Zombie movies, as the hot theme of the 1980s, have become the classic memories of the childhood of the post-80s and post-90s generations, and everyone's memories include the yellow-robed wooden sword Maoshan Taoist and the green-faced fangs of the terrible zombies.
However, with the death of lin Zhengying, the founding ancestor, this golden age has gradually become lonely.
But there is always someone missing.
In 2013, the film directed by newcomer director Mai Junlong won three nominations for the Golden Horse Awards and nine nominations for the Golden Horse Awards after its release. Here's a homage to traditional zombie films:
corpse
At the beginning of the film, the narrative technique of flashbacks is adopted, the protagonist Qian Xiaohao lies on the ground and is full of embarrassment, and a life-like autobiographical monologue accompanies the theme song "Ghost Bride" of the pioneering work of the zombie era " " " Ghost Bride ".
The protagonist Qian Xiaohao (also called Qian Xiaohao, the character in the film) is a famous martial artist of the last century, who became popular with zombie movies. Now that the zombie film has withdrawn from the stage, he has also been gradually forgotten by the times, and he lives in a dilapidated apartment, and this time he borrows this film to express his loneliness:
Unexpectedly, after so many years of ups and downs, I finally had to come back here
Here, he met the last Heavenly Master Ah You, the crazy Ah Feng and her son Xiao Bai, and the poor administrator Uncle Yan, who was slow to retire.
There is also a couple of neighbors who have deep feelings: the warm-hearted Aunt Mei and the grumpy Uncle Dong.
The focus of this film is not on zombies, but on the story behind zombies.
In the plot, the director is more committed to showing the story behind the zombies, those who catch zombies, those who refine zombies, what causes and effects they have. This is very different from previous zombie films:
This is not simply fighting zombies, but hitting "people".
Qian Xiaohao lived in this apartment, and when he was alone and frustrated, he was determined to end his life in the apartment when he was haunted by ghosts, and was fortunately saved by Ah You at a critical moment.
Ah You, the last Heavenly Master, lamented that he had no skills but no place to use:
In my generation, all the zombies are gone, and the Taoist priests have no one to look for, no... There were no zombies to catch, so I had to switch to fried sticky rice.
The current situation of zombie movies is said through the mouth of Ah You.
The film is not as witty and funny as the zombie films of the past, more is such a helpless sigh, the director is full of sincerity for tribute, but also let the audience who love zombie films can't help but sigh, that was the best era.
Xiao Hao is curious about Ah Feng, who appears at his door to peep, and she and Xiao Bai always steal tributes from others. By chance, he found that Ah Feng and Xiao Bai actually lived in the meter room.
At this time, Uncle Yan appeared and told him everything about their mother and son.
It turned out that Ah Feng once lived in 2442 and had a happy family. But her husband was a well-dressed beast, and once while tutoring his twin sisters, he violated one of them, but was killed by the other with scissors.
Eventually, one of the twin sisters hanged and one died of excessive blood loss. Here the director did not explain in detail how the girl with scissors died, you can see for yourself to judge.
Ah Feng returned home to see the bodies of her husband and twin sisters, perhaps blood dripping into Ah Feng's eyes, she could always see the ghosts of the twin sisters, so she wandered in the door of 2442 but did not dare to enter, and could only take her son to live in the meter room.
During this period, Uncle Yan was secretly taking care of them.
The atmosphere of the film begins to tense up from the accidental fall of the neighbor Uncle Dong, and Aunt Mei went to find Ah Jiu, who practiced the evil door and crooked way, in order to revive Uncle Dong's soul. But they accidentally turn Uncle Dong into an uncontrollable zombie, resulting in an irreparable tragedy.
Xiao Hao and Ah You join forces to fight against Uncle Dong, who has been refined into a zombie, at this time, Xiao Hao and Ah You finally find the feeling of hero again...
The transformation of human nature in the film is also a tragedy portrayed by the director, like Aunt Mei.
