From "Midnight's Bell" to "The Grudge", the black spread - the over-exaggerated "Midnight's Bell" I and II (Text: Vulcan Ji)
Today I finally watched Part 1 and Part 2 of "Midnight Bell" from start to finish. Big disappointment. I remember that in the era of reading, the "Midnight Bells" series that everyone was hearing about was very scary and scary, but, for various reasons, I have never watched it seriously. Maybe there's always no chance like that, I've just watched bits and pieces. I now have all the other movies in the series except "Ghost Doll" on my computer, and I was really disappointed by these two that I spent a few hours watching tonight. There is nothing scary.
Maybe it's just because I had high expectations for it, so I was so disappointed after watching it. In terms of the strangeness of the plot, it is not as good as "Love in the Skin" or "Bury in a Box"; in terms of atmosphere creation, it is not as tense and solemn as the series of "The Grudge"; Dolls; as far as the horror of those images is concerned, it is not even as unexpected as in the "Women's High Tale" series. Anyway, this is a pretty ordinary horror movie. At least for now. Maybe it's because I've seen all the movies I mentioned before, and I'm already very familiar with the subject matter of horror movies, so I don't feel that panic when watching this series of movies. I remember some comments I read before, saying that this series of films created a precedent for horror films in the history of Japanese cinema, and that this series of films saved the slump of the entire Japanese film market. Maybe, after people watch those poignant movies like "Love Letter", indeed, such movies undoubtedly give people a new feeling, maybe, this is the reason for the success of this series of movies. I even heard that the heroine of "Afternoon" was actually scared crazy after these films, and even died a few people during the premiere. In my opinion, it is still very questionable whether these films really have such lethality. So I began to wonder again, maybe, the theory of scaring people to death and scaring people to death is just a business hype.
I haven't finished watching the entire series of "Afternoon" yet, so I shouldn't jump to conclusions right now. Let's go back to the two movies. Too many stream-of-consciousness episodes make both films seem cluttered, disorganized, and fragmented. But these two films are deliberately going for the kind of scary thing, so the plot aspect is relatively weak. The plot in the first part is relatively complete, but the second part is completely unconvincing to me. In terms of the plot, the first part is a self-rescue process after watching the legendary video tape, while the second part is to cut some of the previous clips in, and continue the plot of the first part, which is a bit superfluous. . And the plot of the second part is even weaker than the first one.
However, before the "Afternoon" drama, there was indeed no such thing as just exaggerating the atmosphere, and then arranging the scary scene to flash by in the climax. So, in any case, the "Afternoon" drama is still very creative in this regard. However, "The Grudge" brought this kind of thing into full play, and even managed to stay in a terrifying atmosphere from the beginning to the end of the movie, so after watching "The Grudge" and then watching the "Noon" drama It's impossible to feel frightened anymore. Therefore, if you watch these two series of movies, it is best not to watch "The Grudge" first, but "Noon" first, so that you can fully experience the fears in all the movies . And not chewy and tasteless like me. As the two biggest brands of Japanese horror movies and series of films in the program, we should not only appreciate one of the series and not the other. In this respect, perhaps, it was because I watched "The Grudge" first that ruined the "Noon" series in my eyes. From a certain point of view, the advancement and development of the "Noon" drama is much warmer than that of the "The Grudge" series, so at least we will have a chance to breathe when watching the "Noon" drama. This eases the tension of the series a lot.
There are still some parts of the plot that have not been made clear. For example, why did Sadako's father kill Sadako, and why did he trap Sadako at the bottom of the well. This can only remain in our guess. Maybe it's just because they were born in an age of ignorance, and their spiritual power makes them look so different that they can't be accommodated in this world. Of course, this can only be my guess.
Of course, there is something to think about in these two films as well. For example, in order to save his son, he dubbed a box of video and showed it to his father. In this sense, the selfishness of human nature and the greatness of human nature coexist. The father died to save his grandson, and he didn't rip the tapes to show others to save himself. In terms of saving his son, one cannot help but think of selfishness. Therefore, the continuation of the second part of the plot is very moving. The dead father asked his daughter, do you think the child in your arms is still Yang Yi? Indeed, the grandson is no longer a grandson, but a spiritual child who was taken on by Zhenzi.
Both films leave room for a sequel. Because Sadako is always dead and not dead, because the videotape is never completely destroyed. And in the end, people still die. And this made me think, if there are several people, say three people, one person reads it, passes it to another person, then passes it to the third person, and finally passes it back to the first person. This completes the first cycle. I wonder if Sadako will end up depressed because she can't find someone to vent her grievances. Or in other words, make the tapes public on TV and let everyone watch them. I wonder if Sadako will be exhausted from killing so many people at once. There's no way I can't think of it that way, after all, people who work on TV in both movies have seen the tape. So, if it goes public... Of course, I have no way of knowing, what the outcome would be. After all, I'm not that idiot screenwriter.
Of course, nothing is perfect. Therefore, I should not criticize the screenwriter for not being able to write the script according to my ideas. Maybe the screenwriter thought about it, but maybe there is no way to give an unwarranted ending.
Horror movies consist of only a few things. The tense atmosphere created by the lights and sounds, the abrupt close-up mirrors and the blurred telescopic mirrors, the weird effects created by some cool colors, and some reverie scenes. That's all. In this respect, this series of films is relatively successful. Lighting, sound and color are relatively weak, but those classic imagery can basically be found in this film. Such as dead bodies in dry wells, long and narrow corridors, hallucinations on balconies, noisy roads and self-loneliness, confined rooms and so on. The use of the lens is very skillful, but other aspects are relatively poor.
Of course, I believe that if there is no "Noon" drama, perhaps, there will be no success of "The Grudge" series. After all, the traces of "The Grudge" in the "Afternoon" drama are still obvious. For example, longer hair and indistinct faces and terrifying pupils; more and more obtrusive close-up descriptions; dimmer lights and harsher sounds; bloodier scenes and more violent imagery; more insignificance The plot... wait. Inheriting the strengths of the "Noon" play and strengthening and correcting some of the ineffective shortcomings in the "Noon" play, it is almost an inevitable result that "The Grudge" is more scary. In this respect, the "Afternoon" drama is more meaningful than the "The Grudge" series.
But anyway, after watching these two "Midnight Bells", I feel that it is really not that scary. Even as a more accomplished pioneer, this is already a very successful example. But from the perspective of an ordinary audience, and from the perspective of the audience after so many years of release, this is no longer scary.
2006-4-24; March 27, Bingxu year. Note: Video information. ■Director: Hideo Nakata ■Starring: DaisukeBan/MakiIkeda/RieInou ■Released: January 31, 1998 (Japan) ■Region: Japan ■Dialogue: Japanese ■Duration: 96 minutes ■Genre: Horror/Shocking/Mystery
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