When it comes to horror movies, it's always hard to talk about Japanese productions, from Sadako to Ga-coconut, there's always a Japanese ghost that scares you.
Every year, Japan continues to launch new horror films to attract attention from the outside world, and last year, there was a movie on this theme that was very popular.
The film invited Hideo Nakata, director of "Midnight Bell", to direct the film, the film focused on the strange story that occurred in the murder house, and after the release of the film, the film exploded, winning the box office championship for 2 consecutive weeks, and finally ranking 5th in the Japanese annual box office list.
It is the film "Strange Talk of the House", released in August 2020, which invited Japanese idol artist Kazuya Kameari to star, and in the film, he put down his idol baggage and tried to shoot a horror film for the first time.
The female protagonist is played by actress Natsu, who became popular 2 years ago for playing the well-behaved sick woman Ono in "Your Turn".
In the past, she was scary with a strange image in the drama, and this time she was scared enough in the movie.
The film revolves around the supernatural events involved in the four murderous houses where the male protagonist Yamano stays.
At the beginning of the movie, the funny entertainer Yamano (Kazuya Kameari) and his partner perform in the theater, but they are embarrassed to perform hard, and the audience xiaozi (natsu) is one of the few laughing audiences.
When the performance was not good, Yamano and his partner decided to break up the gang, and Yamano, who had no job, had no choice but to accept the radio producer's proposal for a murder house program.
He was placed in a murder house where a murder had occurred, and under the compulsion of life, Yamano, who was worried, insisted on staying.
Gradually, he noticed something strange in the room, first the ghostly female voice on the phone, and the camera also captured the supernatural scene of the suspected ghost.
The supernatural event even affected his body, when he was on the phone at the intersection, the man found that there was a woman in red standing behind him, and before he could react, he was hit by the vehicle behind him and was hospitalized for a month.
Unexpectedly, Yamano, who suffered from physical and psychological double fright, became popular because of the supernatural video, and he was determined to persevere after tasting the sweetness of fame.
Then he took the initiative to attack and entrusted the middle to find the murderer. In the following plot, he successively stayed in the murder house of his mother and the house of suicide.
In these two houses, there are also supernatural events, first Xiao Zi is almost suffocated in the pool by the ghost of the "old mother", and Yamano himself almost commits suicide in the gloomy atmosphere of the murderous house.
Fortunately, everything is in danger, and the program ratings have climbed all the way, and Yamano, who has a big heart, does not take these things too seriously.
He even said to the middle that he was "not strong enough", so the other party moved out of the "treasure of the town store", a martyr's house on the outskirts of Tokyo.
Ignoring Xiao Zi's crazy objections, the death brother Yamano insisted on staying in this fourth murderous mansion, and waiting for him was a room with infinitely upgraded horror index...
The ending of the film is not a spoiler, can only say that the first three murderous houses are small dishes, and the fourth murderous house is the real "fierce".
All in all, this is a movie with a standard Japanese horror flavor, and his strengths and weaknesses are stark.
First of all, let's talk about the advantages, first of all, focus on the horror atmosphere rather than blind visual impact.
The beginning of the film is nearly ten minutes of "no ghost state", a long time for the audience to ridicule the wrong theater, and when the protagonist stays in the first murder house, he does not even have real direct contact with the ghost.
On the surface, it is a lake and inside but a waterfall, and there are various indications that things are not simple.
The unscathed blood stains under the tatami mats, the inexplicable hair of the old man in the dirty pool, the atmosphere of the film has been set on a terrifying tone before the ghost is seen.
The second is the usual "one-startling and first-glance scary method" in ghost films, in Japanese ghost films, they are accustomed to relying on household items to scare people, and use the most common objects in life to bring shadows to the audience.
For example, wash your hands and look in the mirror, and suddenly an old face in the mirror will stare directly at you (here and below are used antenna babies to ward off evil).
The hands outstretched in the mirror not only pressed the protagonist, but also pressed the desire of many viewers to look in the mirror for a short time.
Open a refrigerator with a ghost eating watermelon and complaining about your behavior of disturbing her.
Well, then sit well in the living room, no, a ghost directly rushed out of the cupboard to scare you.
Since "Midnight Bells" Sadako climbed out of the TV set and the female ghost of "Curse" drilled the quilt, the "new ghosts" of 2020 have inherited the tradition of "old ghosts":
It's about staying at home scary!
