YouTube (opens in a new tab)