In 2015, a "Fast and Furious 7" swept the box office of imported movies in mainland China with a score of more than 2 billion, which made ordinary audiences remember the name of James Wan. Many people don't know that this young director has already had such well-received works as "Dead Silence" and "Chainsaw". Aside from the double income of "Fast 7" and the box office, he can best represent Wen Ziren's directorial style and the charm of the film. , in fact, his horror genre films. "Wen's Horror" can be in its own category, not because of how terrifying and exciting the film directed by Wen Ziren is, but how charming it is.
Combination of world themes and local culture
Horror films, as one of the oldest genre films, have carried a certain social significance of the creator's era since its birth. It indirectly reflects the fear of supernatural phenomena in unknown areas (such as "The Exorcist"). "), it can be doubts about the "advanced" technology of the era (such as "Artificial Intelligence", "Resident Evil"), or it can be a vague criticism of social reality (such as "The Mermaid of the Sewer") ... Wen Ziren In the series of horror films "Hunter" and "The Conjuring" directed in recent years, Lao Wen chose the well-known "Haunted House" and "Ghost Upper Body". Different from "Witchcraft" in Southeast Asia, "Taoist Slaying Demons" in China, and "Vampires" in Europe, these themes are classic and universal, and naturally attract a large audience.
What really makes Wen's horror fascinating is that Wen Ziren upgraded the local culture to world terror. The Crooked Man in "The Conjuring 2" is similar to Japan's Rippled Girl, China's Hairbrush Ghost, and European and American Bloody Mary. It is a classic horror story in the United States and is generally used to scare disobedient children; "The Conjuring 1" The demon Bathsheba in "The Conjuring 2" is derived from the folklore of the country witch in the early 20th century; the ultimate demon Valak in "The Conjuring 2" is derived from a Latin Xuecheng demonology book "The Little Key of Solomon" . Wen Ziren integrated local culture into the creation of horror films, narrowing the psychological distance between the "screen demon" and the audience.
The collision of technology and religion
The elements that confront the devil repeatedly in the film are the elements of "Christian Church", "Pastor", "Cross" and "Bible" that we are familiar with every day. "Pure religious" exorcism, Wen Ziren added the element of "technical exorcism" to his films, using advanced technology to detect and capture supernatural phenomena, the collision between scientists and exorcists, at another level. Interpreted as the collision of materialism and idealism, technology and religion. Wen Ziren made a breakthrough in people's traditional cognition, allowing technology and religion to appear on the same stage, showing different charms. Religion is responsible for the mysteries, exaggeration, and eye-catching; technology is responsible for "explaining" and convincing the audience that it all seems reasonable. At the same time, the tension of the film is enhanced, and more possibilities are provided for the setting of the compositional elements such as the characters, scenes, and costumes of the film.
Explanation of Love and Evil
For the setting of the demon in the film, Wen Ziren did not veto it by one vote and told the audience that "he is the worst", but used the mouth of the exorcist to explain the tragic situation of the demon before his death in the place where the plot was smooth and awakened. The audience's inner sympathy tells people that the demons in the film also had "flesh and blood". The advantage of such a setting is that it can stimulate the audience's thinking, and people no longer blindly confine their energy to simple awareness activities such as "pity the good and bombard the bad".
Similarly, the setting of the victim's family is all done around "love". Every time the devil invades, it occurs in the weakest link of the family relationship. The husband's negligence and distrust of his wife in "Insidious 1", the father's incomprehension of his daughter in "Insidious 3", the mother in "The Conjuring 2" The crisis of trust with her daughter... After the indelible disaster that the devil has brought to the family, the victimized family can always unite, stand in the center of the world, call for love, and drive the devil away. As a Malay-born Chinese director, Lao Wen grew up in Australia, but his films are permeated with a strong oriental family philosophy. In several films, the family relationship between parents and children, the love between the exorcist couple, and the relationship between neighbors The friendship between the two is full of love, and even "Fast 7" reveals this point of view everywhere.
In Wen Ziren's films, love and evil are intertwined. It is precisely because of the weak link in love that the evil that has lost love can take advantage of it. When love is gathered by everyone, the ending of the story will be clear.
Fusion of classic and heavy metal
After watching the series of horror films "Hidden" and "The Conjuring", it is not difficult to find that the director's handling of sound is also an important part of "Wen's horror". At the beginning and end of the film, or when the horror atmosphere reaches its climax, there will always be a symbolic sound element. It is not to put the sound of the movie that can make people feel terrifying alone in the right place, but to combine the gothic classic with the current heavy metal, and use the mixing and the characteristics of the environment to render the terrifying atmosphere or the upcoming sound. A turning point or climax to come.
Conclusion: 1+1>2
The reason why Wen's horror can become a self-contained faction in the film industry is not that Wen Ziren filled a certain vacancy, but that he has combined the film elements that can generate new possibilities to achieve "1+1>2". Effect. Universal invited him to direct "Fast 8" on the condition that "it can change the rest of your life". In the face of such huge commercial interests, Wen Ziren resolutely refused, and chose to go back to make his own horror film. We have reason to have full expectations , for his next "Warm Horror".
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