<h1 class="Post-Title" > turned to Zhihu: Old text</h1>
————— the dividing line of terror—————
I believe that as long as you are a ghost film lover, you must have heard such a statement:
Most Japanese and Korean ghost films focus on the creation of suspense and horror atmosphere, focusing on psychological horror, while European and American ghost films often take strong visual impact such as plasma and corpses as the main selling point.
The famous Japanese horror film "Midnight Bell"
Classic American horror film Chainsaw Horror
There is some truth to this statement, but it is not comprehensive.
For example, although Japan and South Korea are geographically close and have similar cultural backgrounds, most of the core of the ghost films told in the two countries is not the same; and the United States and Eastern Europe, which belong to the same Christian cultural circle, often produce ghost films with very different styles.
Even ghost films in different regions often present completely different styles at different times (for example, Hong Kong martial arts movies show different characteristics in the 70s, 80s and 90s)
But there has never been much discussion on the Internet.
After all, ghost movies are only one kind of horror movie, and horror movies are a niche in genre movies, and for a long time, they have not received much attention.
Many professional and non-professional film critics also use ghost movies as boring pastime to stimulate the eyeballs.
But here I must emphasize: ghost films ≠ garbage pieces without connotation
There is no shortage of deep ghost films in film history, such as Masaki Kobayashi's "Strange Talk", Kenji Mizoguchi's "The Tale of the Rainy Moon", Roman Polanski's "Rosemary's Baby" and so on....
Poster of Strange Talk
These films can not only stimulate the audience's eyeballs and adrenaline with exaggerated and eerie audiovisual language, but also embody and reflect on religious history and social ethics.
Reading countless "ghosts", I will briefly analyze here why the sense of horror brought by ghost films in different countries is often not the same, and what kind of cultural background and historical origin are hidden behind these ghost films.
If you want to get the list of classic ghost films, you can directly swipe to the bottom of the article, and there are more than forty classic ghost films that I recommend for everyone, which is enough to accompany you throughout the May Day holiday.
The column is dedicated to monsters, spirits, religions and myths, and the next article will update the inventory of ghost films (European and American).
The ghost films in Asia, divided by region and style, can be roughly divided into these three types: Hong Kong and Taiwan, Thai and Japanese.
One by one.
Let's start with Hong Kong films.
1. Hong Kong-style ghost films: Zhi Wei Qi Tan and Ghost Horse Nonsense
If you ask an old Hong Konger who best represents Hong Kong movies.
The other party's answer may be: Xu Guanjie, Jackie Chan, Zhou Runfa, Zhou Xingchi, Xu Ke, Wu Yusen, etc.... Too many to count.
But if you ask him, who best represents Hong Kong ghost films.
Then the answer you get must be: Lin Zhengying, Xu Guanying, and Huang Baiming. (In fact, Huang Baimingshan is not as good as Lin Zhengying and Xu Guanying from the perspective of the number of ghost films participating in it, but Huang Baimingsheng has filmed a large number of ghost films in the all-round, especially the New Art City Company he founded)
Lin Zhengying zombie series
There are many Hong Kong ghost films, but the three people who really establish the unique "ghost horse" (Cantonese meaning funny and eccentric) style of Hong Kong ghost films are Lin Zhengying, Hui Guanying, and Huang Baiming.
Among the more classics are Lin Zhengying's "Mr. Zombie" and "Zombie Family"; Xu Guanying's "Seven Heroes of The Ghost" and "Fierce Ghost Mission"; There is also Huang Baiming's "Happy Ghost" series.
Huang Baiming's "Happy Ghost" series
One thing these ghost films have in common is that they are not terrifying. Instead, it is full of all kinds of funny, jokes and nonsense.
Hardcore ghost film lovers may not like this kind of ghost film that lacks a frightening point, but its lively and funny style and ghostly nonsense bridge section are undoubtedly greatly expanding the market for ghost films.
But in fact, the earliest Hong Kong ghost films are not like this:
The embryonic period of Hong Kong-made ghost films can be traced back to the 1970s and before, and ghost films of this period can be mainly divided into two categories:
One is based on folk tales and ancient legends, with a strong opera style, and the story background mostly takes place in ancient times and the Republic of China.
