On the screen of Hong Kong films, Xu Ke won the title of "Xu LaoWei" with his strange film style.
In 1979, Xu Ke officially entered the Hong Kong film industry because he directed the strange style of martial arts film "Butterfly Change". Later, "Hell Without Doors" and "First Type Danger" also made Xu Ke attract much attention in the Hong Kong film industry because of the chaotic and grotesque film style, and the name of "Xu Laowei" did not go away.
The three works of "Butterfly Change", "Hell Without Doors" and "First Type Danger" have also been called the "Chaos Trilogy" by fans. These three grotesque style film works also became the beginning of Xu Ke's film road.
In 1980, Xu Ke directed and filmed the second part of the "Chaos Trilogy", "Hell Without Doors". Xu Ke, who is in the period of style exploration, refines the elements of the American "black humor film", designs a Lu Xun-style dark fable story in "Hell Without Doors", and borrows the film style of Japanese Cult film director Keio Ishii.
After the release of this "Hell Without Doors", it was not popular and the box office results were dismal, and the film failed to let Xu Ke encounter a turning point in the film industry, but let Hong Jinbao at this time embark on the peak of his career. Today we will talk about this black classic released in 1980 - "Hell Without Doors".
<h3 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" >, why Xu Ke planned and filmed such a work as "Hell Without Doors"</h3>
"Why did Xu Ke plan and shoot 'Hell Without Doors'?" The answer to this question also begins with the Hong Kong film market environment in the late 1970s.
In the late 1960s, the film industry of Hu Jinquan and Zhang Che rose up; in the early 1970s, Bruce Lee returned to Hong Kong, making kung fu films and martial arts films become the mainstream of creation above the Hong Kong film market. Throughout the 1970s, Hong Kong films were immersed in the filming of kung fu films and martial arts films.
Bruce Lee, Zhang Che, Hu Jinquan
The monotonous theme creation not only squeezes out the story creativity of the screenwriters, but also makes the audience aesthetically tired. At the end of the 1970s, Hong Kong filmmakers set off a "New Wave Film Movement" with "innovation and change" as the core, and began to explore the diversification of the Hong Kong film market.
In 1979, Xu Ke, who embarked on the road of directing, also responded to the call of the "New Wave Film Movement". In his debut film "Butterfly Change", Xu Ke integrated the art style of Hollywood science fiction films into martial arts movies.
The character modeling and set design full of "science fiction wasteland" style left a deep impression on many viewers.
After the release of "Butterfly Change", although it was well received by many people in the industry, the box office response was flat. In order to create a work that coexists with style and box office, Tsui Ke filmed "Hell Without Doors" in 1980.
"Well-lit shots, wonderful action fights, and curious stories" have always been the three sharp weapons for commercial films to gallop the box office market. In order to take into account the box office, Xu Ke integrated a lot of "hunting elements" into this "Hell Without Doors", and imitated the characteristics of "black humor films", presenting a horror and thrilling story in the form of comedy.
On top of the lens style performance, Xu Ke made a lot of references to the films of Japanese Cult film director Keio Ishii.
The use of "heavy taste plasma shots" in "Hell Without Doors" is very much in the cult style of Toshii Tomoo. The "Fire Man Mask" worn by the villagers of "Big Hometown" adds a lot of Flavor Japanese flavor to the movie.
After the release of "Hell Without Doors" in 1980, the box office response was flat, and only achieved more than 1 million Hong Kong versions. Although the film failed to make Xu Ke usher in a career turning point, the foundation it laid on the Hong Kong film market helped Hong Jinbao to reach the peak of his career.
Next, let's briefly talk about the movie story of "Hell Without Doors", and at the same time, talk about its impact on Hong Jinbao's film career.
<h3 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > second, Lu Xun-style grotesque fables, "man eats man" horror story</h3>
Xu Ke's "Hell Without Doors" is very similar to Mr. Lu Xun's "Diary of a Madman", which satirizes cruel human nature by telling a "story of people eating people".
At the beginning of the film, two "chicken and duck sellers" come to a place called "Big Hometown" and want to sell the chickens and ducks they brought. Unexpectedly, he was caught in the woods outside the village and was captured by a group of masked men.
