"Call of Souls", "Latent", "Cry of the Chainsaw", Wen Ziren's three horror series really fell all the way after the director changed hands. Cohesion, but even if Farmiga worked harder to psychic than the previous two, even if Wilson, who was about to bald, played a whole series of running heart patients, he still failed to get the film close. The level of the first two works.
Perhaps from the perspective of the entire horror film environment, this film is still worth noting (after all, there are too many bad horror films), but if compared with Wen Ziren’s predecessor, standing on the shoulders of giants On the contrary, he was short of a giant.
The devil is hidden in the box, the devil is hidden in the doll
I have always held a point of view: in all horror films, when the devil succeeds in possessing the body and starts to wreak havoc, it is actually the least terrifying time in the whole film.
But what is truly frightening is that the devil is quietly approaching you in the dark.
However, in "Calling the Souls 3", the devil is not so shy, as if from the beginning, it is full of power to make a huge appearance. Almost all the scaring scenes are the sudden appearance of the devil or the sudden appearance of some strange creature. The appearance of complete fright, which obviously completely lacks the fine tradition of "gradual progress" of the soul-calling series.
Remember the three steps of the appearance of the devil mentioned in "Soul Recruitment 1"? Infestation, Oppresion, and Possession, first make people feel the existence of abnormality, and then slowly start to infest people who are not firm in their beliefs, and the constant intrusion makes the victims mentally weak, and finally complete possession.
"Soul Recruitment 3" almost skipped steps 1-2 and came directly to the step of possessing. It is no wonder that after watching this film, you will feel that these scares are all a routine, without a sense of hierarchy.
For comparison, looking back at the family's experience in "Calling the Souls 1", the difference can be seen. The child and mother slowly noticed abnormalities in the daily haunting of the haunted house, whether it is clapping hands from nowhere, or the tugging of the child’s feet while sleeping... these will not appear to people like a devil. It was a direct shock, but it was these small plots that created a creepy atmosphere, which was much more effective than the devil raising his hijab and directly pounced on it.
For a long time, in exchange for cheap fright
In recent horror movies, more and more padded shots are added in front of the horror shots. These will naturally have miraculous effects when played well. Unfortunately, this film does not comprehend the essence of paving and fright.
Take a typical frightening segment in this film. The male protagonist, Arnie, saw the oatmeal box falling in the kitchen. When he approached, a mouse climbed into the hole in the wall and he looked into the hole. After a long time, I turned around and saw a ghost.
In fact, we can understand the effect that the director wants to present in this segment. The attention of the male lead and the audience is focused on the mouse hole, but the devil behind him is completely unpredictable.
The director of "Soul Recruitment 3", when he directed "The Curse of a Crying Woman", I found that he was particularly concerned about the preparation before the shock. In the last fright, there was always a lack of creativity.
After a long period of preparation, the last time he turned his head, a ghost rushed over. This is really the cheapest kind of scene.
Looking back at the sections of "Call for Souls 1, 2", you can find the wonderful part of "Call for Souls 1" in which mother is trapped in the basement. It is impossible to talk about it. In the dark environment, mother kept stroking a match, and every time it was lit. It makes the audience feel tight, but the point of fright is not at the moment when the match is lit, but when the match is burning and the audience is still in the safe zone, one of the hands stretched out from behind the mother and patted twice. Down.
This is no better than a grimace suddenly coming out behind him.
In "Call of Souls 2", even the passages where grimace appears suddenly, are done naturally and much more frightening. In the mirror in the basement, Mrs. Loren saw the nun gradually approaching behind her. After several times of turning her head, the ghost nun finally came to reality from the world in the mirror.
The same is the shock of the sudden appearance of the devil. The nun's step by step is expected to appear at the end. The disappearance in the mirror and the appearance of reality are unexpected. This combination makes this kind of scaring reasonable and effective. , Otherwise you chase Mouse Hole and turn your head around a female ghost to come out, except that the audience is startled, you can't make sense in reason.
Fear comes from mystery and history
A horror film that I liked very much before was called "Cracked, Unacceptable Room". In this movie, I can feel the bonus effect of history on horror films. The audience returned to the most curse after the protagonist’s investigation. At the beginning of the time, a terrifying event on a fairly long-term scale will naturally cover the evil spirits with a veil of mystery.
However, in "Calling the Souls 3", after revealing the demon symbol of the gu, everything became clear, it was just the curse of a demon believer.
Looking back at "Calling the Souls 1", in addition to the evil female ghosts, there are children and maids who were killed by their mothers in the big house. Beauty.
Even in the second part, the old ghost appears first, and then it is gradually revealed that the old ghost is controlled by the nun, which is considered a puzzle.
In contrast to the third book, the biggest mystery turned out to be: Where do the devotees live? Then it really investigated the information such as the sound of the train whistle and the location of the victim, which was not much better than the detective movie.
Fortunately the love element is still there
Fortunately, the first two, especially the second, the love line of the Loren couple is still there. This is the best part of this film's inheritance of the first two.
Mr. Loren was scrapped at the beginning, and the whole movie walked on crutches while panting. However, as long as Mrs. Loren was in danger, Mr. Loren would always rush to save people regardless of his own safety.
The section where Mrs. Loren prepares medicine for her husband is also a bit touching.
At the end, Mr. Loren was fascinated and chased after Mrs. Loren. In fact, the idea was quite good. The couple who originally supported each other actually faced each other with swords under the illusion of the devil. Finally, love freed him from the curse. Smash the devil's conspiracy with one hammer.
The idea is good, but the execution is too bad. Mr. Loren smashed his sledgehammer and smashed it, and Mrs. Loren ran while barking. I don’t know if the dog has eaten all the decades of experience facing the devil.
By the way, I suggest that Mr. Loren switch to sledgehammer.
In short, the movie can be watched, but the standard is not high. At least it is far worse than Wen Ziren. At best, "Call of Souls 3" is the most famous appetizer in this year's horror film. If you want to talk about dinner, you still have to wait for "Fatal Induction" guided by Wen Ziren (updated, Fatal Induction is also more popular)
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Of course, other than that, Anya’s "Soho Night Fright"
Also, the appearance of "The Green Knight" is definitely more worth looking forward to than "Call of Souls 3". (Update, the green knight is ok, but the threshold is a bit high and a bit boring)
View more about The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It reviews
