Ghosts are an enduring film theme, and at a time when Hong Kong-made ghost films are withering away, the real competitors of Singaporean ghost films are actually Hollywood. Nowadays, Hollywood ghost films look to the East, no longer rendering visual horror, but allowing the audience to feel the fear of chilling the back from the inside out. Filmmakers must constantly break through and innovate in order to compete with their Western counterparts.
"Battle for Rebirth" is a ghost film filmed in Hong Kong.
Ghost themes are a genre that filmmakers around the world love to challenge, and filmmakers in Southeast Asia are no exception. Affected by the epidemic, there are not many local films released commercially in local mainstream theaters so far this year, and the five-hand index has been completed, including two ghost films - Li Guohuang's "Battle for Rebirth" directed in Hong Kong, as well as Gao Chongwu's directing, Hu Jiaqi and other performances, and "Driving a Night Train" launched last Thursday. Therefore, the proportion of ghost films is quite high.
On science fiction films, action movies, disaster movies, Singapore's local film will certainly not be able to shoot in other places, but "ghosting" may not lose. And let the data speak, Tang Yongjian's 2005 "Maid" box office 2 million yuan; Liang Zhiqiang and Wu Peishuang's 2009 "Scared to Laugh" box office 2.6 million yuan; Chen Qiquan's "23:59" was launched in 2011, resonated with the audience, beating the best director work "Sunset Car God" (drive) in the first week of the Cannes Film Festival, and collecting Hollywood comedy king Eddie Murphy's "Tower Heist" and other films, winning the championship. The final box office was 1.55 million yuan, and a sequel was launched in 2018.
Chinese director Wen Ziren's 2013 Hollywood ghost film "The Conjuring" is unique and popular all over the world, with a local revenue of 2.7422242 yuan. It is clear from the box office data that ghost films are comparable to overseas ghost films.
The mother in Hollywood's "Li Yin House" is possessed by a ghost, and she struggles hard to prevent the ghost from succeeding.
Clover Films, a managing director who has worked as a producer for many local ghost films, said in an interview that the production cost of action films, science fiction films and disaster films is high, "We can't have the huge production budget of the 007 movie "No time to die", and there is no action star, and it will be different to shoot this kind of subject, but it is not difficult for thrillers to close us (with movie audiences). ”
He said that Liang Zhiqiang's works, whether ghost films or comedies, are mainly small characters, "Tang Yongjian's "Maid" uses the role of a maid who is indispensable to the local family, and Chen Qiquan's "23:59" is a ghost story that is closely related to the barracks, these ghost films are very grounded, enter everyone's life, and are easy to resonate. Many years ago, "Haunted Changi" cost low, no big actors, but the theme is the old Changi Hospital, which is familiar to everyone, and it also sells well. ”
The protagonist of "Unjust Soul" always has a sore back, and it turns out that there is a female ghost who has been riding on his shoulder.
He said that grounded ghost films are easy to sell to foreign countries, such as "23:59" successfully sold to American companies. "It's important that ghost films are close to life. Although the local audience of the actors of Thailand's "Shutter" is not familiar with it, it also sold 1.2 million yuan here, because after seeing the twisting plot at the end of the film, I realized that every time the protagonist had back pain, it turned out that there was a ghost riding on his shoulder. Usually everyone will have back pain, right? The Japanese films "Dark Water" and "The Ring" also have elements such as water and television that are indispensable in our lives. ”
Linde, one of the producers of "Driving a Night Train," said that in the early stages of preparation, he emphasized the film's need to be close to life, so he used three means of transportation that are common in life — buses, cars and bicycles.
"Driving night" portrays the Internet celebrity Xiao Nai (hu Jiaqi) and two friends taking advantage of the low night to explore the rumored haunted remote road, hoping to stimulate the number of views of the social media account, the two girls feel that something is wrong to leave first, and the undead Xiao Nai continues to explore. The single father (Chen Bangxun), who has lost his wife Jessica, takes care of him and does not speak, and especially likes his son who sits on the upper floor of the bus, which makes him exhausted. One day, he takes his son to his mother-in-law's house (Cai Pingkai), who says jessica has returned. The private car driver (Huang Yanfang) takes care of the hospitalized sick old father, always frowning and bitterly, and the result is stuck to the yin.
"Driving the Night" is directed by Gao Chongwu, the beloved disciple of local director Qiu Jinhai, who revealed in an interview that he had taken a class on Hong Kong screenwriters, "I remember that the mentor said that the story, the characters are grounded, it is easy to arouse the love of locals, and the interactive effect can be achieved internationally." Because of the local characteristics, foreign audiences will also be curious and want to know more about these characteristics. ”
Gao Chongwu revealed that when filming "Driving the Night Train", Cai Pingkai let his son-in-law Chen Bangxun look at the footprints on the ground covered with a layer of powder, as well as the handprints in the rice bucket, saying that his daughter had returned at the first seven, and this plot was actually based on his mother's experience, "The first seven of my grandfather's death, my mother heard the sound of things moving in the house when she was preparing to sleep, and later found that the dining table and chairs were moved, and the ground covered with powder had footprints, and the rice in the rice bucket also had handprints. The rice bucket that appears in the movie is used by my mother, and I borrowed it to shoot. ”
In Southeast Asia, the country with strong ghost drama is Thailand, and the local film is also screened from time to time in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong, among which The most Hong Kong-produced ghost films are the most. There is a saying in the Hong Kong showbiz circle that "men have Lin Zhengying and women have Roland". Roland's indifferent expression and gloomy eyes in the ghost film are the childhood nightmares of many people. In his acting career spanning more than half a century, Roland has acted in more than 500 films, about one-fifth of which are ghost films.