The merchants thought that these people were robbing money, so they decisively handed them their belongings. Unexpectedly, the masked people took the vendors to a slaughterhouse. Here, the Masked Men killed two vendors and divided their "meat" into portions, which were brought to the village and distributed to the villagers.
This "big hometown" is like a hell, and the villagers are like evil ghosts, and they have always retained the tradition of "people eating people". Unsuspecting businessmen and passers-by outside the village will come and go once they mistakenly enter the "big hometown". It is "Heaven has a way you don't go, hell has no door to break in", and the title of the film "Hell Has No Door" is exactly from this intention.
On top of the design of the film story, Xu Ke is extremely ironic that this "big hometown" of the "man eats people" village not only appears on the movie screen, but also may appear next to every audience.
At the beginning of the film, Xu Ke typed the subtitle "The story of this film is all hypothetical, and if there is a similarity, it is unfortunate". It seems to be a comedic ridicule, but it makes a strong sense of irony come to the face.
After two traders were killed in the "big hometown", two more men mistakenly entered this "endless hell". They are the protagonists of the story, "Nine Nine Nine" played by Xu Shaoqiang and "Bao Tie Bile" played by Feng Feng.
Ninety-nine-nine and Bao Tiebi met because they shared the same boat, and Nine-Nine-Nine bluntly said that he was a secret agent who came to the "big hometown" to investigate the whereabouts of the thief "Rolex". And Bao Tiebi said that he is a businessman, come here just to see, what kind of business to do.
As soon as he approached the village, Nine Nine Nine fell into a trap. Instead of rescuing Jiujiu, Bao Tiejian, who was traveling with him, took the opportunity to take away his luggage. It turned out that Bao Tiebi's real identity was a thief.
Bao Tiebi bypassed the trap and took the lead in entering the "Big Hometown", while Jiujiujiu began to fight with several masked people who came later.
Nine nine nine
Pack iron gallbladder
After Bao Tiebi entered the village, the villagers found that someone had escaped the trap and planned to catch him in the village. And Bao Tie was bold and cunning, and resolved the crisis many times. Seeing the hostile attitude of the villagers, Bao Tiebi decided to hide in the woods outside the village and wait until it was dark to perform the "magic empty hand" stunt.
On the other side, Nine Nine Nine relied on his kung fu to kill several masked people who came. After entering the village, Jiujiujiu found the leader of the local security team, revealed his identity as a secret agent, and asked the captain to assist him in the investigation of "Rolex".
The captain of the security team in the "big hometown" is the "mastermind behind the scenes" who designs traps and hunts passers-by. The captain saw that Nine-Nine-Nine had broken through the trap and injured the Masked Man, and knew that he was not a good person.
On the one hand, the captain told Jiujiujiu that there was a slaughterhouse in the west of the village, and there were often suspicious people living there, so that Jiujiujiu could go to investigate. On the other hand, he arranged for people to ambush at the slaughterhouse, hoping to kill nine nine nine in the slaughterhouse.
It is worth mentioning that Kaohsiung, an old drama in Hong Kong films, played the role of "captain" in this "Hell Without Doors". In Xu Ke's early film works, Kaohsiung has had many wonderful performances.
However, most of the audience knows Kaohsiung, probably in Zhen Zidan's version of "Jingwumen" and Jiao Enjun's version of "Xiao Li Flying Knife".
At the slaughterhouse, Nine Nine Nine encounters an ambush by the Masked Man. After a fight, Jiujiujiu escapes from the slaughterhouse and is rescued by the villager Ah Lian. Seeing the dashing and handsome Nine Nine Nine, Ah Lian also had a little admiration.
After the slaughterhouse, the captain was very angry and reprimanded his men. In the face of reprimands, the members of the security team hid behind the vice captain, and the camera design of the eagle catching the chicken also added a lot of joy to the film.
After being treated by Ah Lian, Jiu Jiu Jiu came to the security team again and told the captain what had happened at the slaughterhouse.
