In recent years, Netflix's "Global Talent Pool Program" has achieved remarkable results, and has launched a series of localization masterpieces by investing in talents from all over the world.
Take the hot "zombie theme", Netflix's "Lee Corpse Korea" is an extremely successful case of localization. The path of ancient costume zombies + court power plots is novel and exciting, and Korea's unique history and culture is one of the major selling points.
After the broadcast of "Lee Corpse Joseon", it quickly became popular around the world, and Netflix took advantage of the victory to pursue, and soon produced a zombie drama with Indian characteristics - "Ghoul".
The term "ghoul" comes from the Buddhist Scriptures, which originally read, "There are spells in the western soil." Curse the dead body. It is to make the ghost kill people. It is for ghouls. "India is a religious power, and the title has the meaning of explaining modern zombies with religious legends.
However, the director's ambitions clearly don't stop there.
India's geography is complex, with different regions separated by high mountains and rivers into relatively closed plates. Geographical barriers led to cultural differences, and indigenous religions in India developed complex polytheistic systems. Due to the closed terrain, the traditions of gods and ghosts in many places have not changed for thousands of years.
For these reasons, India has not historically developed a strong centralized government like ancient China, and its development trend is contrary to Chinese history - great unification is short-lived, and local division is the norm. This continued into the British colonial era.
The British Empire, with its powerful military might, uprooted all the separatist forces in India one by one, and smoothed the barriers between regions. This, in turn, has caused a strong impact on local culture by foreign civilizations.
Through the trailer of "Ghoul", we can see that the director uses the "road construction incident" as a starting point, integrating the colonial contradictions between Britain and India, the impact of Western culture on local religions, the dispute between the central and local governments in India, and the ideological disputes within the regime, all of which are integrated into the story, trying to deconstruct all the problems with the element of "zombies".
Indian culture has a strong appeal, and the trailer for "Ghoul" is also very exciting. Therefore, after watching the second season of "Lee Corpse Korea", many people have great expectations for "Ghoul", hoping to get the freshness and impact of "Lee Corpse Korea".
Ghost curse and colonialism are the two main selling points of the show, and they are also important plots related to the development of the plot.
Here is a brief introduction to the background settings of the episode:
The ghost curse that appears in the play comes from the god Betal, who is the legendary evil god who was banished by the gods because of his fierceness, guarded the borders of hell, and became the god of the realm. Because it can connect hell and earth, the villagers also call it the king of hell.
The seat of the god Betal is the mountain where the tunnel is built in the play. Nearby villagers regard the mountain as a forbidden place, because the god Betal is good at demagogy, and those who approach it will be cursed and become evil spirits on earth. Villagers have built huge burial chambers in the mountains, and ritual sacrifices are held regularly through witches.
After the arrival of the colonial army of the British Empire, the tunnel was built in the Forbidden Mountain, which coincided with the Great Indian National Uprising in 1897, and the Indian rebels sealed the British troops who built the tunnel in the tunnel.
Another selling point in the play, colonialism, came out.
The British army in the tunnel was the 90th batch of Taunton Volunteer Army, which came from the swampy areas of the British mainland, and the members of the army were mostly ferocious and tyrannical criminals, led by the notorious Colonel John Leniddock.
Colonel John was known for his greed and had always had the illusion of conquering the world by force, and his army naturally killed people and did nothing wrong when they came to India.
After being sealed in a tunnel, Colonel John found the tomb of the god Betal, who used black magic to summon the gods and sacrificed his son to gain the power of the god Beta.
Colonel John became the latest incarnation of the god Betal, he hunted down the subordinates in the tunnel one by one, and from then on he could control this army at will through telepathy, waiting for the day when he would go out of the mountains and conquer the world...
In the play, the statue of the god Betal enshrined by the villagers is designed in the form of Colonel John.
