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Lin Zhengying and Charlie Cao's alternative spiritual films: Luo Wei's market is frustrated, Wang Jing touches the porcelain Xu Ke

author:Magical lake

In 1985, with the birth of "Mr. Zombie", a "zombie film creation boom" was set off on the big screen of Hong Kong films.

However, due to the proliferation of genre creation and the uneven quality of follow-up works, zombie films rapidly declined in the late 1980s. In order to save the "psychic zombie film" market that was declining step by step, the Creators of Hong Kong films at that time also made a lot of efforts.

In 1989, Lin Zhengying chose to sit in the position of director and directed himself in "One Eyebrow Daoist", hoping to combine Chinese-style "zombie films" with Western-style "vampire" films to stimulate the audience's interest in watching movies.

This year, Liu Zhenwei also combined the elements of "police film" with "zombie film" to create the movie "Fierce Ghost Academy".

Lin Zhengying and Charlie Cao's alternative spiritual films: Luo Wei's market is frustrated, Wang Jing touches the porcelain Xu Ke
Lin Zhengying and Charlie Cao's alternative spiritual films: Luo Wei's market is frustrated, Wang Jing touches the porcelain Xu Ke

In November 1988, the Hong Kong Film and Television Department officially promulgated the Film Censorship Ordinance, and the Hong Kong film market also officially implemented the film classification system at this time.

With the relaxation of the market's grading and creative scale, many Hong Kong film creators have also begun to try to push "zombie films" into the restricted box office market.

In 1992, Wang Jing recruited Lin Zhengying, Charlie Cao, Yalun Chen, Xu Manhua, Zhou Billy and others to shoot an "alternative zombie film" for the restricted box office market - "Monster City". In this issue, we will talk about this "Monster City" and talk about the anecdotes behind the scenes of the film.

Lin Zhengying and Charlie Cao's alternative spiritual films: Luo Wei's market is frustrated, Wang Jing touches the porcelain Xu Ke

One: Wang Jing and Luo Wei "touched porcelain" Xu Ke

Speaking of this "Monster City", I have to mention one person, that is, Luo Wei.

Veteran film fans who love Hong Kong films should be familiar with Luo Wei. At the end of the 1960s, Luo Wei imitated Hu Jinquan's style and filmed works such as "Dragon Gate Golden Sword" and "Five Tigers Slaying Dragon", and with these works, he quickly rose in the Hong Kong film market.

In the early 1970s, director Luo Wei went to the peak of his career because he directed "Big Brother Tangshan" and "Jingwumen" for Bruce Lee. In the mid-1970s, Luo Wei's discovery of Jackie Chan's film past has become an interesting talk in the mouths of many Hong Kong film fans.

Lin Zhengying and Charlie Cao's alternative spiritual films: Luo Wei's market is frustrated, Wang Jing touches the porcelain Xu Ke

In 1987, Xu Ke's "Ghost of Qiannu" set off a "boom in the shooting of costume fantasy films" above the Hong Kong film market, and "Ghost of Qiannu 2" in 1990 intensified this "costume fantasy film boom".

In 1991, Luo Wei, who has been in the film industry for more than 40 years, also had the idea of following the trend to shoot "costume fantasy films", so in this year, Luo Wei's "Luo Wei Pictures" found Jacky Cheung, Wang Zuxian, Zhang Min and others to create the movie "Chasing the Sun".

Although this "Chasing the Sun" has brought together many big celebrities, it has only received more than 3.9 million box office results after its release, and the effect is not ideal.

Lin Zhengying and Charlie Cao's alternative spiritual films: Luo Wei's market is frustrated, Wang Jing touches the porcelain Xu Ke

After the market was frustrated, Luo Wei hoped to make another blockbuster work to recover the losses of the previous work.

In the early 1990s, Wang Jing was arguably the highest-grossing director in the commercial Hong Kong film market. At that time, Luo Wei also hoped that Wang Jing could think of a way for himself.

