Speaking of horror films in recent years, there is always one person that cannot be avoided , that is, Wen Ziren , the Chinese director who created the "calling universe" .
However, his films are generally divided into two types in the folk, one is directed by him , and the other is produced by him .
Basically, horror movies such as "Chain Saw" 1, "Dead Silence", "Hidden" 12, and "The Conjuration" 12 that he personally photographed were able to get a good reputation at the box office, and he produced such as "Chain Saw" 1 The following series, "Latent" 34, and the "Annabel" series, "Nuns" and other horror movies derived from the Spiritual Universe, are more than one grade behind his own directing movies in terms of atmosphere creation and plot paving .
In the sequel to the series "Call of Souls 3," Wen Ziren served as the producer and screenwriter, so he didn't have much hope for the film before the film was released. However, after lowering the threshold of expectations, the film finally appeared The effect is surprisingly good, not bad.
1. Type of conversion
In Calling the Soul, Ed proposed the three stages of demonic possession, intrusion, oppression and possession.
Intrusion means that the devil makes people feel that there is another existence through abnormal behaviors such as whispers and footsteps, and then enters the second stage, oppression, the devil will use the influence of foreign objects to gradually destroy the victim’s will, and when the victim is in When the psychology and physiology are absolutely fragile , the devil will complete the third stage, which is possession.
Regardless of whether it is the first Perron family or the second Peggy’s family, the plot development is based on this logic. In the early stage, it was told that the owner moved to a new house, and strange things began to appear in the house, and the strange things intensified in the middle stage. The demons began to harm the human body and the human spirit in the later stage. It collapses, the demon possesses, and finally the Warrens perform an exorcism.
But the third part is presented to the audience as soon as the little boy who has been possessed by the devil, directly omitting the first two steps.
This treatment will cause two problems.
One is that the audience's "sense of participation" is greatly reduced, which makes the film less horrible.
In the first two parts, the audience can follow the protagonist to experience the immersive experience from normal to fear to collapse and then to being possessed, and experience the suffocation of the whole process. When this process is cut in half, the audience’s participation is also directly halved, and they cannot empathize with the protagonists. At this time, even if the jump scare is used more superbly, the audience will only feel "scare" instead of "fear " . " .
The second problem is to change the plot frame .
Demon possession has been taken as a prerequisite. The subsequent plot trend of the film has become to trace the source of demon possession and find ways to exorcise them. Most of the methods for finding demons are Lorraine through her psychic ability. This also makes Ben The film has transformed this series from a standard "haunted house" horror film into a horror-like detective film with horror elements like the "Guling Detective".
2. The narrative change
The change of narrative subject and narrative perspective is also one of the factors that reduce fear.
The main body of the previous narrative centered on the "haunted house" . All sorts of strange things happened around this house, and the victims were also the owners of this house.
The reason why a haunted house can make people feel scared is because the house belongs to a closed space, and most people have more or less fear of the claustrophobic space . This fear comes from the unknown of the outside world.
But in the third part, the director put aside the setting of the haunted house and turned the source of the devil into a curse .
The biggest difference between this method and the experience of the haunted house is that only when they are cursed can they be dangerous. For other characters, the chance of being violated is greatly reduced. In a haunted house movie, as long as the person is in the haunted house , Are likely to be the target of violation, and the uncertainty and fear are greatly increased.
In the previous work, the narrative perspective starts from the owner of the haunted house. As exorcists, the Warrens mainly play the role of promoting the development of the plot and achieving the purpose of exorcism .
Although the Warren couple's role in the second film is aggravated, the main line of the film is still the Peggy family who lives in the famous haunted house Enfield in London.
However, in the third part, the film puts the perspective on the Warren couple. In the forest, Ed saves Lorraine trapped in the spirit world, and in the end Lorraine rescues the cursed Ed, and the two accompany each other. Finished a whole episode.
Although the first two films have more or less the Warren couple's drama, but those are to relax the audience in the atmosphere of horror, and this one seems to add some horror elements to the love scene between two people.
The former is a horror movie, and the latter is a romance movie.
Third, the expansion of the pattern
Contemporary American culture is a culture based on the Christian faith . The classic exorcism film "The Exorcist", which was released in the United States in 1973, is so frightening. The most important point is that the film depicts a The story of demons blaspheming God, and their fear comes from the collapse of their belief in God .
Wen Ziren once said, "Regardless of your religious beliefs, Jesus is a figure loved and respected by everyone."
Therefore, in his exorcism movies, the most important props are the cross and the Bible, and "Call of Souls" 2 is a story told from the perspective of the Christian believers Warren and his wife. Their most powerful weapon is against God. Belief.
But in the third book, many elements of western occultism have been added, such as goat cult, witchcraft, altars and so on.
As for the difference between the effects of occultism and religion in horror films, I think there are two aspects:
One is that the props for summoning demons are different.
In religious studies, there is no need for props to summon demons. They generally wander in some treacherous places and come and go without a trace.
In occultism, demons are generally summoned through mysterious symbols and altars . For example, the movies "Master Key" and "Genetic Doom" are summoned and sacrificed through symbols and altars.
The second is that the way the devil possesses is different.
In religious studies, it is unreasonable for demons to possess possessions, but they are generally possessed by women who are more yin-qi. In Christianity, male roles such as Jesus and priests are basically active, and the lack of women also represents them. More vulnerable to demons.
Therefore, in the first two parts of the call for souls , the victims were families with missing male roles . In the first part, the Perun family had seven members, including five daughters. The husband also needed to go out to work, so the demons were given a chance. Peggy is a single mother with two daughters and a son alone, and is also a family with no male role.
In the occult, the possession of the devil is generally cursed , and in the soul-calling 3, it is cursed by an assembled goat head, and the cursed person will be possessed by the devil, similar to the raising of ghosts and descending in Southeast Asia. Head .
From religious studies to occult studies, the pattern of the soul-calling series has been expanded. The advantage of this is that the soul-calling universe will be more maneuverable in the future , and there will be more "evil spirits" that can be accommodated and used, but the downside is that the material is farther away from the audience . Any carelessness will make the audience unable to feel the sense of horror. After all, most audiences who like the soul-calling universe are because of its fear, not its mystery .
The most regrettable thing about the film is that no new evil spirit characters were introduced .
The doll Annabel was introduced in the first, which gave birth to the "Annabel" series, and the second, the nun and the twister appeared in the second , which resulted in independent films of "The Nun" and "The Twisted Man".
However, there was no new character for the soul-calling universe in the third middle school. It is said that Wen Ziren originally designed a brand-new evil spirit image, but it was rejected by Warner on the grounds of the length and complexity of the film, which is a pity.
Finally, look forward to the latest horror film "Fatal Induction" directed by Wen Ziren.
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