Some time ago, some websites did the voting of the "childhood shadow" of each post-80s, and the top three were "Japanese Sadako", "American clown" and "Chinese zombie".
Surprisingly, the "Chinese zombies" actually beat "Japanese Sadako" and "American Clowns" to the top of the list.
Although the site's votes are not necessarily credible, it can still be seen that the psychological shadow area of zombies in the post-80s can be seen.
In fact, as early as the 1930s, some Hong Kong directors began shooting zombie films. For example, "Midnight Zombie", released in 1936, although starring Hu Die and Yang Yiping, two superstars, because the film completely imitates the vampire shape in "Dracula", the "lethality" of Chinese audiences is not large. Later, many filmmakers tried zombie movies intermittently, but most of them did not cause a response.
Until, in 1985, "Mr. Zombie" appeared.
The movie "Mr. Zombie" is produced and produced by Hong Jinbao, directed by Liu Guanwei, co-written by Huang Bingyao and Situ Zhuohan, and starring Lin Zhengying, Qian Xiaohao, Xu Guanying, Li Saifeng, Wang Xiaofeng, Yuanhua, Lou Languang, Wu Ma, Chen You, Tian Qiwen, Liu Qiusheng and others.
In 1971, Bruce Lee rose to prominence in Hollywood after starring in Films such as The Wrecking Crew, Marlowe, Lovely Woman, And Here Come the Brides, and returned to Hong Kong.
In the same year, Bruce Lee collaborated on the concept of "Silent Xiao" unsuccessfully, and instead starred in the TV series "Blind Pursuit". During this period, Bruce Lee has been seeking cooperation with Shaw Films, but the two sides have been inseparable because of the remuneration.
At this time, Shaw's film general Zou Wenhuai saw the commercial value of Bruce Lee, so on June 28, 1971, the two sides negotiated two films for $15,000, "Tangshan Big Brother" and "Jingwumen".
The two films were an unprecedented success, and the two sides were in full swing to make "Dragon Fight" and "Game of Death".
Bruce Lee died suddenly while preparing to shoot Game of Death.
Bruce Lee's death was undoubtedly a huge blow to Jiahe, fortunately, Shao shi at that time was busy with television business, otherwise if jiahe was directly "hard", it is estimated that Jiahe would have disappeared in the competition long ago.
In the first few years, Jiahe relied on Hong Jinbao to occasionally win Jackie Chan a share of the fierce competition in the Hong Kong film market.
But by 1980, competition in hong Kong's film scene was intensifying. At that time, under the "Golden Princess" film company, Mai Jia, Huang Baiming, Shi Tian, Xu Ke, Shi Nansheng, Zeng Zhiwei and others suddenly joined forces to establish the "New Art City".
New Art City "Seven Monsters"
The first film shot by New Art City was "Funny Times" directed by Wu Yusen, which made Jiahe smell dangerous.
Sure enough, the series of "Best Partner", "Ghost Horse Wisdom Multi-Star", "I Love Night Fragrance" and other series launched by New Art City are all blockbusters.
Jiahe, who rushed to deal with it, could only follow the shooting, and the other party filmed "Best Partner", and Jiahe filmed "Holiday Lucky Star". Anyway, the new art city fire one, Jiahe will follow one.
When it came to the time when New Art City filmed the "Happy Ghost" series ("Happy Ghost", "Happy Ghost Summer Vacation", "Happy Ghost Bumping Ghost"), Jiahe couldn't stand it. Because at this time, Jiahe's series such as "Scary People" and "Scared Ghosts" were not as good as the box office and reputation of New Art City.
Stills from Happy Ghost
The main feature of the new art city at that time was that there was a lot of money and many people, and Jiahe could not be hard and had to work the innovation and change of the work.
In 1985, Jiahe struck: in the first step, they invited Huang Ying, Huang Bingyao, Situ Zhuohan and other talents to be screenwriters; in the second step, they let Lin Zhengying, Hong Jinbao and other generals with martial arts skills go directly from behind the scenes to the front of the stage; the third step was to spend a lot of money and money.
In the first part of "Mr. Zombie", Jiahe directly invested 4.5 million yuan, which was filmed in two months. Who knows that director Liu Guanwei spent half of the film on the money, the boss said that the maximum investment of 1 million, and then seven pieces of stunned is spent 8.5 million, it took 4 months to complete.
Liu Guanwei complained to himself in an interview
Hong Jinbao took a look at it and said directly to Liu Guanwei: "Brother, this movie will cost the company at least two or three million, you wait for the roll to go home." ”
The movie was released, and Liu Guanwei waited for the news in the anxiety of not knowing whether he could continue to be a director tomorrow. His friend told him, "You hurry to the cinema and see what's going on?" The audience did not dare to go home after watching, the person who bought the ticket in the back waited, the person in front did not go, and the back show could not play normally! ”
At that moment, Liu Guanwei's hanging heart finally let go.
"Mr. Zombie" has grossed more than 20 million in Hong Kong alone, a record that no one has broken in the genre!
The original intention of the film "Mr. Zombie" was that Jiahe wanted to win the battle with New Art City, but the shooting process was very hard.
Because if you want to win this battle, you must ask for new changes.
As we all know, Lin Zhengying is the proud protégé of "Pink Chrysanthemum", and he only sings Peking Opera in layman's terms. Later, I joined the "Hongjia Class" and did only do the Dragon and Tiger Martial Arts Division! So, what about his interpretation of the image of a good Taoist? Learn, ask, practice!
At the beginning of the shooting, Lin Zhengying began to systematically learn the "Maoshan Taoist Technique", consulting with some well-known "warlocks" in Hong Kong, and constantly observing, learning and contacting their movements.
As for the other leading actors, Qian Xiaohao, Xu Guanying, Lou Languang, Wu Ma, Yuanhua and others need not say much - because they have not been in contact with it before, nor have they learned this kind of shooting method, then the only way is for everyone to study and practice hard together.
At the same time, the shooting environment is also very bad, and the whole crew is stunned to shoot in the barren mountains and wild mountains for more than a month before shooting.
Finally, due to the shortage of funds, the film almost co-opted the film companies except New Art City into partnerships.
Therefore, it is not a miracle that this movie can finally be made and achieve impressive box office results!
This film is a film mixed with many film elements: action, horror, comedy, fantasy, suspense, plot...
But for most post-80s viewers, perhaps the most prominent thing about it is its horror element – it is still the shadow of the childhood of many post-80s.
The reason is that it is appropriate to imitate and borrow from Western vampire movies, mixing Chinese traditional culture, folklore and other elements together, with a very strong sense of substitution!
To this day, the post-80s generation has long passed the age of standing, but when it comes to their "childhood shadow", they will still remember such a bridge:
"Pen and paper and ink sword";
"Her gaze, her gaze, is like a star shining..."
"Come and open the door, I'm your captain Avi!"
Perhaps, for a movie, and for their actors, this is the biggest success.
"The glutinous rice red rope is still there, and I don't see the ghost catchers of that year!"
There is a chance to pickpocket sister for everyone to pick up the situation of the actors of "Mr. Zombie", if you like, please like it!