In 1991, Xu Ke's "Film Studio" cooperated with "Golden Princess Entertainment" to buy the filming rights of the popular Japanese manga "Monster City", and also gathered a number of big celebrities such as Dawn, Jacky Cheung, Li Jiaxin, Tatsuya Nakadai, reiko Hayama and other big names to co-star.

Wang Jing believes that since Luo Wei wants to "touch porcelain" Xu Ke, he should simply touch it to the end. In this way, Wang Jing created such a work as "Monster City" for Luo Wei's "Luo Wei Pictures".

Lin Zhengying and Charlie Cao's alternative spiritual films: Luo Wei's market is frustrated, Wang Jing touches the porcelain Xu Ke
Lin Zhengying and Charlie Cao's alternative spiritual films: Luo Wei's market is frustrated, Wang Jing touches the porcelain Xu Ke
Lin Zhengying and Charlie Cao's alternative spiritual films: Luo Wei's market is frustrated, Wang Jing touches the porcelain Xu Ke

Luo Wei originally wanted to invite Wang Jing to direct this "Monster City". However, at that time, Wang Jing was regarded as a cash cow by "Yongsheng Pictures", carrying several film shooting tasks on her back, and she was flawless.

Therefore, Luo Wei hired Yuan Xiangren to work as the director of the film.

At the end of the 1980s, Yuan Xiangren's "Fierce Ghost Colliding with Ghosts" and "Fierce Ghost Overlord Flower" filmed as a director received a good response in the Hong Kong film market. Luo Wei also hopes that Director Yuan can maintain his state and make this "Monster City" achieve better results again.

Lin Zhengying and Charlie Cao's alternative spiritual films: Luo Wei's market is frustrated, Wang Jing touches the porcelain Xu Ke

Two: Alternative "Psychic Zombie Films"

The story of the Japanese manga "Demon Beast City" can be summed up simply in one sentence, that is: the male and female protagonists combine with each other, and then gain divine power and defeat the main villain from the demon world.

In this "Monster City", screenwriter Wang Jing also grasped the story idea of "combining male and female protagonists, obtaining divine power, and defeating villains", and combined with the local "zombie film" characteristics of Hong Kong films, created an alternative "zombie film" work.

Lin Zhengying and Charlie Cao's alternative spiritual films: Luo Wei's market is frustrated, Wang Jing touches the porcelain Xu Ke

At the beginning of the movie, "Naimi" (played by Billy Chow) and "Jinsha" (played by Xu Manhua) are two head-descending masters who use head-down techniques to rob everywhere. Inspector Luo wanted to arrest the two, but the two performed "stealth" and escaped the pursuit.

In order to arrest Naimi and Jinsha, Inspector Luo invited the Taoist chief "Lin Zheng" (played by Lin Zhengying) to help. Lin Zheng laid down the Fa Formation, broke the two people's head-lowering techniques, and cooperated with Inspector Luo to kill Naimi and Jinsha.

Lin Zhengying and Charlie Cao's alternative spiritual films: Luo Wei's market is frustrated, Wang Jing touches the porcelain Xu Ke

Inspector Luo thought that everything had been settled. Unexpectedly, however, an evil descendant stole the corpses of Naimi and Jinsha and refined them into "Yin and Yang Corpses".

The evil descending master wants to use the "Yin and Yang Master" to rule the world. Unexpectedly, the "Yin and Yang Corpse" disobeyed the discipline, he killed the evil descending master, and took revenge on Inspector Luo and Lin Zheng.

Lin Zhengying and Charlie Cao's alternative spiritual films: Luo Wei's market is frustrated, Wang Jing touches the porcelain Xu Ke

The "Yin and Yang Corpse" first found Inspector Luo, killed One of Inspector Luo's family members, and through questioning, learned from Inspector Luo that Lin was the Taoist priest of the "Xiangshan Daotang".