Then there are more types of "ghosts" this time, they formed a "ghost alliance" in the last house, and the horror atmosphere was filled at the end.
Creating so many ghosts can not be wasted, so the plot design let them surround the mountains and look around under the ghosts, and his sense of despair can be imagined.
This is not all, after the group of ghosts were repelled, a big BOSS appeared - the black ghost, this ghost came to the camera to kill the face, the horror atmosphere here to raise another level.
Of course, the shortcomings of the film are also visible to the naked eye, the most obvious is that the image of the ghosts in the film is too thin.
In classic horror movies, there will be a certain explanation for the cause of the image of the ghost.
Sadako is resentful of her father's abandonment into a ghost, Ga Coconut is brutally killed by her husband and resents into a ghost, in the Hong Kong film "The Old Corpse of the Mountain Village", the formation of female ghosts is also from the husband's malicious framing, each ghost has its own "cause", all have an unknown past.
In the film, the background of these ghosts is very sloppy, and it is briefly explained that the cause of death is brushed over.
The boss that runs through the whole drama - the cause of the black ghost is also very confused, without any background explanation, he has no reason to hunt down and kill the male protagonist, and the logic in this role is somewhat out of control, which can be said to be the biggest failure of the whole film.
In the face of Sadako, Ga-coconut and other predecessors who have a set of "theories", are you not ashamed to be born as a ghost?
Then there is Hideo Nakata's "scary tricks" gradually stagnating, without much progress, and even a little deteriorated.
In 2019, his "Sadako" received unprecedented bad reviews, and he did not believe in evil and launched 5 suspense and thriller movies in one go in 2020, but none of these films was rated 6.
This adaptation of the real event of "Strange Talk of the House" can be regarded as a good wind review, but it is also difficult to escape the suspicion of routine.
In the film, there are old routines such as hiding ghosts in cabinets, ghosts in photos, and sudden ghosts in the picture, and there is not much novelty.
In the "man-ghost war" at the end of the film, the scene of the male protagonist Jiyou muttering to exterminate the ghost is even more funny, and even some viewers said that they laughed out loud at that time, and suggested that it would be better to make a horror comedy.
From a cinematic point of view, the scary effect of this obvious routine film can only be said to be decent.
But in the end, it ranked fifth in the Annual Box Office of Japan with 2.35 billion yen, after the two anime movies "Devil's Blade" and "Doraemon" and the two anime adaptations "I Am Big Brother" and "Trick the World" Theatrical Versions.
I think there is another reason why the box office has achieved such a good result, that is, the film originates from real people.
In addition to some artistic processing, a large part of the film restores the content of the autobiography of the Japanese "murderous house artist" Matsubara Taku.
Matsubara began his experience in 2012 and has since moved into 10 mansions and started live broadcasts, making him popular in Japan.
In 2018, his book "Strange Talk about the Murder House" detailed his murder house experience, he said that he initially moved in because of the low rent of the murder house, but with the popularity of this experience, he gradually took the murder house variety show as a job.
Songyuan revealed that in the general cleaning of cheap houses, cleaners will always be perfunctory, so he has witnessed many shocking pictures in these houses.
For example, the obvious blood marks under the tatami mat and the large amount of hair coming out of the drainage mouth made him feel physically uncomfortable.
When staying at the suicide house, Matsubara also said that he and his friends would have headaches, and the above plot was reflected in the adapted film.
The book "Strange Talk of the Murder House" has received tens of thousands of sales since its release, and then Hideo Nakata put the story on the screen, and in the "Easter Egg" at the end of the film, the film also put the supernatural picture that appeared when Matsuhara first stayed in the murder house.
Putting aside the factor of curiosity, Matsubara's bravery is admirable, and through getting along with the "death scene" of the past, Matsuhara ponders the precious sunny side of life in the dark space:
Although there were always some strange spots of light and unnatural noises in the house, I am still alive
Because death is so close, I want to live even more.
In general, the advantages and disadvantages of "Strange Talk of the House" are distinct, and the scary effect maintains the conventional level of Japanese horror films, but the scary bridge is limited to routines, and people can't see the novelty.
In addition, the core conveyed by the film is worth pondering.
From this movie, we also see the hardships behind the fame of the murderous house artist, and through the male protagonist who was scared enough by the ghost in the film but still insisted on staying, and the event prototype Songyuan, we at least understand a little from the movie:
Although life is not easy, it still has to continue
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