"Maoshan Zombie Film" can be described as a unique scenery on the big screen of Hong Kong films in the 80s. Whenever this unique Hong Kong film theme is mentioned, Lin Zhengying and Hong Jinbao are always the first impression in the minds of many viewers.
Indeed, on the big screen of Hong Kong films in the mid-80s, "Mr. Zombie" created by "Hong Jiaban" set off a wave of the era of "Maoshan zombie films", and the "Nine Uncles" starring Lin Zhengying also became a very representative screen image in this "Hong Kong zombie film boom".
1985's "Mr. Zombie" is regarded by many fans as the pioneering work of the Hong Kong", but in fact, as early as the 30s of the last century, "zombie films" have begun to appear on the big screen of Hong Kong films.
Today we will do a miscellaneous discussion about the rise, development, and demise of "Hong Kong zombie films".
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The word "zombie" originally referred to the stiffness of the "corpse" after the animal "died".
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, with the prevalence of Zhiwei novels, "zombies" began to turn into murderous monsters that came out day and night under the polish of the literati and inkers.
The literary works that mention "zombies" the most during the Ming and Qing dynasties are Yuan Ming's "Zi Mu Shu" and Ji Yun's "Notes on Reading Wei Caotang".
At the beginning of the 20th century, with the gradual rise of Chinese films. The "zombie stories" that circulated for a while in the Ming and Qing Zhiwei novels also began to be gradually moved to the big screen of movies.
In 1936, Hong Kong's "Nanyue Film Company" filmed a black-and-white film with a "zombie theme", "Midnight Zombie", which was also the first "zombie film" on the big screen of Hong Kong films.
It can be said that it is the real originator of "Hong Kong zombie films".
The appearance of this "Midnight Zombie" is closely related to the popularity of "Western vampire movies" in the early 20th century.
In 1931, the American fantasy film "Dracula" set off a wave of "vampire movies" around the world. Under the influence of Western film ideas, the Hong Kong "Nanyue Film Company" fused "Western vampires" with "Chinese zombies" and filmed "Midnight Zombie" in 1936.
It is worth mentioning that in the "zombie story" of "Zi Mu Whisper" and "Notes on Reading Wei Caotang", "zombie" does not have the characteristic of sucking blood, and after being bitten by "zombie", it will not become a "zombie".
In this "Midnight Zombie", director Yang Gongliang appropriated the bloodthirsty characteristics of "vampires" to "zombies". Yang Dao's "Zhang Guan Li Dai" this time also affected the trend of the development of "Hong Kong zombie films" afterwards.
In "Midnight Zombie", director Yang Gongliang not only borrowed the bloodthirsty special effects of "vampires", but also borrowed the art style of Western "vampire movies". The "zombie" in the film appears, with a white face and a cloak, which is completely a "vampire" image.
Although "Midnight Zombie" unveiled the prelude to the creation of "Hong Kong zombie films", because the film over-followed the "vampire movie" and lacked novelty, the response after the release was flat, and it failed to set off a boom in the creation of "zombie themes".
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Fast forward to 1957. This year, Hong Kong's "Xinhua Film Company" filmed a "zombie theme" work called "Xiangxi Corpse Chase". The emergence of the film has brought a revolutionary turning point to the development of "Hong Kong zombie films".
In the "Notes on Reading Wei Caotang", Ji Yun's description of "zombies" is: white hair, red eyes like dansha, fingers like curved hooks, teeth exposed outside the lips like sharp blade kissing booing, bloody nose.
In the record of "Zi Mu Whisper", there are two ways of acting for "zombies". One is the "wandering corpse", which can move like a human, but the movement is slow. The other is the "flying corpse", which can fly in the sky.
In this "Xiangxi Corpse Chase", director Wang Tianlin did not restore the "zombie" image in Zhiwei's novel.
Instead, it combines the unique custom of "exorcising corpses in Xiangxi" with the element of "zombies". The shape of a Qing Dynasty official uniform was designed for the "zombie", and a unified action posture was also designed for the "zombie", with the arms extended forward and jumping and walking.
Why "zombies" always wear Qing Dynasty official uniforms has always been a hot topic of discussion among many fans.
In fact, during the Republic of China period, funeral ceremonies in many places designed "Shou Yi" into the style of "Qing Dynasty Official Clothes". After these "corpses in shou robes" became "zombies", they were naturally dressed in Qing Dynasty official clothes.
The design of the "zombie" with its arms extended forward and jumping and walking is derived from the scene of "Xiangxi exorcising corpses". The so-called "exorcists" are to send those who died in a foreign land to their homeland for burial.
In order to take these "corpses" on the road, the exorcists will line up the "corpses", then raise the arms of the "corpses", use two thick bamboo poles, from the left and right sides through the armpits of the "corpses", and tie the arms of the "corpses" to the bamboo poles.
The exorcists walked with bamboo poles carrying the "corpses" one after the other. Because the bamboo pole is elastic and will shake up and down when walking, from a distance, it looks like a group of "corpses" wearing birthday clothes, following behind the body snatchers, stretching out their arms and jumping forward.
In the 1957 "Xiangxi Corpse Chase", director Wang Tianlin's classic design of the "zombie" image was borrowed by many Hong Kong film directors after that.
And this kind of "zombie" wearing the official clothes of the Qing Dynasty, with its arms extended forward and jumping and walking, has also become an extremely classic film and television symbol on the big screen of "Hong Kong zombie films".
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After the 1957 "Xiangxi Corpse Hunt", the "Hong Kong zombie film" ushered in a small peak of creation. After that, there were also follow-up works such as "Haunted House Zombie" and "Corpse Change".
