The Chinese "master of horror films" has twice won more than $1 billion at the global box office

Source: China Overseas Chinese Network WeChat public account

China Overseas Chinese Network September 21 Title: Twice won more than 1 billion US dollars in the global box office, this Chinese "horror film master" movie you must know!

Recently, the 11th Beijing International Film Festival opened. Among the works of "Viewing on the Clouds", there is a horror movie called "Fatal Induction" that has caused a hot discussion.

"Fatal Induction" is director Wen Ziren's first horror film to be released in Chinese mainland. According to producer Peter, in order to meet the chinese fans' desire to see the film at the same time, Wen Ziren personally directed and edited the Chinese version of the film.

What kind of director is Wen Ziren?

With "Fast and Furious 7" and "Aquaman", he has won two 2 billion yuan box office in Chinese mainland and two times 1 billion US dollar box office worldwide;

At the Chinese premiere of "Aquaman," he bluntly said "I'm Chinese," just born overseas, and "coming home" made him "very excited."

There are not many internationally renowned Chinese directors, but Wen Ziren must be one of them that cannot be ignored. This skinny Young Man of Chinese descent looks unassuming, but he has long been an internationally renowned "master of horror films.".

Childhood nightmares bring creative inspiration

Wen Ziren had a tortuous childhood.

Born in Malaysia in 1977, he immigrated to Australia with his parents at the age of 7 and became obsessed with movies at the age of 11.

"I'm thankful for my mom taking me into the world of movies when I was a kid, especially horror movies." Wen Ziren wrote on social platforms.

When he was 14 years old, Wen Ziren's father died, which caused a great blow to his soul. His childhood experiences had a great influence on his later film style.

"In fact, a lot of the horror movies I make are based on nightmares from childhood to adulthood."

However, the first thing that made Wen Ziren was a small-budget film that was shot in a hurry.

In college, Wen Ziren met his friend Ray Werner, who also loved horror films, and the two joined the unofficial film group "Splice Pike" that advocated the production of "modern brutal horror genre films", dreaming of making a movie of their own.

After graduation, however, the two struggled to make ends meet, and Werner often had headaches to the point of thinking he was terminally ill.

However, the pain also brought different inspirations, and the two wrote a script for it. It took 5 days to shoot, 18 days to shoot, all the actors were not rehearsed, and the cost was only $1.2 million.

No one expected that this small-budget film would gross $103 million worldwide. "Chainsaw Horror" was born, and Wen Ziren also began to emerge.

Creating the "Wen's Horror Universe"

In the following years, Wen Ziren successively filmed the "Conjuring" and "Latent" series, creating a unique "Wen's Horror Universe", all of which were small costs and high box office:

"Latent" cost $1.5 million and grossed $97 million worldwide;

"The Conjuring" cost $20 million and grossed $320 million worldwide;

"Lurking 2" cost $5 million and grossed $160 million worldwide;

The Conjuring 2 cost $40 million. $320 million at the global box office

……

In 2012, Forbes named "the 10 Best Horror Films in Two Years", "Latent", and the "Chainsaw Horror" series was officially certified by Guinness as "the most successful horror film series in film history".

Wen Ziren became an internationally renowned "horror film master", and his films began to appear on the list of "Best Horror Film of the Year" in major media.

Although known for directing horror films, Wen Ziren has also expressed his love for mainstream commercial blockbusters, and "Fast and Furious 7" is one of them.

It is worth mentioning that during the filming of "Fast and Furious 7", one of the main actors, Paul Walker, died unexpectedly and suddenly. The script needs to be revised, and many scenes have to be reshot. Wen Ziren resisted the pressure, only 7 months later than the original time, using electronic technology, stand-ins and other means, and finally let the role say goodbye to the audience in a perfect way.

The success of "Fast and Furious 7" allowed Hollywood to see Wen Ziren's ability to control different styles of films, and also brought him the opportunity to direct "Aquaman". Today, "Aquaman 2" is also filming, the director is still Wen Ziren, and it is expected to be released worldwide in 2022.

Origins with Oriental culture

When he was in university in Melbourne, Wen Ziren majored in the division of Chinese nationalities and gained a certain understanding of oriental culture, which also had a subtle influence on his works.

He combines the special effects, religion and music of Western horror films with the mystery and hints of the East to create a more eerie and terrifying atmosphere, pushing horror films to a new realm.

Earlier, Wen Ziren also said that the Chinese story has accompanied his growth.

"My grandparents used to tell me Chinese stories, I loved Journey to the West since I was a kid, and the character of Sun Wukong was fantastic."

During the promotion of "Aquaman", he also went to climb the Great Wall.

As both a screenwriter and director, Wen Ziren has a high degree of achievement in film plot design. Behind the thrilling shots, there is always the exposure and reflection on the good and evil of human nature.

In his view, the philosophy behind the Chinese story is equally inspiring. He said that in the future, he would consider adding Chinese elements to the film.

I look forward to the young Chinese director bringing more surprises to fans in the future!

Have you seen Wen Ziren's movie?

(Source: China Film News, The Paper, World Chinese Weekly, Wen Ziren's personal social platform, etc.; author: Liu Likun)