Since the 1990s, the content and themes of horror genre films have become increasingly complex. After the new millennium, new forms of terrorist elements such as cyber black holes, media violence, terrorism, and financial tsunami have gradually stepped onto the trend of history, replacing the corrupted werewolves and vampires. However, old-fashioned horror elements such as ghosts, perverted murderers, or genetic mutations are still endless, and the current trend is to dilute the spiritual core of the early horror movies, while enhancing the curious effect of watching movies and increasing the viewing experience.
It is the "Bloodthirsty Gang" (The Splat Pack) represented by Wen Ziren and Eli Roth that brought this new wave of horror.
In Asia where spiritual culture prevails, he is good at blending maternal love and affection in ghost incidents. As a Malaysian Chinese, Wen Ziren is naturally well versed in how to grasp spiritual subjects. The difference in race makes his view of horror very different from the evil taste of plasma and dismemberment of Eli Ross and others, but he prefers to create psychological terror step by step in the suspense.
"Calling the Soul" is another highly acclaimed work by Wen Ziren after the "Chain Saw" series and "Latent", and it is also one of the masterpieces of the new millennium ghost horror film.
In terms of overall perception, "Calling the Soul" has certain limitations. The story is nothing more than a copy of "The Exorcist", and the old elements of "Exorcism" plus "Ancient House" are also available. At the same time, there are obvious traces of tribute in several places in the film, and the setting, clothing, and picture texture also show the retro style of the 70s and 80s. Under such a treatment, it is really not enough to say how scary "Calling the Soul" is. However, with Wen Ziren's full sincerity, the quality of the whole film should be quite good.
Personally, there are two things that Wen Dao admires-
one: stacking atmosphere from daily behavior. There is a psychological term called "island psychology", which means that people will gradually isolate and separate from the collective in the reality of gradual loss of trust. When used in horror movies, the most familiar and intimate things in daily life often become things possessed by evil spirits, such as various dolls. The "Annabel Doll" at the beginning of the film is a typical example. The same applies to the music box that appears.
Not only objects, Wen Ziren is also good at starting with very ordinary behaviors when creating an atmosphere of horror. The most obvious example is the several hide-and-seek games played between the sisters and between the mother and the young daughter after the Perun family moved into the house. The key action of the game is "clapping" and slowly bringing out the foreign spirits hidden in the closet. Since then, the third daughter’s feet were dragged while she was asleep, the fourth daughter’s sleepwalking many times, and the bruises that appeared on her mother’s body have exacerbated the eerie and weirdness in the house. Until the demon appeared above the closet, the family's psychological defense finally collapsed.
Second: play with personality on the basis of tradition. Taking "exorcism" as an example, the exorcism under Wen Ziren's lens is not a simple exorcism, it is a process of demonizing others. Traditional exorcism movies basically do not explain the origin of evil spirits, but Wen Ziren added the ins and outs of evil spirit possession during the exorcism process, and then linked to the original adaptation of the film from real events, thus improving the story. At the same time of credibility, the effect of terror can also be multiplied.
What's more worth mentioning is that the exorcism process in "Calling the Souls" is far from the traditional cross plus holy water so perfunctory. Videography, recording, monitoring and other modern equipment are all in the battle; the Warrens need to consult the local priest before exorcising, and even get the approval of the Vatican. These all invisibly enrich the science (you can also think of it as pseudo-scientific), interesting and watchable of ghost horror films.
Of course, the opportunity for the Perron family to defeat the evil spirits is still the "maternal love and affection." Mrs. Perron used her love for her husband and five daughters to drive away the possessed devil. Although it seems old-fashioned, she can also justify herself. After all, both fear and love originate from the human heart. Just like Ed Warren quoted at the end of the film: "The power of evil is very powerful, and it still exists today. This story is true. Demons and God do exist. For us mortals, our destiny depends on Choose which side to stand on."
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