# Tales from the Dark Part 1 (李碧华鬼魅系列)
**Tales from the Dark Part 1** (李碧华鬼魅系列：迷离夜, also released as *Blurred Night*) is a 2013 Hong Kong horror anthology film of three supernatural short stories adapted from the "Night" (夜) series of fiction by the Hong Kong writer Lilian Lee (李碧华), each segment directed by a different filmmaker: the actor [Simon Yam](https://www.edgepedia.org/simon-yam), in his directorial debut, the veteran director Lee Chi Ngai, and Fruit Chan[1](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/839) • [2](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/tales-from-the-dark-part-1/). It is the first half of a two-part project; the companion film, *Tales from the Dark Part 2* (奇幻夜), followed the same three-segment format[1](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/839).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Chinese title | 李碧华鬼魅系列：迷离夜; English titles *Tales from the Dark 1*, *Blurred Night*; Taiwan title 鬼夜之迷离夜[3](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E8%BF%B7%E7%A6%BB%E5%A4%9C/10403928) |
| Directors | Simon Yam, Lee Chi Ngai, Fruit Chan[1](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/839) |
| Segments | 赃物 (Stolen Goods), 放手, 惊蛰[4](https://www.yesasia.com/global/%E8%BF%B7%E9%9B%A2%E5%A4%9C-2013-dvd-%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E7%89%88/1034023356-0-0-0-zh_TW/info.html) |
| Release | 11 July 2013, Hong Kong; 113 minutes; Cantonese; Hong Kong category IIB[3](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E8%BF%B7%E7%A6%BB%E5%A4%9C/10403928) |
| Source | Lilian Lee's "Night" series ghost stories, reissued in seven volumes in 2008–2009[5](https://www.cl.ntu.edu.tw/uploads/root/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9C%8B%E6%96%87%E5%AD%B8%E7%A0%94%E7%A9%B6/42-4.pdf) |
| Early box office | Over HK$5.23 million in its first Hong Kong week (as of 17 July 2013)[6](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2013-07-19/14173968141.shtml?from=wap) |
| Mainland release | Banned in mainland China, along with Part 2, for horror, violence, and political content[5](https://www.cl.ntu.edu.tw/uploads/root/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9C%8B%E6%96%87%E5%AD%B8%E7%A0%94%E7%A9%B6/42-4.pdf) |
| Recognition | Golden Horse Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress[1](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/839) |
## Spoilers
### The three segments
The film comprises three stories, 赃物 (Stolen Goods), 放手, and 惊蛰[4](https://www.yesasia.com/global/%E8%BF%B7%E9%9B%A2%E5%A4%9C-2013-dvd-%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E7%89%88/1034023356-0-0-0-zh_TW/info.html).
**Stolen Goods (赃物), directed by Simon Yam.** Yam both directed and starred in the segment, his first work as a director[2](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/tales-from-the-dark-part-1/). He plays a construction-site casual laborer who, after being dismissed without cause, refuses welfare, saying that although he is poor he will not claim benefits, and instead steals an urn of ashes and extorts the deceased's relatives[6](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2013-07-19/14173968141.shtml?from=wap). A Douban review reads the segment as commentary on Hong Kong's expensive burial plots and columbarium niches and its wealth gap, and notes that a newspaper headline in the film about a tycoon's wife's ashes being stolen for ransom referred to a real case[10](https://movie.douban.com/review/6290551/).
**放手, directed by Lee Chi Ngai.** Lee Chi Ngai, prominent in the 1990s with films such as *风尘三侠*, returned to directing after a long break with this segment[1](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/839).
**惊蛰, directed by Fruit Chan.** Chan, who emerged in 1997 with the independent film *Made in Hong Kong* (香港制造) and won Golden Horse Best Director and Original Screenplay for it, directed the closing segment[1](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/839). According to a study in *Zhongguo Wenxue Yanjiu*, this segment adapts "惊蛰晚上的赤足少女" from Lee's 1997 book *吃猫的男人*[5](https://www.cl.ntu.edu.tw/uploads/root/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9C%8B%E6%96%87%E5%AD%B8%E7%A0%94%E7%A9%B6/42-4.pdf). The segment features the "villain-hitting" (打小人) folk ritual at Goose Neck Bridge (鹅颈桥): Shaw Yin-yin and Chan Lai-wan play the old women who perform it, and the villain-hitting scene between Shaw Yin-yin and Lo Hoi-pang drew over a million views on video sites[6](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2013-07-19/14173968141.shtml?from=wap).
## Origin and production
The project began when the producers 江志强 and 邓汉强, the former a producer of *[Cold War](https://www.edgepedia.org/cold-war-2012-film)* (寒战), saw signs of a revival in Hong Kong cinema and conceived of making a ghost film, a genre the Golden Horse Film Festival archive describes as one of the most important in Hong Kong production[1](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/839). At the same time Lilian Lee was writing short ghost stories in her column in the magazine *Next Weekly* (壹周刊); 邓汉强 contacted Lee, whom he had never met, to discuss adaptation rights, and the two sides agreed quickly[1](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/839). Lee later described the films as selected from her several hundred ghost stories, under the slogan "revive Hong Kong cinema, fight our way out of the ghost road" (振兴港产片，杀出阴司路)[7](https://blog.sina.cn/dpool/blog/s/blog_475afdce0101ajmv.html?md=gd). The two films together used six directors[4](https://www.yesasia.com/global/%E8%BF%B7%E9%9B%A2%E5%A4%9C-2013-dvd-%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E7%89%88/1034023356-0-0-0-zh_TW/info.html).
