As half a horror movie lover, "Kunchi Rock" is obviously one of the must-see movies in the near future. When the film was first released in South Korea, the box office numbers and the audience's word-of-mouth soared, and the domestic self-media was crowned the best Korean horror film in the past decade, which is really itchy. Yesterday the Internet released the source, and I watched it for the first time. I couldn't help but write something to talk about this movie.
Pseudo documentaries from the first-person perspective have become a unique branch of the horror movie category. From the stunning "Blair the Witch" at first, to the "Ghost Record" that gets worse and worse, to the occasional highlight of "Fatal Video", the audience is familiar with the gameplay of pseudo-documentary horror films, and the requirements are becoming more and more critical. A group of handsome men and beautiful women visited haunted resorts with video recorders. In the end, fixed templates with no survivors have been flooded. It is very difficult to make a breakthrough in the subject matter.
The filming cost of "Kunchi Rock" is only 1.1 billion won, which is only about 6.5 million yuan when it is replaced. It may not be enough to hire a second-tier mainland star. Several actors are all newcomers, which is also in line with the characteristics of low-cost horror movies.
Compared with similar movies, although "Kunchi Rock" has no innovation in the script, it still uses the traditional plot of "death shooting", but it has bright spots in the specific gameplay and details. The equipment alone is upgraded to a combination of sports camera + professional handheld DV. On average, one person needs to carry three shooting equipment: two GoPro Sessions on the chest + a combination of handheld cameras or mobile phone pan-tilts, plus a fixed camera position set on site , The perspective is extremely rich. Multi-view switching not only avoids the fatigue caused by facing a fixed viewing angle for a long time, but also perfectly fits the characteristics of live video gameplay. At least in other similar films, it is rare to see such flexible lens scheduling, which can be regarded as a small innovation.
When it comes to angle of view, the self-portrait shots that appear in a large number of movies can be regarded as a highlight. Among the starring actors, the one that impressed me the most was the actress who played Charlotte: Compare her facial expressions in chronological order. From the pretentious expression at the beginning, to the nervous expression after discovering the strange phenomenon, to the twisted facial features at the end. The startled scream completely explained the whole process of the psychological collapse of the protagonist of the horror film.
Close-up facial close-ups + slight fisheye distortion made me feel for the first time that sometimes people's expressions can be scarier than ghosts.
Especially in the last half hour of the film, the high-energy scenes continued. After Charlotte woke up, he developed a room with the monster and tried to open the iron door to escape the secret room. The camera switches back and forth between monsters that are constantly approaching, door handles that cannot be twisted, and facial selfies, giving a breathless sense of tension.
This scene is well designed. In a completely dark room, the viewer's perspective can only move with the beam of the flashlight. The unknown brought by the darkness is itself an excellent element of horror. When the protagonist failed to open the door to escape, the movement behind her forced her to look back. The faint light of the flashlight slowly shone into the darkness, making people so nervous that they almost forgot to breathe.
For this kind of horror movies, the plot has never been the point. I think "Kunchi Rock" is handled pretty well in terms of plot. The concept of earning advertising fees through live webcasts not only fits real life, but also makes sense in terms of the characters' motivations-I have seen too many horror films, and the protagonist starts to die illogically once he enters a specific scene. This movie gives at least one simple and straightforward reason for death, which is to make money.
The supernatural phenomena encountered at the beginning are actually props set up in advance, the purpose is to increase the effect of the program. In the second half of the scene, the scene was out of control, and the members were injured and passed out. The captain still wanted everyone to continue the live broadcast at any cost. After all, it was for the clicks of the live broadcast.
Marx has long said in "Das Kapital" that when profits are as high as 300%, capitalists dare to commit crimes at the risk of losing their heads. In the movie, as long as 20% of the advertising expenses were divided, the two young people would dare to stay in the haunted mental hospital and continue the live broadcast, even ignoring the life and death of their teammates.
Looking at the red eyes of the captain in front of the monitor, I am really not sure which of the so-called ghosts is more terrifying than human greed. Perhaps in the hearts of these young people, living a life without money is more terrifying than hell.
At the end of the movie, a close-up was given to the live broadcast website: it turned out that the live broadcast was disconnected as early as when the members exposed the fraudulent methods. This exploration that made the members gamble on their lives is nothing but a third-rate show in the eyes of the audience.
What a huge irony.
When I was writing the first draft of the script, I saw news on the Internet, saying that members of the Auto Club members filmed racing videos and received hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising revenue. I thought that because of advertising revenue, such a thing would actually happen, so the concept of YouTube live show is even more powerful. ——Zheng Fanzhi, director of "Kunchi Rock"
After talking about a long list, I brought the topic back to the title of this article. So-called horror movies, where is the horror? At this point, I very much agree with the concept of Chinese horror novelist Zhou Dedong: There is no answer to the real horror.
Most of the creepy, cold head to toes fear comes from the unknown.
To explain terror is to dilute terror. I have watched many horror movies, and as soon as the end is approaching, I start to find ways to expose the truth, such as telling the audience how the grieving spirits were formed, what kind of people they were like in life, and what kind of bullying and resentment they have suffered before they become ghosts and do evil. In this way, the truth is revealed, but the sense of horror that has been accumulated before finally disappears.
For example, can you imagine the scene of a female ghost possessing the protagonist at the end of "Kunchi Rock", denounced the abuse and torture suffered in the hospital, and then killed the protagonist quickly? The horror of the movie immediately dropped a level.
Fortunately, the director did not do this, but gave the audience unlimited imagination through scattered information such as newspapers, rumors, and photos. No one knows what happened in this dusty hospital.
Similarly, the reasons and details of the monsters and members who were possessed in the movie have not been explained. Everything is left for the audience to experience and imagine.
The whole movie is actually a process of exploring the unknown. The unknown itself is also the oldest and strongest fear of mankind.
Finally, let me say a few more words, Koreans' ability to control genre movies is really commendable. The two horror films "The Cry" and "The Black Priests" (Evil Fighting, Exorcism) have been used to wrap foreign elements in the outerwear of Eastern culture, and they are all taken decently in the past two years. The same goes for "Kunchi Rock". This is not only a manifestation of the director's personal ability, but also closely related to the level of the film industry and audience acceptance of the entire country.
On the other hand, Chinese movies, especially horror movies shown in theaters in recent years, have an ending (or truth) consistent with scientific values at the end has become an unspoken rule for horror movies. Even the soaring "Zhongxie" last year is inevitable (the schedule seems to be postponed to June).
I don’t know if I will have to wait a few more years before I can wait for a truly decent domestic horror film in the cinema.
Oh, by the way, you have to add parentheses, except for Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
If this article arouses your interest
Welcome to pay attention to a public account that looks at mood updates
View more about Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum reviews