The "Yin and Yang Corpse" came to the "Xiangshan Daotang" and found that Lin Zheng had long left the Daotang, and the current Daotang was run by Lin Zheng's "brother" (played by Yuan Xiangren).

The master brother saw at a glance that the "yin and yang corpse" was not a person, so he cast a spell voldemort, but unfortunately the master brother did not do enough, was injured by the "yin and yang corpse", and had no choice but to flee into the wilderness.

Lin Zhengying and Charlie Cao's alternative spiritual films: Luo Wei's market is frustrated, Wang Jing touches the porcelain Xu Ke
Lin Zhengying and Charlie Cao's alternative spiritual films: Luo Wei's market is frustrated, Wang Jing touches the porcelain Xu Ke

Lin Zheng left the Taoist Hall for many years and married and had children. His wife "Sister-in-law Lin" (played by Zhu Mimi) and Lin Zheng have a disagreement and have been separated for many years, and Lin Zheng has been living with his daughter "Xiaoting" (played by Chen Yalun).

Xiaoting is a doctor, and Lin Zheng discovers that the hospital's "Director Cao" (played by Cao Charlie) has misbehaved with Xiaoting, so he performs a Taoist method, teaches Director Cao a lesson, and saves his daughter.

However, the nearby "Yin and Yang Corpse" felt Lin Zheng's spiritual power and found Lin Zheng's residence.

Lin Zhengying and Charlie Cao's alternative spiritual films: Luo Wei's market is frustrated, Wang Jing touches the porcelain Xu Ke
Lin Zhengying and Charlie Cao's alternative spiritual films: Luo Wei's market is frustrated, Wang Jing touches the porcelain Xu Ke
Lin Zhengying and Charlie Cao's alternative spiritual films: Luo Wei's market is frustrated, Wang Jing touches the porcelain Xu Ke

The "Yin and Yang Corpse" came to Lin Zheng's house and fought with him, and Lin Zheng's mana was invincible and defeated.

At this time, Lin Zheng found that his daughter was born in the Ten Spirits, and the "Yin and Yang Corpse" seemed to be very jealous of those born in the Ten Spirits.

With the protection of his daughter, Lin Zheng got rid of the "Yin and Yang Corpse" and retrieved a life. Xiaoting proposed to "call the police", and Lin Zheng said that "the police can only catch bad people, not zombies". But Xiaoting did not listen to the advice and had to go to the "police".

Agent "Ah Qiang" (played by Zhang Guoqiang) received Xiaoting, after understanding the situation, Ah Qiang took his partner and followed Xiaoting to Lin Zheng's home to check, and ended up encountering the "Yin and Yang Corpse". The partner was killed on the spot, and Ah Qiang took Xiaoting and fled in a hurry.

Lin Zhengying and Charlie Cao's alternative spiritual films: Luo Wei's market is frustrated, Wang Jing touches the porcelain Xu Ke

The "Yin and Yang Corpse" followed Ah Qiang and Xiao Ting to the "Police Station" and went on a killing spree.

In order to protect his daughter, Lin Zheng fights with the Yin and Yang corpses, while Xiaoting and Ah Qiang flee to Lin Concubine's residence for refuge. Sister-in-law Lin was also proficient in the Xuanmen Dao Method, but she was good at avoiding evil and divination calculations, and was not good at slaying demons and voldemorts.

As soon as Xiao Ting and Ah Qiang entered the door, Lin Sister-in-law figured out everything. Through deduction, Lin Sister-in-law learned that to deal with the "Yin and Yang Corpse", it is necessary to find a man born at the time of the Ten Spirits and let this man combine with Xiaoting. At that time, the two can obtain divine power and destroy the "Yin and Yang Corpse".

According to the results of divination, Ah Qiang was the man born at the time of the Ten Spirits.

Lin Zhengying and Charlie Cao's alternative spiritual films: Luo Wei's market is frustrated, Wang Jing touches the porcelain Xu Ke

At the same time that Lin Concubine calculated the countermeasures, the "Yin and Yang Corpse" also took Lin Zheng and came to Lin Concubine's residence.