Aunt Mei's transformation is the most sad part of the whole movie, and the actor of Ah You said in an interview:
In fact, people may be more terrifying than zombies.
Is Aunt May a good person or a bad person?
Before Uncle Dong's death, she was just an ordinary citizen, a teacher and milk everywhere in Hong Kong, she was kind and gentle, and she was always eager to help the neighbors.
But such a good heart made everyone shudder. After Uncle Dong's death, in order to let Uncle Dong return the soul, she caused the tragedy of others for her own selfishness, and there is no doubt that she is a bad person with a cruel heart.
Such a change has made all the fans sigh.
In addition, the acting skills of the actors are also a major attraction of this film:
For example, Aunt Mei's actor Bao Qijing makes people awe-inspired, she speaks to the dead Uncle Dong for nearly four minutes in the long shot, to Uncle Dong as if Uncle Dong is still there, emotionally from laughing to crying, to howling and crying, and suddenly stopping the tears, the performance of freely allowing the audience to read Aunt Mei's love and reluctance to Uncle Dong.
Ah Feng's actor Hui Yinghong is not to mention, everyone is more familiar with her last year with "Blood Guanyin" won the Golden Horse Awards film, in fact, in this film she won the 33rd Academy Awards Best Actress with the role of Ah Feng.
It is worth mentioning that the first subtitle that appears at the end of the film directly reflects the director's nostalgia and respect for the zombie film master:
The sound is like a sound Lin Zhengying Xu Guanying
This nostalgia is also reflected in the film, the director once wrote a role for Xu Guanying, but in the script is still in the creative stage, Master Xu Guanying passed away. The director had to delete the scenes, leaving only a stunning picture.
This small paragraph is the "Yin Soldier Borrowing Road" that surprises many movie fans.
Holding a torn paper umbrella, the tall ghost messenger slowly passes through the narrow alley, and the ethereal and eerie music of the flickering lights brings a strong visual impact while making the audience also hold their breath with the characters in the play, full of awe for the mystery of the other world.
In any case, those people of that era are gone, but there are always people who remember. The star extinguishes the light it illuminates and those who are still there will not forget the light it once had.
Director Mak Junlong said:
I would like to say a fear of being forgotten.
Each character has their own fears. Qian Xiaohao is afraid, Ah You is afraid, their years will not come back, they are being forgotten.
For audiences who love zombie movies, this may be a real farewell, but at the same time it is also a beginning, a new zombie era
This time, they hired Japanese horror master Takashi Shimizu as a producer, and his "Grudge" is still a nightmare for many people, and there are many Japanese horror elements in the film.
Some people think that this is inconsistent with the traditional zombie film style, the twin female ghosts crawl on the ground, and the audience seems to be strung on the set of "The Grudge" in a trance.
(Zombie)
(Curse)
In my opinion, isn't it an innovation to combine native zombies with Japanese horror?
There are many inherent elements in zombie movies, and everyone is familiar with them: peach wood swords, spells, glutinous rice, black dog blood, jumping zombies and so on.
It's easy to copy, but it's not easy to break the stereotype and innovate to tell a story of your own. The tribute is not a remake, the director aims to:
Tribute rather than form.
The film is full of sad emotions, even if there is no cool camera switch in the climactic fight scene.
It uses the lens of the literary drama to shoot the martial arts scene, bringing a new viewing experience, and also allowing the audience to integrate the mood of the film in this stability. It also exudes a violent aesthetic of bloody eerie, and the audience's emotions are pushed to a climax when they cry out in pain.
The final ending was unexpected, and the director ended all the stories on Qian Xiaohao. The end is not only Qian Xiaohao's heroic love but also the zombie dream of all viewers.
That era did indeed come to an end, the former hero was no longer useful, and Qian Xiaohao's life was finally shrunk in one sentence:
It turns out that life is more absurd than movies.
This article is written | red deer