For Hong Kong films, 1980 was a memorable year, the year that gave birth to a groundbreaking film, that is, "Ghost Fights Ghosts" written and directed by Hong Jinbao, which ranked among the top four of the year with a box office of more than 5.6 million, creating a box office record for Hong Kong-made horror films.
The pioneering nature of "Ghost Fight" is not only in terms of box office, the most important significance of this "smorgasbord" horror film is that it has spawned a subtype of horror films, that is, many classic zombie films that have been popular for several years since then.
<h1 class="ql-align-justify" >1, Baohe's "test waters"</h1>
1980 was a turning point for Hong Jinbao: before that, he worked for Jiahe Company, as a martial arts instructor, actor, director and multiple identities, and now with the support of Jiahe Company, Hong Jinbao was able to establish Baohe Film Company, which is a long-cherished wish for many years.
At the beginning of the establishment of many film companies, often with smaller investment in horror films, comedies "test the water", earned everyone's joy, the loss is not too miserable, "Ghost Fight Ghost" as the first film of Baohe Company, is Hong Jinbao's "test of the water".
Before the appearance of "Ghost Fighting Ghosts", Hong Kong horror films followed the routine of traditional horror films, often with more than enough horror and insufficient entertainment, it was difficult to attract a wide audience group, and it has always belonged to the niche genre.
Hong Jinbao saw this, so he chose to take the sword to the side, and creatively blended horror films with popular genres such as kung fu films and comedies in "Ghost Fights Ghosts", and successfully made horror films "break the circle" with seemingly unmatched mixes.
"Ghost Fighting Ghosts" has no shortage of creepy shots, and the abominable female ghosts in the mirror and the rotting corpses crawling with maggots are not only the routine inheritance of traditional horror films, but also have a strong cult atmosphere.
At the same time, Hong Jinbao also dissolves the horror in the comedy style of gags, such as Hong Jinbao's classic red child style is from this film, and Hong Jinbao, who has a large waist and a round waist, can actually perform the child's petite cuteness, and has to say that the acting skills are good.
It is worth mentioning that many horror films in Hollywood in the same period also use "comedy + horror" genre mix-and-match, such as "Live Jumping Corpse", "Ghost Playman", etc., which also proves that Hong Kong movies with the name of "Oriental Hollywood" do have a commonality with Hollywood.
The success of "Ghost Fighting Ghosts" has won the reputation of Baohe Company, and since then, the films such as "Scared Ghosts", "Mr. Zombie", "Oriental Condor", "Summer Lucky Star" and other films have clearly embodied Baohe's strategy of grasping kung fu films and zombie films with both hands, and has written a strong stroke in the Hong Kong film industry.
<h1 class="ql-align-justify" > second, golden supporting cast</h1>
As an "old jianghu" who has been crawling for many years, Hong Jinbao has accumulated a lot of prestige in the industry, so this "Ghost Fighting Ghosts" has also attracted many stars.
Zhong Fa, who plays Zhang Bold's master Xu Zhenren, is a member of the "HongJia Class", and Lin Zhengying is still the same disciple brother, and has basically only starred in the movie as a supporting role for many years, especially those villain roles, which have basically become the role logo of Zhong Fa.
In 2013, Zhong Fa, who has been retired for many years, played the role of "Uncle Nine" in Mai Junlong's "Zombie", which is undoubtedly a tribute to the legendary Lin Zhengying of zombie films.
Lin Zhengying also starred in "Ghost Fighting Ghosts", but at this time he was not yet the ninth uncle who shook the rivers and lakes, but a sinister and vicious catcher.
Lin Zhengying in the film is completely an evil figure, colluding with Old Master Tan to try to murder Zhang Bold, but seemingly cold he is actually a paper tiger with a strong outside and an inward hand, and finally he was brutally beaten by the officers and soldiers controlled by Xu Zhenren.
But among the many golden supporting roles, the most surprising thing is that the actor is Yuan Biao, and the carrion in the film is played by him, which is completely a "disfiguring performance", which is enough to compete with Yuan Hua in "Mr. Zombie".
<h1 class="ql-align-justify" > three, flowing action scenes</h1>
In addition to the horror and comedy elements in the film, in fact, the most commendable thing about "Ghost Fight" is the exquisite action scenes.
There is Hong Jiaban to escort the action scenes of the film, the confrontation scenes in the film are beautiful and solid, and every move is a real kung fu duel, which makes people watch it happily.
In the Ma Family Ancestral Hall, Hong Jinbao's duel with zombies is a classic, one person and one corpse you come and go, and the "zombie-style" action moves are sharp and a bit funny, adding a humorous atmosphere to this thrilling fight.
There is also a scene of fighting with officers and soldiers in a tavern, Where Hong Jinbao holds a bench against the swords of officers and soldiers, and plays the clumsy bench with the flow of clouds, which is very pleasing to the eye.
As the professionals say, "Ghost Fight Ghost" is actually a variant of kung fu films, and in the era of the decline of traditional kung fu films, such an innovative combination undoubtedly injects more possibilities into Hong Kong films.
<h1 class="ql-align-justify" > four, creating the glory of zombie movies</h1>
As a pioneer of zombie films, "Ghost Fighting Ghosts" has laid many classic models for later zombie films, such as the strange talk of strange and chaotic gods and the art of Qimen Dunjia, especially the zombies wearing Qing Dynasty official uniforms in the film, which has become the "standard" of zombie films.
Even Hong Jinbao would not have thought that his "test waters" would make zombie films so popular in the next decade, and after seeing the box office success of "Ghost Fights Ghosts", many film companies have joined the creation of zombie films.
For example, the "Happy Ghost" series produced by New Art City Company also focuses on comedy elements, Huang Baiming's Happy Ghost breaks the "murderous" impression of zombies in one fell swoop with a kind and cute image, and after the first part of the series won a box office of up to 17 million, the series was filmed four times in succession until the end of 1991.
But the most classic is a series of zombie films starring Lin Zhengying, who took over the mantle of zombie films from Hong Jinbao and carried them forward, and even later supported this type of afterglow with his own strength when zombie films were at its most difficult, and this highly skilled ghost catcher is an indispensable "soul figure" for zombie films.
Although Hong Jinbao is no longer young and the zombie films he pioneered have long since declined, he and his classic works will not fade after all, and they will evoke good memories of Hong Kong films at any time. (Author: Pippi Shrimp)