Lin Zheng was not the opponent of the "Yin and Yang Corpse", and he was captured when he lost his hand during the fight. This "Yin and Yang Corpse" has the ability to read the memories of others, and by reading Lin Zheng's memories, the "Yin and Yang Corpse" comes to Lin Concubine's residence.

Although the "Yin and Yang Corpse" was jealous of those born at the time of the Ten Spirits, if it could absorb the yuan qi of the people born at the Time of the Ten Spirits, the mana of the "Yin and Yang Corpse" would also increase greatly, so the "Yin and Yang Corpse" came to Lin Concubine's residence and wanted to capture Xiao Ting.

In order to save her daughter, Lin Zheng laid down the Fa Array and fought with the "Yin and Yang Corpse", and Lin Zheng also took the opportunity to break free of the shackles and join hands with Lin Concubine to fight the enemy.

Lin Zhengying and Charlie Cao's alternative spiritual films: Luo Wei's market is frustrated, Wang Jing touches the porcelain Xu Ke

After a fierce battle, the crowd got rid of the "Yin and Yang Corpse", but Xiaoting and Ah Qiang were also injured because of the fight.

Lin Zheng found Director Cao to heal Ah Qiang and Xiao Ting. When Director Cao left, he accidentally encountered the "Yin and Yang Corpse", and the "Yin and Yang Corpse" also found Lin Zheng and others again by reading Director Cao's memories.

In order to eliminate the "Yin and Yang Corpse", Lin Zheng and Lin Concubine began to entangle and delay time, while Ah Qiang and Xiao Ting seized the time to combine.

In the end, Ah Qiang and Xiao Ting, who were united with each other, gained divine power and killed the "Yin and Yang Corpse" in one fell swoop. The story of "Monster City" also ends here.

Lin Zhengying and Charlie Cao's alternative spiritual films: Luo Wei's market is frustrated, Wang Jing touches the porcelain Xu Ke

Three: Rover, who has been frustrated again

In this "Monster City", Wang Jing and Yuan Xiangren designed a lot of bad taste scenes, such as: blood plasma splashing fights, "yin and yang corpse" combined spell casting action, etc., it is precisely because of the design of these scenes and bridge sections, this "Monster City" is marked with "restriction level".

Wang and Yuan thought that the design of these bad tastes would bring good market repercussions to the film. However, after the release of this "Monster City" in 1992, it only achieved a box office performance of more than 3 million, and the overall performance was not as good as "Chasing the Sun" in 1991.

Lin Zhengying and Charlie Cao's alternative spiritual films: Luo Wei's market is frustrated, Wang Jing touches the porcelain Xu Ke

In fact, only in terms of the production level of "zombie films", this "Monster City" is still quite good, the plot rhythm is compact, and the performances of Lin Zhengying, Zhang Guoqiang, Zhou Billy and others are also very good.

Unfortunately, the marketing method of "market touching porcelain" has caused the film to arouse the disgust of the audience, and it is inevitable that the box office will be frustrated.

Lin Zhengying and Charlie Cao's alternative spiritual films: Luo Wei's market is frustrated, Wang Jing touches the porcelain Xu Ke

After the market failure of this "Monster City", Luo Wei still did not give up the idea of "following the trend of Xu Ke film works".

In the early 1990s, Xu Ke's "Huang Feihong" series awakened the long-dormant Kung Fu Hong Kong film market. In 1993, Luo Wei also planned to imitate Xu Ke's "Huang Feihong" series and make a "late Qing Dynasty Kung Fu Theme" film work full of family and country feelings.

So in this year, Luo Wei took out all his belongings, invited Hong Jinbao, and filmed the movie "A Knife in the City".

However, after the release of this "One Knife in the City", it only got more than 1.9 million box office results. The market of the film was frustrated, which made Luo Wei doubly hit, and Luo Wei's film road also came to an abrupt end after this "follow-up defeat".

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