For example, "Haunted House Beauty" and "Painted Skin" are taken from "Liaozhai", and "Ghost of the Ancient Mirror" is adapted from the legend of the Tang and Song Dynasties.
"Painted Skin" is the first ghost film released Chinese mainland, which was banned because an old lady was scared to death during the reading of the film.
Poster for Painted Skin in 1966
Although the quality is general, the plot is mostly directly copied from folklore and does not keep pace with the times. However, it still provides many references for future generations in terms of art style and scene design.
For example, the use of traditional opera elements:
The culture of the drama class in "Mr. Zombie":
Chu Renmei, who appeared in "The Old Corpse of the Mountain Village" accompanied by a Cantonese opera oratorio:
The other was to imitate the style of Hanmer horror movies that were popular at the time.
Hammer Films made a large number of low-budget horror movies in the 1950s and 1970s, and Hammer films often used vampires, zombies, mummies, werewolves, etc. as selling points, including a large number of bloody, nude, violent and other elements.
The more famous ones are "Horror Dracula" and "The Mummy".
Stills from Dracula the Terrible
As a ghost film genre that swept the world at that time, Hammer films were naturally borrowed from Hong Kong films. Most of the Hong Kong ghost films before the 1980s contained strong cult elements, which were deeply influenced by Hammer's film style.
The most famous of these is "Seven Golden Corpses", which is a Hong Kong-British co-production of horror films.
The Seven Golden Corpses
Starring Hong Kong star David Jiang and world horror film master Peter Cushing, the film combines elements of Eastern zombies and Western vampires, but unfortunately the box office fiasco and huge losses, and it is precisely because of the box office failure of "Seven Golden Corpses" that the zombie theme has been silent for a long time.
Although these two styles of ghost films soon gradually withdrew from the market, they left a valuable legacy for subsequent Hong Kong ghost films.
The Cult style of the Zhiwei tradition in Chinese history + violence / comedy / pornography / and other elements of the mix + rooted in the Cantonese-speaking area of the local Ichijing ghost horse culture + kung fu action elements
It was the combination of these four that constituted the unique Hong Kong-style zombie film in the world at that time.
The most representative of Hong Kong-style ghost films is of course the zombie films mentioned earlier (zombie films are actually a mixture of kung fu + horror + comedy), but zombie films have only been brilliant for a short period of time.
The decline of zombie movies is multifaceted, and after the decline of the zombie genre, Hong Kong's ghost films have not become unpopular because of this, on the contrary, there are still many fans.
Among them, many literary and art film directors and famous directors have tried in this field.
For example, Chen Kexin's "Three Changes of Homecoming"; Xu Anhua's "Ghost in the World"; Luo Zhiliang's "Alien Space", and "Li Bihua's Ghost Series".
"Li Bihua Ghost Series"
However, these ghost films and zombie films have the same common features, that is, "not terrible", there are not many scary bridges, most of them use the skin of ghost stories to tell the mundane state of all sentient beings in the world.
So, isn't there really horror in Hong Kong-style ghost films?
Yes, Yu Yunkang's "Murder List" and Yu Rentai's "Reiki Compulsion" can be regarded as somewhat frightening, but at that time, the influence was limited, and it was not the mainstream after all.
Here is the focus on 1999's "Mountain Village Old Corpse", this movie may not be the most terrifying in the Hong Kong ghost film, but the people who have seen it are definitely the most, which can be said to be the childhood shadow of many people.
If you want to relive the memories, click here: the online address is here: the old corpse of the mountain village
"The Old Corpse of the Mountain Village" presents a very different style from the previous zombie movies and the ghost films that have been more literary and artistic: that is, it is scary enough, scary enough, and all the unreasonable bridges are in the service of the horror atmosphere.
It is not surprising that Liang Honghua, the director of "Old Corpse in the Mountain Village", is a professional horror thriller film, unlike Lin Zhengying and Xu Guanying, who are laughing stars and stars, nor like Xu Anhua and Chen Kexin, who talk about human feelings through the cloak of horror films (Xu Anhua's early ghost film "Bumping into the Right" is good)
"The Old Corpse of the Mountain Village" pursues pure horror, and the plot logic in it seems a bit far-fetched.
