On November 20, 1992, "Monster City" premiered in Hong Kong, marking the 28th anniversary.
The film is produced by Princess Jin, produced by Film Studio, produced by Xu Ke, directed by Mak Dajie, and starring Li Ming, Jacky Cheung, Li Jiaxin, Li Ruotong, Zhang Yaoyang, ZhongDai Daya, Yuan Heping, Andeiko Yeshan and so on.
Even under the filter of the Golden Age, it still can't hide the shocking and vulgar nature of this film; even if it is released now, the hard plot and embarrassing acting skills everywhere still cause booing.
Despite this, "Demon Beast City" still makes countless audiences remember. The biggest reason for this is probably not the strange picture, nor the whimsical stunt, but the beauty of the whole staff against the sky.
Li Jiaxin, a bully who has made more than thirty films, although he has never been known for his acting skills, but everywhere he goes, he is full of beauty attacks, especially "Fallen Angel" and "Demon Beast City".
"Demon Beast City" is not only an absolute display of Li Jiaxin's absolute beauty, but also the first encounter between her and Dawn's "Golden Boy and Jade Girl". After this film, the response to the screen CP was quite enthusiastic.
The following year, TVB invited the two to star in the "drama version of the demon beast city" - "Yuan Zhenxia", and implemented the "bone Mingxin" to the end. "Flying Fox", "Fallen Angel", "October Siege" is already a later story.
In addition, "Demon Beast City" is also a famous film work of "Aunt" Li Ruotong. Before becoming a professional actor, Li Ruotong was originally a flight attendant, who entered the advertising circle after being discovered by star scouts and shot a large number of advertisements.
Li Ruotong's first film was with Wang Zuxian and Ren Dahua in "Romantic Killer Free Man". Not long after the shooting, she realized that she was not much interested in the film, so she turned back and continued to shoot commercials.
In 1992, Xu Ke saw that Li Ruotong's advertisement was very appreciative, so he invited her to star in "Demon Beast City". She and Jia Xin fought on the same stage in the film, did not fall behind, and really made a name for themselves.
Although the plot of "Demon Beast City" is weak and the performance is unbearable, this unique bad film still has a very important position in the history of Hong Kong film:
From the perspective of graphics, special effects, technology and creativity, it is not only a rare science fiction film in Hong Kong, but also the most cult work of Tsui Ke in the 90s.
At the same time, "Demon Beast City" is also the most popular Xu Ke film among Western audiences, and is often invited to be screened at film festivals and midnight shows in Europe and the United States.
At the end of the 1970s, a new wave movement was set off in the Hong Kong film industry. Among them, Xu Ke continuously filmed cult trilogies such as "Butterfly Change", "Hell Without Doors", and "First Type Danger", which caused a huge audiovisual impact.
In 1982, "New Shushan Swordsman" hired the support of the "Star Wars" stunt team to integrate the magical elements of the world into the traditional costume martial arts, creating a genre of oriental magic movies.
In the following ten years, as a leading commercial director and producer, Xu Ke has established immortal achievements in comedy films, police films, monster films, martial arts films and many other fields, and has led the trend of Hong Kong films for many times.
In 1992, Xu Ke recreated the cult style of that year, following "Ghost of Qiannu", "Smiling Proud of jianghu" and "Huang Feihong", returning to the modern city and adapting the Japanese manga of the same name to create this "Demon Beast City".
Although the plot of the film is mediocre, the special effects are very long. Keen on innovation, Tsui Ke's cooperation with the Japanese special effects team was a fairly high-level science fiction film, at least in the Hong Kong film industry at that time.
In terms of styling, the demon beast shapes of Tatsuya Nakadai and Zhang Yaoyang were made by Hong Kong stuntman Justo Cascante. Yuan Dazong practiced profoundly and had a kind heart, so he was more humanoid, only making points in his ears and fingers.
As the main villain, the Demon Prince Ghost Dao, is ambitious and fierce, and the stuntman uses carnivorous dinosaurs as inspiration to design the shape. Xu Ke is also very satisfied with the final result.
After the battle of "Demon Beast City", Xu Ke learned more overseas special effects techniques, and then integrated it into other future works.
What caused the audience to sigh more was still the old couple of Dawn Li Jiaxin.
(This article was first published on the public account: the birth of a word)