In 2017, there were a lot of horror movies that surprised me. I didn't hear any signs before, but they became phenomenal movies after they were released, such as "Escape from the Deadly Town", such as "The Clown" which was added at the end of the year. For "The Clown", the evaluation is easy to form two levels. Why does this seemingly American movie make some Chinese horror fans also pursue it? For me, the very important reason is that this is a typical "fan movie". In the film, so many classic horror movie elements are mobilized, which makes me really enjoy watching it.
"The Clown" is a remake of the movie of the same name in 1990, and it is also a horror novel by Stephen King. The concept of the story itself has a good foundation. Looking at the context of this film, it is easy to recall the hot NetFlix series "Stranger Things" in the past two years, a mode where minors team up to fight monsters, and even the small actors of "Stranger Things" also participated in this film. .
A group of adults are usually forced to gather crowds to compete with mysterious evil forces due to passive events. Usually an arrogant girl (often blonde) dies first, and then the members die one after another. There is bound to be a human nature contest of infighting in the middle, until the final battle. It is often a male and female couple, and they may be secretive. Whether they can survive in the end depends on the taste of the director. Yes, this is a common type of horror movie context, but teenagers and horror movies are often linked. This is a different kind of fun. What is the difference?
In fact, it is the different worldviews of children and adults that constitute the unique tone of such youth horror films. Although today's children are getting more and more precocious, they still maintain more innocence. Therefore, in similar movies, we often see a group of adults who are often passively caught in a dangerous situation. And children often have purer friendships, the most genuinely curious, and often team up to explore the unknown world and risks. The youthful friendship reflected in this process is also less dangerous than before, and it is particularly moving. .
In "Return to the Clown", the disappearance of a child triggers the elder brother's unforgettable search for his younger brother, and expands this kind of family clues into a path-finding journey in the friendship of a group of partners. One of the great successes of this film is that it has a large amount of information, but it has organically compressed a lot of information in the film. For example, the teenagers in the "team", apart from the usual Nerd and Loser routes of this kind of film, each has its own characteristics and has a very distinctive personality, and each person's personality can lead to a personality phenomenon, mental illness, Even social topics, such as spiritual stuttering, cleanliness, religion, race and other elements are subtle in the film, and these are often common elements in horror films.
The fear in my heart is often like the blood sprinkled in the deep sea, attracting the terrifying shark that devours people’s mind and body, and this film also follows a spiritual horror route. The whole structure reminds me of "Meng Ghost Street", and light The interaction of different children's inner fears and horror images shows many classic horror scenes. For example, a blood spray scene of a girl in the film reminded me of "Carrie Witch" instantly, and the process of the clown opening his mouth to give birth to fangs gave me the feeling of "alien". And there are also some creative and scary sections in the film, such as the projector movie, which is very immersive, so that after you have been mentally prepared for being scared, you are really caught off guard, but you are hooked. . In fact, this piece is very slow to get into the topic, and the foreshadowing is very long, but because of the various evocative bridge sections, I am afraid that the process is like a roller coaster, and it is not boring at all.
Of course, in this process, of course, a horrible main thread is needed to string together, that is, the clown, a big devil who can create various horror images like Freddy in "Most Ghost Street". Throughout the film, this clown inherits the glorious tradition of traditional horror images in American horror movies, but appears to be a higher level. He himself is a horror element and the chief designer of horror effects. It is simply a projection of the film's screenwriter and director. , In person, take the audience to experience a thrilling but familiar horror journey, this kind of free and retractable scheduling of horror elements is the root of the success of the film.
The amazing thing is that despite the constant excitement of this film, it is still a youthful movie in the end. As mentioned earlier, this piece of information is very informative. While filling in terrifying information, we are busy showing the beauty of youth. In fact, the children in this film have somewhat of an unfortunate side of life, but even after experiencing terror, this film is not a cruel story of youth, but a journey to regain the beautiful elements of youth. While the director put their life and friendship to the test of horror elements, but then tore them away, and immediately posted the beautiful fragments of life. The film photography style is also switched between the high-definition hideousness of horror scenes, and the hazy light and shadow of youth and beauty, such as the scenes of teenagers jumping in the lake and playing carefully and leaping around by the beauty of the girl, which is interesting and wonderful.
"Return to the Clown" is a wonderful movie that is still warm, but the horror elements are full of sincerity. It followed the children all the way to surprise. In the end, they still persisted and gave the audience a warm story.
This kind of warmth is like the kiss at the end of the film. Yes, youth, there are all kinds of nightmares projected in the heart and dreams of life difficulties, but, after all, youth is full of more possibilities and more beautiful, for example, the simplicity and beauty of the first kiss.
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