If there is any Hong Kong film in terms of horror that can be compared with "The Old Corpse of the Mountain Village", I would nominate "See the Ghost".
The still of "See the Ghost" is inexplicably beautiful
"See the Ghost" is about a blind woman who has been blind since childhood, and after receiving a cornea transplant, she finds that she can see something that ordinary people can't see.
Absolute horror, especially the scene of the elevator can be included in the ghost movie textbook!
The link I also put here, enough courage to click on it: horror movie hell elevator clip, open please be careful
The protagonist peeks into the elevator in fear, and no one knows what will pop out the next second
"See the Ghost" is directed by Peng Fa and Peng Shun, which is also the famous work of the two. Although the peng brothers grew up in Hong Kong, the studio is open in Thailand, the focus of their careers is also in Thailand, and many of the horror films they shoot are also set in Thailand.
It is precisely for this reason that the "See the Ghost" filmed by the Peng brothers has become a lot lighter in Hong Kong flavor, but it is deeply rooted in the essence of Thai ghost films, scary enough and scary enough.
So, what exactly is a Ty's Ghost Film?
Please keep following me down.
2. Thai ghost films: Gu Man Tong, Descending Head, Witchcraft and Reincarnation of Cause and Effect
Compared with Thai ghost movies and Hong Kong style ghost movies, it is much more terrifying.
In addition to the difference in production philosophy and level. It is also inseparable from Thailand's mysterious customs and national culture.
First, there's the scene setup.
The setting of the scene is an important part of the horror creation process. Many famous horror film shots are extremely particular in their choice of scenes.
For example, the aisles in "The Shining", the elevators in "Seeing Ghosts", in addition, there are similar museums, amusement parks, theaters, etc., which will give people a sense of horror.
Hotel aisles in The Shining
In general, the dark and narrow environment will unconsciously make people feel afraid, and the open field of vision often gives people a sense of security.
This also explains why most of the horror scenes are set in cramped spaces such as stairs, woods, and interiors, and rarely choose open places such as plains and squares.
Most of the Thai buildings are mainly wooden structures, the roof is steep, the eaves are around, the space inside the house is cramped, the sense of layering is clear, this unique style of architecture, appearing in the ghost film, often can give people a sense of terror.
In addition to the unique horror of the scene, the soundtrack of the Thai ghost film also has a unique sense of weirdness.
Compared with the common triangle iron in Japanese and Korean horror films, water organs and other instruments in European and American horror films, Thai horror films incorporate a large number of traditional instruments such as waist drums and bamboo flutes into the soundtrack, as well as Buddhist music and the sound of monks chanting scriptures, which adds a sense of mystery and horror to the film itself.
Of course, these can only be regarded as superficial reasons, and the deeper reasons are thai religious background.
Buddhist temples in Thailand
Thailand is the state religion of Theravada Buddhism, which itself contains hell, reincarnation, retribution.... And other supernatural elements, Buddhism in the process of development and thai folk popular witchcraft culture blended together, resulting in many evil and terrifying urban legends.
The most representative is Gu Man Tong (raising a small ghost) and the head lowering technique (using the head down to kill people or aphrodisiacs), and the Thai ghost film also makes a lot of use of these elements, adding a unique sense of mystery to the film.
Ghost films related to Gu Mantong: "Living Ghost Fetus"
The Ancient Man Tong (also known as the Ghost Man Tong) in Thailand is a spiritual object similar to an amulet. Legend has it that there was a general named Kun Ping in ancient Thailand, who killed his wife, took a baby from his wife's womb, roasted the baby dry, and made a "Gu Man Tong". Most of the ancient mantong in Thailand is made of clay, but some wizards still make the ancient mantong from the bones and ashes of dead babies.
The ghost film "The Art of demons: Evil Descent 2" about the art of head-down
Head-down technique is popular in Southeast Asia witchcraft, through the use of human bones, blood, hair, nails, shaped human fetus, some kind of wood, some kind of stone, pollen, oil and other things, to make people obsessed with themselves or suddenly violent death, the Thai movie "Evil Descent 2" tells the story of head down
Thailand's film base is weak, but the production standard of horror films is quite high. This is closely related to the market demand for Thai films.