After the millennium, the Hong Kong ghost film produced by Xinglin, Li Xinjie's "Seeing Ghosts", sold for 2 million yuan locally, and Shu Qi's "Seeing Ghosts 2" also sold for 1.5 million yuan, which was dazzling. In recent years, the locally launched Hong Kong ghost films have been more impressive with Zhang Jiahui's "Lump Exorcist" and "Oban Shengong", Mai Junlong's "Zombie", and Chen Guo's "Ghost Lives with You", which was nominated for this year's Golden Horse Awards. Hong Kong ghost films from the early hundred flowers blooming, to today's drifting zero, it is believed that because Hong Kong directors have gone north to Chinese mainland development, the mainland does not allow ghost films, affecting the production of ghost films.
Linde said: "After the Hollywood movies 'Insidious' and 2013's 'Li Yin House' became globally popular more than a decade ago, the competitors of local ghost films are no longer Hong Kong ghost films, but Hollywood ghost films. ”
The Hollywood movie "The Haunted Room" is eerie and terrifying.
"Yin Children's Room" depicts a couple moving to a new house with their children, horrific events continue to occur, the infant daughter cries inexplicably, the second son is full of fear of the bedroom, and the eldest son falls into a coma after a fright, causing the couple to almost collapse mentally. "Yin", which cost $1.5 million, ranked 69th in the world that year, with a box office of $99.56 million, which is a great achievement of a small soldier. "Li Yin House" depicts a couple and five daughters, who move to an old and large house on the outskirts of Rhodes, and find that it is the murder house. The film took the box office to the next level, grossing $319.5 million worldwide, ranking 23rd in the world that year.
"Yin ErFang" and "Li Yin House" are both directed by Wen Ziren, as early as these two ghost films, the Hong Kong Peng brothers had broken into Hollywood, and in 2007 launched "The Messengers", but it was a very typical American film. In the saturated state of various film themes and technical techniques, the West will desperately search for stories and recruit directors from the East, which is the modesty of Hollywood and the opportunity of Asian directors. However, the Peng brothers' ghost films did not stir up ripples, but Wen Ziren completely changed the characteristics of Hollywood ghost films.
Hu Jiaqi played an Internet celebrity who went on an adventure to a haunted place in "Driving a Night Train".
Linde believes that Hollywood ghost movies have become more and more oriental, and Wen Ziren's way of playing ghosts is not like the previous American visual impact, blood splashing, brain plasma bursting to render visual horror, but let the audience feel the fear of chilling the back from the inside out. "Now Hollywood's ghost films are getting better and better, if the Japanese ghost films "Lost in dark water" and "Midnight Bells" are only launched now, I am afraid that there is no way to sell the results of that year."
Gao Chongwu said that in the past, Hollywood has remade Thai and Japanese horror films, including the 2002 Western version of "the ring". "Hollywood has been moving in the direction of this remake 20 years ago, but in recent years there have been more Chinese filmmakers, presenting works with a higher degree of integration of East and West, with special effects and gore, as well as the atmosphere of Asian horror films."
Hollywood ghost films are biased towards the Oriental taste, and Linde has no secretly said that the challenges of local filmmakers are also greater, and they have to constantly break through and create new ideas. Talking about the advantages and limitations of local ghost films, Linde believes that Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand in Southeast Asia have rich themes, "such as their folk culture and head-down themes, which can be used in movies." He believes that in terms of filming, Singapore is a garden city, and it is not easy to find abandoned buildings in the local area, but the local behind-the-scenes personnel, including costume special effects talents, are excellent," Some screenwriters are more imaginative than other films when creating ghost themes, which are all advantages." ”
"23:59" is based on the theme of the barracks being haunted.
Gao Chongwu believes that ghost films are very vigorous in the market, "It is a great challenge to make different stories in different ways." Many horror elements are based on folklore and religion, and the creator must have a concept and a logic. ”
Gao Chongwu graduated from Nanyang Technological University, majoring in digital film production, before "Driving a Night Train", filmed a lot of short films with ghost as the theme, he said: "Since I was a child, I liked to watch ghost movies, and I always liked to tell ghost stories to scare everyone. "In addition to having modern elements, 'Driving a Night Car' also has the nostalgic flavor of Hong Kong ghost films.
He said that the purpose of filming is to try not to let everyone work overtime, because the effect of shooting is not good, "the difficulty of shooting ghost films is that there are many night scenes, and you have to adjust the physiological clock." He said that if he had the opportunity, he would shoot two more ghost films, "Master this genre and try other films." ”