The Golden Horse archive calls the cast and crew the strongest lineup ever assembled for a Hong Kong ghost film[1](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/839). The 1905.com database notes that the personnel were almost entirely Hong Kong talent, with lead actors including [Tony Leung Ka-fai](https://www.edgepedia.org/tony-leung-ka-fai), [Kelly Chen](https://www.edgepedia.org/kelly-chen), Maggie Siu, Lo Hoi-pang, and Shaw Yin-yin[8](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/2219606/). The project was announced at a press conference during the Hong Kong International Film Festival in March 2013[9](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2013-03-20/02393880926.shtml).
## Source material
The film's Chinese title comes from one of seven small-story collections in which Lee reorganized her earlier ghost fiction between 2008 and 2009: 《奇幻夜》, 《迷离夜》, 《冷月夜》, 《妖梦夜》, 《幽纹夜》, 《紫雨夜》, and 《寒星夜》[5](https://www.cl.ntu.edu.tw/uploads/root/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9C%8B%E6%96%87%E5%AD%B8%E7%A0%94%E7%A9%B6/42-4.pdf). The six stories adapted across the two films were drawn from these volumes, are all set in Hong Kong, and many were written before 2003[5](https://www.cl.ntu.edu.tw/uploads/root/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9C%8B%E6%96%87%E5%AD%B8%E7%A0%94%E7%A9%B6/42-4.pdf). Sino-Cinema, reviewing the film, describes the title's source instead as the second book of a five-volume 2008 collection that gathered Lee's ghost tales originally published in newspaper form[11](https://sino-cinema.com/2017/03/26/review-tales-from-the-dark-1-2013/).
Lee was born and raised in Hong Kong, her original name being 李白, and worked as a journalist, television screenwriter, and film screenwriter before turning to fiction, publishing more than fifty books[12](https://www.chinawriter.com.cn/n1/2017/1212/c404031-29701004.html). Seven of her novels had been adapted as films, and her short fiction supplied three more: *Dumplings* (三更2之饺子), *Tales from the Dark Part 1*, and *Tales from the Dark Part 2*[13](https://m.fx361.com/news/2017/0117/568908.html). English-language festival materials introduce her as the author of a best-selling novel series[2](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/tales-from-the-dark-part-1/).
## Reception and distribution
The film opened in Hong Kong on 11 July 2013[3](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E8%BF%B7%E7%A6%BB%E5%A4%9C/10403928). The *Southern Metropolis Daily* reported first-week takings above HK$5.23 million (as of 17 July 2013), calling it, in its marketing phrase, the scariest Hong Kong ghost film in ten years, and noting that the film depicts the lives of lower- and middle-class Hong Kong residents: a bakery whose pineapple buns rise from HK$4.5 to HK$6.5 to show inflation, and a HK$20 dispute between two elderly women that requires police mediation[6](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2013-07-19/14173968141.shtml?from=wap). The film was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Golden Horse Awards[1](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/839).
International festival exposure followed in 2013. The film had its world premiere at the New York Asian Film Festival[14](https://www.flixist.com/nyaff-review-tales-from-the-dark-part-1/amp/) and later played at the Reel Asian Film Festival and the Rome International Film Festival[15](https://myetvmedia.com/film-review/tales-from-the-dark-part-1/). The Reel Asian program described it as bringing a distinctly Hong Kong style to three supernatural stories about ghosts seeking retribution[16](https://www.reelasian.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/RAIFF2013-Program_Guide-final-lowres.pdf). Reviewers described an atmospheric, darkly humorous anthology whose three stories share the theme of revenge from beyond the grave, relying more on character interplay than on shocks[15](https://myetvmedia.com/film-review/tales-from-the-dark-part-1/) • [11](https://sino-cinema.com/2017/03/26/review-tales-from-the-dark-1-2013/) • [17](https://skonmovies.ca/review/ra2013-tales-from-dark-part-1/); the Screen Anarchy review found it a scare-free triptych[18](https://screenanarchy.com/2013/07/review-tales-from-the-dark-1.html). On Rotten Tomatoes the film shows an audience rating of 2.8 out of 5 from fewer than 50 ratings[19](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tales_from_the_dark_1).