The captain and deputy captain accompanied 999 to the slaughterhouse to investigate the situation. The captain wanted to take the opportunity to take another shot at Nine Nine Nine, but was blocked by the vice captain.
The deputy captain said that 999 is a secret agent sent down by the "Secret Agent General Bureau", and if he disappears in the "big hometown" without knowing it, it will definitely arouse suspicion. At that time, the "General Bureau of Secret Agents" will send more personnel to investigate, and the "secret of cannibalism" may be revealed.
The captain thought that the vice captain was right, so he closed it in time. At the slaughterhouse, Jiujiujiu looked at the clean scene and was full of doubts. The security captain said that there has never been any "mask man appearing" in the "big hometown", which also makes nine nine nine feel strange.
Just when Nine Nine Nine was wondering, Bao Tiejian suddenly came to the security team. It turned out that Bao Tie was hiding in the woods outside the village and had inadvertently witnessed the masked man hunting passers-by. While watching, Bao Tiebi's whereabouts were exposed and he was "hunted down" by the masked man, so he fled all the way and came to the security team to report the case.
In the security team, Bao Tiebi encountered Nine Nine Nine. Nine-nine-nine exposed the identity of Bao Tie's cowardly thief, and the security captain also "borrowed the slope to get off the donkey" and shunshi put Bao Tie's gall in prison.
That night, the vice captain came to look for Nine-Nine-Nine and told him that "Big Hometown" is a place where "people eat people", but Nine-Nine-Nine sighed that this is the case everywhere, and people exploit each other.
The vice captain said that the "people eating people" he said was not a metaphor, or a literal "people eat people", and told Nine that the village had designed traps to catch and divide the passages of pedestrians.
Things are too bizarre to believe. Seeing that Nine-Nine-Nine did not want to believe it, the vice-captain revealed his identity and said that he was a Rolex and wanted to "show up".
As a result, knowing that the vice captain was Rolex, Jiujiujiu thought that the so-called "people eating people" were all ghosts of the vice captain, and those masked people who attacked them were also the deputy captain's masters. The two attacks he encountered when he came to the "big hometown" may have been committed by the vice captain, the purpose of which was to prevent himself from investigating the case.
Seeing that Nine-Nine-Nine-One had repeatedly misunderstood and intended to arrest himself, the vice-captain had to escape first.
After Bao Tiebi was imprisoned, the captain arranged several masked men to go and cut off his life. At this time, the vice captain suddenly appeared, killed several masked people, and saved Bao Tiebi.
It turned out that the vice captain wanted to unite with nine nine nine and kill the captain together. As long as the culprit of the captain is removed, the "man-eating incident" in the "big hometown" should be stopped. However, the vice captain's words aggravated the misunderstanding of nine nine nine.
Therefore, the vice captain decided to unite with the iron gall and jointly "assassinate" the captain.
The deputy captain and Bao Tiebi came to the captain's residence, Bao Tiebi led the guards away, and the deputy captain sneaked into the house. After a fight, the vice captain was defeated by the captain and was killed. Seeing the tragic death of the vice captain, Bao Tiebi also quickly hid.
The next day, Nine-Nine-Nine came to the security team, and after verifying his identity, he determined that the deputy captain was the thief Rolex, so he decided to close the case and wrote a letter to the "Secret Agent General Bureau".
After the letter was sent, 999 also decided to return to the "Secret Agent General Bureau". On the way out of the "big hometown", Jiujiujiu was attacked again by the masked man and was eventually arrested. When Jiujiujiu woke up, he found himself tied up in the ancestral hall of his "big hometown".
It turned out that the captain had been waiting for Nine-Nine-Nine to send a letter to the "Secret Agent General Bureau". As long as the letter is sent and confirms that 999 has left the "big hometown", then what happens after that has nothing to do with the "big hometown".
In this ancestral hall play, Xu Ke painted the "ancestral portrait" enshrined in the ancestral hall as a ghost. The design of the lens in this paragraph is also very ironic.
In the ancestral hall, Ah Lian, who had once saved Nine Nine Nine, pleaded with the captain, hoping that he would let Nine Nine Nine go.