The villagers of Nijar village have guarded the mountain for generations and have forbidden anyone to come near it. Villagers soothe the mood of the devil in the mountains through an annual ritual sacrifice. In this way, the devil in the mountain and the villagers outside the mountain were at peace for 160 years, until the greedy Helios Construction Company was ready to save construction costs and construction time with the help of the original tunnel.
The evil spirits in the mountains sensed the greed of the outsiders and began to stir. Sensing the excitement of the zombie army, the psychic-witch knows that things are not going well, and she quickly encourages the villagers to stop the construction.
And so the story begins...
The two sellings of this drama correspond to two main themes:
The worship of gods and ghosts corresponds to the desires of the heart.
The possessed female officer in the play once said, "The God you serve is your desire..." One of the divine powers of the god Betal is to demagogue and incite against inner weaknesses. And human desire is their biggest weakness, and many characters in the play have died of desire.
The second selling point is a satire of colonialism's greed and shamelessness.
There's a special forces line in the play that's funny:
"They first ransacked our country, then our jobs, then our gold, our land, and now these bastards have stolen our evil spirits!"
The colonists were so greedy that they didn't spare even evil spirits. The colonist zombie in the play has red eyes, sharp fangs, and a greedy vampire look.
This group of colonists has been dead for 160 years and is still restless, always thinking of the disaster, the proper "imperialism does not die in my heart".
The zombie colonists in the play are eye-catching, especially the zombie ghost who plays drums, the red British uniform with a pale face, and the heavy mechanical drums look very strange on the rainy night.
This mechanical drum beat is the best BGM of the series.
The entire series is only 4 episodes long, and the plot is roughly divided into three parts: the special forces and builders' tunnels are attacked, the crowd flees to an abandoned military stronghold to be trapped for help, and the protagonist team's beheading operation.
Finally, a magical ending is left: the Curse of Betal is spread, and the resurrected zombie colonists, piloting the Pirates of the Caribbean-style Devil's Sailboat, re-attack the Indian mainland from the sea...
The creativity of this play is very good, but unfortunately the effect of execution is not good, and the play seems to be very rough and cheap.
First of all, this drama night drama accounts for 90%, if it is not 1080P resources, many places look blurry. The key is that the atmosphere of suspense and horror is not done well, the forest abandoned house, the ghost of the rainy night, the possession of the devil, these conditions are suitable for horror! The result atmosphere is average.
Second, the characters lack characters. There are not many characters in the play, such as the black-hearted builder, the greedy female officer, the innocent little girl, the indecisive special forces and other characters are particularly facial, not pleasing and not three-dimensional, and the villager's big sister, heroic and decisive, is a highlight.
India's history and culture have many points worth excavating, and the contradictions and conflicts mentioned above, you can grasp one and do a good job. The director is too ambitious, wants to express too much, but it is superficial, and none of them are done well.
The rating of this drama has a downward trend in China, and it is estimated that the expectations in the early stage are too high. If you are a fan of zombie dramas, it doesn't hurt to look at it and feel the impact of exotic cultures.
Here's a highlight of "Devil" and "Tabad"
"Evil Ghost" is the previous work of the director of "Ghoul", 3 episodes of short drama, but also Netflix investment, the current Douban score of 7.4, worth watching.
This drama is also a small cost, but it is much more delicate than "Ghoul". The background of the play is: India is ruled by a Soviet-style totalitarian government, and the heroine is a little pink, who encounters a supernatural event while interrogating dissident leaders at a military base.
The series uses gods and ghosts to map political horror, showing the psychological panic of faith collapse and mutual suspicion in a high-pressure environment of people.
Tabad
The story closely follows the theme of "greed", combines myths and legends with modern time and space, and shows that the greed of human nature has remained unchanged throughout the ages, planting evil causes and obtaining evil consequences.
The film is well-made and a leader in Indian horror films, with twists and turns in the storyline, a well-paced atmosphere, and a deep reversal at the end. Those who love horror movies must not be missed.
In addition: Many of the shapes and plots in "Tabad" are particularly bloody and crazy, and everyone watches them as appropriate.