## Mainland ban and scholarly reading
Both *Tales from the Dark* films were barred from release in mainland China, which a study by Ng Kok-hwa (黄国华), then a graduate student in the Chinese department of National Taiwan University, attributes to their horror, violence, and political elements; the study notes the films opened around the tenth anniversary of the signing of CEPA, the trade agreement between mainland China and Hong Kong[5](https://www.cl.ntu.edu.tw/uploads/root/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9C%8B%E6%96%87%E5%AD%B8%E7%A0%94%E7%A9%B6/42-4.pdf). Ng reads Lee's post-2003 ghost writing, and these film adaptations in particular, as a refusal of incorporation into mainland Chinese literary and censorship norms, which favor the "disenchantment" (除魅) of supernatural material; the films' [Cantonese](https://www.edgepedia.org/cantonese) dialogue and ghost imagery are treated as assertions of a distinct Hong Kong voice[5](https://www.cl.ntu.edu.tw/uploads/root/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9C%8B%E6%96%87%E5%AD%B8%E7%A0%94%E7%A9%B6/42-4.pdf). A Hong Kong film journal piece notes that locally produced horror films had declined over the preceding decade, with the *Li Bihua* ghost series among the works that appeared in that period[20](https://jetmagazine.com.hk/wp-content/uploads/228.pdf).
## Tales from the Dark Part 2
The companion film *Tales from the Dark Part 2* (奇幻夜) was released the same year, running 88 minutes in three segments: 枕妖, 迷藏, and 黑伞, directed by Gordon Chan (陈嘉上), Lawrence Ah Mon (刘国昌), and Teddy Robin (泰迪·罗宾)[21](https://movie.sogou.com/movie/mzuwy3k7gizdsnzugqe4b3vrzs52vopn67em7nob2a5mnzv3ypjls.html?spver=1). Its cast includes Tony Leung Ka-fai, Simon Yam, Kelly Chen, Maggie Siu, and Shaw Yin-yin, among others[22](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbeSY4EDEeo).
## References
1. [台北金馬影展：李碧華鬼魅系列：迷離夜](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/839)
2. [Tales from the Dark Part 1, Film Society of Lincoln Center](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/tales-from-the-dark-part-1/)
3. [迷离夜（中国香港2013年电影）, 百度百科](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E8%BF%B7%E7%A6%BB%E5%A4%9C/10403928)
4. [迷離夜 (2013) (DVD) (香港版), YesAsia](https://www.yesasia.com/global/%E8%BF%B7%E9%9B%A2%E5%A4%9C-2013-dvd-%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E7%89%88/1034023356-0-0-0-zh_TW/info.html)
5. [黃國華：拒絕收編——論李碧華「後零三」電影小說的鬼魅敘事，《中國文學研究》第42期](https://www.cl.ntu.edu.tw/uploads/root/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9C%8B%E6%96%87%E5%AD%B8%E7%A0%94%E7%A9%B6/42-4.pdf)
6. [港产鬼片欲踏上回魂路，南方都市报 via 新浪娱乐](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2013-07-19/14173968141.shtml?from=wap)
7. [《青蛇》之后……李碧华答传媒问原版, 新浪博客](https://blog.sina.cn/dpool/blog/s/blog_475afdce0101ajmv.html?md=gd)
8. [迷离夜 Tales from the Dark 1 (2013), 1905电影网](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/2219606/)
9. [李碧华鬼小说上银幕无缘内地, 新浪娱乐](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2013-03-20/02393880926.shtml)
10. [极具香港本土特色鬼片（影评）, 豆瓣](https://movie.douban.com/review/6290551/)
11. [Review: Tales from the Dark 1 (2013), Sino-Cinema](https://sino-cinema.com/2017/03/26/review-tales-from-the-dark-1-2013/)
12. [教鹤然：李碧华，剑走偏锋，未泯流俗, 中国作家网](https://www.chinawriter.com.cn/n1/2017/1212/c404031-29701004.html)
13. [李碧华短篇小说的电影改编策略分析, 参考网](https://m.fx361.com/news/2017/0117/568908.html)
14. [NYAFF Review: Tales from the Dark Part 1, Flixist](https://www.flixist.com/nyaff-review-tales-from-the-dark-part-1/amp/)
15. [Tales From The Dark Part 1, MyETVmedia](https://myetvmedia.com/film-review/tales-from-the-dark-part-1/)
16. [Reel Asian 2013 Program Guide](https://www.reelasian.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/RAIFF2013-Program_Guide-final-lowres.pdf)
17. [Reel Asian 2013: Tales from the Dark Part 1 Review, Sean Kelly On Movies](https://skonmovies.ca/review/ra2013-tales-from-dark-part-1/)
18. [Review: TALES FROM THE DARK 1, Screen Anarchy](https://screenanarchy.com/2013/07/review-tales-from-the-dark-1.html)
19. [Tales from the Dark 1, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tales_from_the_dark_1)
20. [Jet Magazine issue 228](https://jetmagazine.com.hk/wp-content/uploads/228.pdf)
21. [李碧华鬼魅系列：奇幻夜, 搜狗电影](https://movie.sogou.com/movie/mzuwy3k7gizdsnzugqe4b3vrzs52vopn67em7nob2a5mnzv3ypjls.html?spver=1)
22. [小涛恐怖电影解说：香港恐怖电影《李碧华鬼魅系列之奇幻夜》, YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbeSY4EDEeo)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Horror films (individual works) › Supernatural horror films › 2010s supernatural horror films*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license