Horror films, especially ghost films, can only be said to be niche in the film market in any country.
But Thailand is different, in the Top 30 of the Thai local box office, ghost films account for five, namely "Ghost Husband", "Ghost Wife", "Tomb of the Ghost", "Ghost Chaos 5" and "Ghost Shadow".
In particular, "Ghost Man" nearly twice the box office was the second place.
Although "Ghost Husband" also has horror elements, the most impressive thing is the love portrayal in it, which is a bit funny and warm, not very scary, and friends who are afraid of ghosts can also take a look
No other country in the world has an audience so passionate about ghost films.
The love of "ghosts" by the whole people of Thailand is also inseparable from thailand's Buddhist cultural tradition of more than 1,000 years.
Buddhism preaches karma, and the Thai people, who regard Buddhism as the state religion, also generally believe that good is rewarded with good and evil with evil.
For people in other countries, ghost movies may just be a pastime to seek excitement and tension, and no one will take the story in the movie seriously. But for the Thai people, ghost films have important enlightenment and enlightenment significance while entertaining.
Many (and even most) ghost films in Thailand are "based on live-action stories." For example, "Baby Corpse", "Ghost Wife", "Ghost Four Abuse", "Living Ghost Fetus", "Home of The Ghost" and so on....
The story of "The Ghost Wife" is a household name in Thailand
This is simply unthinkable in many other countries, especially atheistic China.
Since it is "based on a true story", how can it be related to the ghost?
But in a Buddhist country, this is perfectly normal.
In China, "strange forces and chaotic gods, karma" will be denounced as feudal superstition, and it will not pass the threshold of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television. But in Thailand, this is a matter of course and self-evident reasoning.
Thais generally believe in the existence of ghosts and are happy to see evil people being retaliated against by evil spirits. It is precisely because of this psychological need that Thai ghost films can hardly escape the theme of "revenge of powerful ghosts, evil has evil retribution".
In "Ghost Shadow" (top 1 thai ghost film in my heart), the reason why the protagonist is entangled with a ghost is because he has committed an unforgivable evil deed against a girl before.
A scene in "Ghost Shadow", after watching the movie, you will know why it is scary
The teenager who bullied his classmates in "Ghost Four Abuses", the third party who interfered in the feelings of others, and the Shami who did not believe in cause and effect in "Ghost Five Abuses". All of them, without exception, were retaliated against by the evil spirits.
While the audience's adrenaline surges, there will be a kind of "death is more than enough!" "Well deserved!" The thrill.
"People are doing it, ghosts are watching"
There are thousands of Thai ghost films, but most of them are the same routine, the same core.
The producers of Thai ghost films are also happy to moralize the people in ghost films.
For example, "Baby Corpse" is about babies who die of miscarriage and turn into ghost babies, thus warning the public not to have abortions. (Thailand is a Buddhist country, abortion is a major sin in Buddhism)
For example, the truth told in "The Ghost Will Be Screened" is even simpler and rude, "Pirates must not die!" ”
These ghost films have a bit of an erotic novel such as "Meat Futon" in the Ming and Qing dynasties.
The front uses all kinds of fragrant and explicit erotic descriptions to hang your appetite, but at the end of the article, it will always persuade you: "Whoever commits adultery with his wife and daughter, his wife and daughter will be adulterous." ”
The same is true of Thai ghost films, which give you all kinds of fright and all kinds of screams in front of you, but in the midst of terror, they will always convey to you the simple good and evil views of the Thai people: "Don't have abortions", "Don't be a third party", "Don't bully the weak", "Don't blaspheme the gods and Buddhas"....
In a country where the whole people believe in ghosts, it is only natural that horror films can have such popularity and quality.
3. Japanese Ghost Films: Wraith Culture and Urban Weird Talk
Thai ghost movies are scary, but if compared with Japanese ghost movies, Japanese ghost movies are better.
Why?
As mentioned above, most of the Thai ghost films are about "evil has evil retribution", and the dead are bad people.