However, in the mid-to-late 1960s, with the emergence of works such as "One-Armed Knife", "Thirteen Taibao", and "Drunken Man", Zhang Che and Hu Jinquan set off a wave of the era of "new martial arts films". The creation of "zombie theme" film works has also been drowned in this martial arts boom.
After entering the 1970s, with the rise of Bruce Lee, kung fu films became the creative mainstream of the Hong Kong film market. However, in the late 1970s, traditional kung fu films began to decline.
In order to seek market innovation, Liu Jialiang in 1979 fused the two major film elements of "zombie" and "kung fu" to shoot "Maoshan Zombie Fist". With the birth of this work, the film creation of "zombie theme" has also found a new direction.
Before the release of this "Maoshan Zombie Fist", "Hong Kong zombie films" have always been a fixed routine of "good people are oppressed, then killed, and finally turned into zombies to come back to ask for their lives".
However, with the emergence of "Maoshan Zombie Fist", Hong Kong film producers have also begun to break through the inherent routine constraints and diversify the creation of "zombie themes". "Flying Corpse", which combines martial arts elements, and "Magic Fetus", which combines urban elements, were also born in this period.
Of course, among these creations, the most representative is Hong Jinbao's "Ghost Fighting Ghosts" filmed in 1980.
In this "Ghost Fights Ghost", Hong Jinbao combines various film elements such as "comedy", "horror", "kung fu", "ghosts", "zombies", "vampires" and so on.
The film does not pay attention to the core expression of the story, only pays attention to the presentation of entertainment effects, and also allows "Ghost Fighting Ghosts" to achieve good box office results after its release.
Although ghost fighting ghosts presents the "zombie" element, it does not make it the protagonist. In 1984, Liu Guanwei of Hongjiaban had a whim, hoping to shoot a film work with the "zombie element" as the core and imitating the smorgasbord comedy style of "Ghost Fighting Ghosts". And this work is "Mr. Zombie".
The position of "Mr. Zombie" in the development process of "Hong Kong zombie films" does not need to be mentioned. It is precisely because of the birth of this work that "Hong Kong zombie films" have truly ushered in the peak period of theme creation.
After "Mr. Zombie", "Hong Jiaban" has successively launched works such as "Zombie Family", "Mr. Phantom", "Uncle Zombie" and so on. The production of Hong Jinbao, director Liu Guanwei and starring Lin Zhengying also became the quality guarantee of "Hong Kong zombie films" in the 80s.
Because of Hong Jinbao, Lin Zhengying, Liu Guanwei and others, "Hong Kong zombie films" have risen rapidly and ushered in a golden period of vigorous development.
At this time, a large number of Hong Kong film producers began to follow the trend and imitate, focusing on the creation of "zombie themes". Among these followers, Liu Zhenwei is undoubtedly the most prominent one.
Compared with Hong Jiaban's "Maoshan Zombie Film of the Republic of China", Liu Zhenwei's "Zombie Film" works are more set in the modern era.
Compared with the story routine of HongJiaban's "Taoist Fighting Zombies", Liu Zhenwei pays more attention to the plot design of "Police vs Zombies". This innovative design also makes Liu Zhenwei's "modern zombie film" work loved by many audiences.
Whether it is the early "Fierce Ghost Mission", "Fierce Ghost Academy", or the later "Fierce Ghost Building" and "Corpse Heavy Land", these works have achieved good evaluations above the Hong Kong film market.
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In the mid-to-late 1980s, with a large number of filmmakers following suit, "Hong Kong zombie films" soon fell into the dilemma of creative exhaustion. In the early 90s, with the aesthetic fatigue of the audience. "Hong Kong zombie films" are also rapidly declining.
At the end of the 1990s, the Hong Kong film market gradually declined. In the face of the declining market environment of the rivers, "Hong Kong zombie films" have no choice but to fall silent.
However, in 2001, Xu Ke and Qian Shengwei suddenly became interested in the "zombie theme", and the two joined forces to create "Zombie Times". Of course, the film also has a name, called "Millennium Zombie King".
In this "Zombie Era", Xu Ke did not follow the traditional design of "Qing Dynasty Zombies", but according to the records in the Ming and Qing Zhiwei novels, he restored a "flying corpse" image with white hair, red eyes, fingers like curved hooks, teeth exposed, kissing and booing, and flying in the sky.
This "Zombie Era" not only gets rid of the traditional "zombie" style of "Hong Kong zombie films", but also abandons the "Hong Kong zombie films" that only focus on entertainment effects and do not pay attention to the drawbacks of connotation expression, and designs a film story with profound meaning.
However, after the completion of this "Zombie Age", due to the change of producer, the film story was also edited into a 103-minute version, a 110-minute version and an 89-minute version.
Compared with the full version of 110 minutes, the 103 minute version and the 89 minute version have led to incoherence of the story due to the deletion of the plot. The chaos of the movie version also made this "Zombie Era" buried in the market torrent.
Although Mai Junlong's "Zombie" filmed in 2013 has also aroused heated discussion among many fans. However, although this work is cloaked in the shell of "Hong Kong-made zombie films", in terms of expression, it has lost the charm of "Hong Kong-made zombie films", and instead of it, it is a strong taste of Japanese horror films.
The once glorious era of "Hong Kong zombie films" has actually long been frustrated with the market of Xu Ke and Qian Shengwei's "Zombie Age" and is completely dying out.
Original 丨 Article Copyright Genus: Magical Blush Lake
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