However, the film was not released in domestic theaters, and the online resources were not available until a few days before the arrival of the 2014 Chinese New Year. But watching a movie also requires attention to the atmosphere. It is not easy to watch such a heavy and dark horror movie during the Chinese New Year. It took me a few nights to watch this movie intermittently. After reading it, and watching it twice, the overall impression is good. It is a rare and thoughtful work in Hong Kong-produced films in recent years, and it is worth savoring again and again.
The film's tribute to the zombie series represented by "Mr. Zombie" in the 1980s is obvious. Many main actors in the film have participated in zombie films in those years, such as Qian Xiaohao, Chen You, Wu Yaohan, Zhong Fa and Lou Nanguang, the theme song of the film "Ghost Bride" is also from "Mr. Zombie". The ink bucket, glutinous rice, charm, compass, peach wood sword and other props used by Chen You and Zhong Fa to catch ghosts are also used in the film. Continuing the tradition of zombie films, in the closing subtitles, it further pays tribute to the deceased representative of zombie films, "Nine Uncles" Lin Zhengying and his on-screen apprentice Xu Guanying.
Although the tribute is obvious, the temperament of this film is very different from the zombie films of the year. Although the zombie films of the year involved zombies and ghosts, they were not scary at all. In essence, they were in the category of comedy action films, but this film is a real horror film. Qian Xiaohao, Chen You, Wu Yaohan, Lou Nanguang, etc. had a lot of gags in zombie films, but they all changed their faces in this film. Qian Xiaohao indulged in the past and wanted to die, Chen You was sloppy and cold-hearted, and Wu Yaohan became terror Zombies, completely destroying childhood memories, never thought that this face that almost represents comedy could become so terrifying and terrifying.
Although this film is supervised by the famous Japanese horror director Shimizu Takahashi, I feel that Mak Junlong's directing style should directly follow Huang Jingfu. In terms of narrative rhythm and image style, this film is similar to "Death of the Avengers" and "Defense Team". The dispatch La! friend! " are very similar, of course, it is obvious that these three films are biased towards the Japanese style. There is no doubt about the seriousness in the production of the film, which is easy to feel from the storytelling of the film's step-by-step operation, the brutal and cold image style, and the realistic and terrifying modeling design.
The story takes place in an isolated housing estate, with dark tones, icy concrete walls, empty corridors for five people, indifferent sporadic residents, lifeless, and the brightest color is red, which belongs to blood plasma. The story begins when the out-of-date star played by Qian Xiaohao chooses to return to the housing estate to commit suicide. The film borrows Qian Xiaohao's own background, and the stills and costumes in Qian Xiaohao's masterpiece that starred in that year appear. This setting makes the story more realistic. Chilling. The reversal at the end of the film is also very good. It is also Qian Xiaohao who came to the housing estate to commit suicide, but he was not rescued. Through a series of changes in the identity of the characters, it was revealed that the previous plot was just Qian's imagination before suicide, an unforgettable one. It's bleak for an actor of his past glory to play his last zombie scene with his old pals in his own head before he dies. I have to say this is an excellent idea.
The middle part of the film's plot is not only the zombie element. The twin female ghosts created by the bloody tragedy in Hui Yinghong's home are obviously similar to Shimizu's famous work "The Grudge", which is a standard Japanese female ghost image. Most of the time, zombies are in the refining process. Only when they suddenly open their eyes and reveal their sharp claws are close-ups of local fierce features. It is not until the last climax that the zombies reveal their true faces and start killing. . Therefore, this film is a horror film that combines the two typical images of Japanese-style female ghosts and Hong Kong-made zombies. In terms of proportion, it is actually more Japanese-style. This is understandable, almost all of the Oriental ghost films are inherited from Japan, and even Hollywood is learning.
The zombie image in the film is also very different from the traditional image. In the previous Hong Kong-made films, the zombies in Hong Kong films stretched out their arms and only jumped and moved stupidly, but the zombies that appeared at the end of this film were ferocious and fast. In the final climax battle, Chen You and Qian Xiaohao joined forces to fight against zombies. Although they used traditional elements such as compass, spells, and the five elements of yin and yang, their performance was not traditional. The barrier where time stops a cigarette is not seen in zombie movies before, and the blood character spell on Qian Xiaohao's body has never had any effect on zombies. What is puzzling is that the five elements of water, wood, earth, gold and fire on the compass that Chen You twisted and broke his arm, except for the last fire that burns the zombies to death, the first four scenes are just changing the scene of the fight, without seeing any reality. effect.
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