Although the atmosphere is very frightening, as an audience, there is rarely a sense of substitution, that is, the so-called "do not do bad things, not afraid of ghosts knocking on the door"
But TM's Japanese ghosts are different, Japanese ghosts are good or bad, and you have no vendetta, as long as you have even a little relationship with ghosts, there is only one way to die!
In the Japanese movie "The Grudge", many people who have no intention of breaking in are killed by Gaco
Because the "ghost" in Japanese ghost movies and the "ghost" in Thailand and even Chinese culture are completely different things.
The Japanese word for oni is actually similar to what we usually think of as "yokai", most of them are large in stature and have horns on their heads, which directly cause physical damage to people.
Not the soul after death.
Oni generally looks like this:
"Ghosts" in Japanese Culture
The "ghost" in Japanese ghost films accurately corresponds to the concept of "wraith" in Japanese culture.
The ghosts in Chinese ghost films generally refer to the soul after death, while the "wraiths" in Japanese ghost films are precisely soulless.
The so-called wrath refers to the loss of a person's soul after death, the body occupied by resentment, and over time it becomes an incomparably evil existence.
The ghosts of China and Thailand still retain the emotions and memories of being human beings in their previous lives, and some of them will make people feel that there is still a trace of humanity.
Even if chu renmei killed many innocent people in "Mountain Village Old Corpse", she can still feel that there is still some warmth between her and her nephew Xiao Qiang:
Xiao Qiang, Chu Renmei's nephew in "The Old Corpse of the Mountain Village"
But the Japanese spirits, because they have no soul, often represent pure hatred, the purest hatred.
They kill without object:
For example, in "The Grudge", her misfortune is caused by her parents, husbands and other people around her, but the object of her revenge is expanded to all those who walk into that room.
Another example is Sadako in "Midnight Murder Bell", the person who has seen the video tape does not make any contact with her, but is still killed by her.
Send the original version of Sadako is afraid of being scared and reported, so it is good to send a Q version
Then there's "Ghost Doll Hanako", Hanako was killed in the toilet by the bad guys, and after her death, she in turn killed countless innocent children in the toilet.
If the bridge section of the Thai ghost film "Li Ghost Asking for Life" reflects the Buddhist "karma"; then the "indiscriminate killing" of the Japanese ghost film reflects the Japanese "Wraith Culture"
In Japanese culture, the "dead" have an extremely important position.
China also has the saying that "the dead are great", but "the dead are great" means that after a person dies, everything disappears, and as a living person, he should put aside his old grudge with the deceased and stop talking about the right and wrong of the deceased.
It is also in awe of the dead, but Chinese prefer "respect", while the Japanese prefer "fear".
Because the Japanese believe that if a person's wish is not fulfilled before death, or if the obsession is too deep, he will become a ghost after death.
Therefore, the deceased must be appeased, and no matter what sins the deceased committed before his death, he must be feared.
Many of Japan's shrines are dedicated to similar spirits:
For example, prince Hayayoshi, a famous wraith in Japanese history, has legend that after the death of Prince Hayayoshi, his grievances continued to dissipate, and he killed Prince Anten and Emperor Huanwu successively, becoming a major evil spirit that shrouded Japan for a thousand years.
The Japanese movie "Yin and Yang Division" is about the resurrection of Prince Hayayoshi and the chaos of Heian Kyo
Another example is the legendary Emperor Shōtoku, who transformed into a tengu.
Before his death, Emperor Shōtoku made a vow: He would disturb the world for the sake of Japan's great demon. Take the people as the emperor, take the emperor for the people (from "Baoyuan Story")
They are famous spirits in Japanese history, and legend has it that countless disasters in Japan arose from these two people, but even so, their shrines and tombs are still visited by many people, and people worship and sacrifice these two evil spirits out of fear.
Japanese "ghost" films are also deeply influenced by this "ghost culture".
The life of Gaco in "The Grudge" is very tragic, not so much to arouse the sympathy of the audience, but to give a reasonable explanation for such a deep grievance of Gaco.
"Sadako" is not a ghost, his essence is resentment; "Gaya" is not a ghost, her essence is the earth bound spirit.