Ah Lian's intercession angered the captain and was locked up by the captain. Just as the captain was about to kill Nine Nine Nine, Bao Tie suddenly appeared and rescued Nine Nine Nine.
Nine-nine-nine, Bao Tiebi fled all the way, and was eventually caught up by the pursuit of the security team. The captain sent Bao Tiejiu and Jiujiujiu to the slaughterhouse, and unexpectedly, Ah Lian's brother saved Jiujiujiu and Bao Tiejiu at the slaughterhouse.
Ah Lian's younger brother wanted Jiu Jiu Jiu and Bao Tie To go to rescue Ah Lian, and Jiu Jiu Jiu also gladly agreed.
Bao Tiebi put on a mask and pretended to be a masked person, and gathered the villagers in the ancestral hall in the name of dividing meat. Nine-Nine-Nine took the opportunity to sneak into the cell and save Ah Lian.
In the ancestral hall, Bao Tie's identity was revealed and he was surrounded by the security team. At this time, Nine Nine Nine came to break the siege and launched a one-on-one solo with the captain.
After a fight, Jiujiujiu killed the captain and escaped from the village with Ah Lian, Bao Tiebi and others.
On the way to escape, a villager caught up with several people. After a fight, the pursuing soldiers were killed. At this time, Ah Lian, looking at the fallen villagers, subconsciously took out the villagers' hearts and handed them to Jiujiujiu to eat.
Seeing this scene, Nine Nine Nine was stunned. Both Nine-Nine and Rolex thought that as long as the culprit of the captain was killed and the "big hometown" was escaped, the "story of man eating people" would end. However, they were wrong.
The nature of "cannibalism" is engraved in the bones of the "villagers in big hometown". No matter where you flee, the inferior roots in the depths of human nature cannot be erased.
With the consternation of Nine Nine Nine, the story of "Hell Without Doors" also came to an end at this time.
<h3 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > third, Xu Ke's black classic, but helped Hong Jinbao's career peak</h3>
In April 1980, Xu Ke's "Hell Without Doors" was released, and although it only achieved a box office result of more than 1 million yuan, this smorgasbord of comedy elements, horror elements, and action elements left a deep impression on the audience at that time.
After "Hell Without Doors", Hong Jinbao's "Ghost Fighting Ghosts" was released in December 1980.
Also a smorgasbord of comedic elements, horror elements, and action elements, under the market paving of "Hell Without Doors", this "Ghost Fights Ghosts" won more than 5 million at the box office with excellent action design, ranking 4th in the box office of Hong Kong films in 1981.
In fact, in terms of story depth, "Hell Without Doors" is far better than "Ghost Fighting Ghosts". However, the inferior fight design in "Hell Without Doors" puts it above the box office market, opening up a huge gap with "Ghost Fight".
It is worth mentioning that the martial arts instructor of this "Hell Without Doors" is Yuan Kui and Qian Yuesheng in the early years.
At the end of the 70s, Yuan Kui and Qian Yuesheng failed to rise rapidly above the action film world like Jackie Chan and Hong Jinbao. Nowadays, it seems that the difference in the level of action design should be an important reason for the different situations of several people at that time.
After "Ghost Fighting Ghosts", Hong Jinbao led the "HongJia Class" to shoot several works such as "Scary People", "Scared Ghosts", "Mr. Zombie" and so on, which set multiple elements such as horror, comedy and action, and gradually made Hong Jinbao's film road to the peak.
After "Hell Without Doors", Xu Ke also saw his shortcomings above the action scenes. After that, Xu Ke began to try to find his own action partner, and his encounter with Cheng Xiaodong also laid the groundwork for the birth of "Qiannu Ghost" later.
Although in terms of art style presentation, Xu Ke's "Hell Without Doors" is not as good as the later "Ghost of Qiannu", and in terms of fight scene design, "Hell Without Doors" is not as good as the "Ghost Fights Ghosts" of the same period.
However, the profound theme and extremely ironic story have made many fans favor this "Hell Without Doors". Even after 40 years of impact, this "Hell Without Doors" still attracts a new generation of audiences with its own unique charm.