The so-called earthly spirit is the evil spirit that binds people or things to death because of their grievances. The earthly spirits are often deeply resentful and will not rest unless they have fulfilled their last wishes. If you inadvertently enter the territory of the Earth Bound Spirit, you will often be entangled with it.
Understanding this concept, you can understand why the Japanese "ghost" gives people such a unique sense of horror.
In addition to the "Wraith Culture", another major feature of Japanese ghost films is "strange talk tradition".
The so-called strange talk, which means "a story with a ghost nature", such as "Liaozhai Zhiyi", belongs to the strange talk.
Japan has a long tradition of weird talk, and countless stories of weirdness have been passed down for thousands of years. Strange literature occupies an important place in the history of literature.
Famous novels include Akinari Ueda's "The Tale of the Rainy Moon", Koizumi Yakumo's "Strange Talk", and Kyogoku Natsuhiko's "Alley Talk Hundred Stories".
This also directly affected another type of Japanese ghost film: the strange talk film (my own term, may not be very rigorous)
Kenji Mizoguchi's masterpiece The Tale of the Rain Moon is based on the novel of the same name by Akinari Ueda
Strange talk films are the ghost films that can best represent the Japanese aesthetic style, not only because the strange talk films are mostly set in ancient Japan and integrate traditional Japanese elements such as ukiyo-e and Bushido, but also because the genre of strange talk films is very different from the ghost films with horror and horror such as "The Grudge" and "Midnight Bell":
The biggest attraction of the strange talk film is not "horror", but in the horror, there are some absurd, funny, warm... The elements of this show the unique mysterious, lonely and aesthetic artistic conception of oriental aesthetics.
Japanese ghost films rarely appear in European and American ghost films such as "blood rushing" and "severed limbs", which is also related to the aesthetic tendency of Japanese weird talk culture in poignant and mysterious.
In terms of strange talk films, Masaki Kobayashi's "Strange Talk", a 1964 film, the set, soundtrack, and color are all first-class, especially the mysterious and silent Japanese aesthetic in the movie. There are many scary ghost films, but there are very few ghost films that are so exquisite and beautiful and endlessly evocative.
The picture of "Strange Talk" is very much the essence of Japanese aesthetics
In addition to "Strange Talk", "The Tale of the Rain Moon", "Black Cat", "Tokaido Yotsuya Strange Talk" and "World Fantastic Story" are also masterpieces in terms of strange talk films.
Strange talk films are mostly composed of several short story pieces, each story is about half an hour, and there is no too frightening part. It is best for people who want to watch ghost movies but have a low heart.
The ghost films in Hong Kong, Japan and Thailand have their own characteristics, but in fact, there are some classic ghost films in other parts of Asia, such as South Korea's "Sopranos" and Chinese mainland's "Middle Evil", but due to space limitations, I will not carefully analyze them in this article.
After I have time, I will do another special topic dedicated to "Chinese elements of horror films" (paper tie, shou clothes, costumes, etc.... ), please also pay attention to my public account "Old And Old Text House" in advance
————— secure dividing line—————
————— Asian Classic Ghost Film Recommendation —————
Hong Kong: "Bumping into the Right" / "Mr. Zombie" / "Zombie Family" / "Mountain Village Old Corpse" / "Night of the Ghost" / "Seeing ghosts" / "Zombies" / "Double Pupils" / "Spirit Compelling" / "Murder List" / "Li Bihua Ghost Series" / "The Return of the Three Changes" / "The First Commandment"
Day: Strange Talk / Black Cat / Rain Moon Story / Ghost Doll Hanako / Midnight Bell Series / "Curse" Series / "Ghost Call" Series / "World Of Wonders" Theatrical Edition Series / "Strange Talk New Ear Bags" Theatrical Edition Series / "Tomie" Series
Tai: Ghost Shadow / Ghost Will Be Screened / Evil Descent 2: The Art of the Devil / Ghost Dormitory / Ghost Four Abuses / Ghost Five Abuses / Conjoined Yin / Ghost Dismemberment
Others: "Sopranos Talk" Series / "Crying" / "Ghost Bells" / "Strange Talk" / "Middle Evil"