If you want to choose the most anticipated Chinese horror film this year, then it must be "curse".
The film aroused heated discussions before its release. After the first trailer was released online, it was removed from the shelves due to complaints that it was too scary.
The movie was officially released in Taiwan in March this year. It has received great reviews and has been shortlisted for many film festival awards. It is known as:
, one of the most evil movies in Taiwanese film history!
not only has a good reputation, but also has an amazing box office. Since its release in Taiwan, it has taken .71html NT$400 million at the box office. It is the only Chinese-language film in Taiwan with a box office of over NT$100 million this year. The box office champion of Chinese films so far.
Compared with the 2021 zombie movie "crying sadness " , this "Curse" is truly a hit and a hit!
In accordance with the practice of Hong Kong and Taiwan media keen to attract attention in news reports, there was no shortage of news reports that "audiences were frightened" during the release of "The Curse". During the movie's release, some media reported:
Some viewers took their wives to watch it movie, but my wife pinched her finger and broke it in the theater because she was so scared.
This shows the popularity and influence of the film, which has led to high expectations among mainland audiences since the film was released.
Now, the most violent horror film of the year has finally been released on streaming media. However, the higher the expectations, the greater the disappointment of the audience. The original score was 8.0, but now it has dropped to only .9. Many viewers who watched the film gave it one star. Bad review.
The most concentrated criticism is that the director of is teasing the audience, and even spreads a curse to the audience at the end, which leads to controversy. They think it is unlucky to watch the film, and it was even scolded on the trending search.
In this issue of " New Film Detoxification ", let's talk about this controversial work -
"The Curse"
Incantation
The film is written and directed by Ke Mengrong, who is considered a new generation director in Taiwanese film industry.
In 2004, Ke Mengrong shot a horror short film " ghost mark " when he was still in college. It attracted hundreds of thousands of hits on the Internet and attracted the attention of the industry. After that, Ke Mengrong shot several short films one after another and was shortlisted. Bucheon Fantasy Film Exhibition, South Korea.
Director Ke Mengyong
In 2009, Ke Mengyong launched his first directorial feature film "Desperate Party". The film is a B-level crime thriller that imitated Hollywood's "Chainsaw" and "Human Skin Inn" The style of the plasma film attracted a certain amount of attention in the Taiwanese film industry, where horror films were still relatively niche at the time. It is worth mentioning that the film also stars the popular Japanese actress Maria Ozawa.
After filming "Dead Party", Ke Mengrong was supported by director Chen Zhengdao and came to the mainland to shoot several web drama micro-movies. "After the Doomsday" is known as the first domestic zombie-themed micro-movie, and "The Straightforward Life" "Doomsday Counterattack" and " Adult Diary 2" are absurd comedies. In addition, he also filmed a campus youth film "Emergency Singles" starring Dong Zijian and Chun Xia.
"Emergency for Leaving Singles"
Unfortunately, these works have received mediocre response. For Ke Mengrong, they can only be regarded as practice. His most passionate genre is horror. Thirteen years later, he released his second horror-themed feature film "The Curse".
Due to the great success of this film, director Ke Mengrong plans to create a series of " one-word universe " horror films. In addition to the opening film "Curse", the future series will also include: "Trapped", "Oops", "Pickled" , "Tibetan" and "Curse 2" .
According to director Ke Mengrong's self-report, this series will be inspired by real horrific supernatural events in Taiwan's history to create a new Chinese horror film universe similar to James Wan's "The Conjuring Universe". It has to be It is indeed bold to say that such a creative ambition exists.
The script of "The Curse" took 5 years to write. The film adopts the form of a pseudo-documentary. The theme and style are somewhat similar to last year's popular horror film "The Medium". They both tell religious and supernatural stories and explore beliefs and superstitions. .
"Psychic Medium"
But the most daring aspect of "The Curse" is the shooting technique. It does not use the narrative method of traditional horror films, but uses the form of pseudo-documentary and makes extensive use of breaking the fourth wall expression techniques, making the film more daring. The protagonist talks directly to the audience and guides the audience to interact through the lens, creating a sense of immersion and presence that makes them immersive and even participate in it.
In recent years, almost all of the blockbuster horror movies in Taiwanese film industry come from real supernatural events or urban legends, such as "The Little Girl in Red", " The Ghost Bridge " and so on. The story is based on an evil incident in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan Province. Although 17 years have passed, it is still considered one of the most appalling terrorist cases in Taiwanese society.
"Female Ghost Bridge"
In 2005, there was a family named Wu in Gushan District, Kaohsiung City. The parents made a living by doing menial work and had four children, who were engaged in printing, nursing, and restaurant work. The Wu family is extremely superstitious and has long believed in a residential shrine located in , Nanzi District, .
At the end of February of that year, the third daughter of the Wu family worshiped at the altar. After returning home, she suddenly became insane and claimed to be possessed by the third prince Nezha. She also told the whole family that the eldest sister who worked in Taipei was possessed by an evil spirit and that she must do it as soon as possible. You can only be saved if you go home.
Mother Wu took her eldest daughter home overnight, but her daughter was haunted by nightmares every night after returning home. Later, after receiving a strange phone call, she began to speak abnormally, claiming to be possessed by Guanyin Bodhisattva and mutilating herself every day.
The Wu family believed in the gods, so they went to the altar for help. It is said that they received instructions from the gods, which made the Wu family become obsessed. The whole family began to claim that they were possessed by gods. (The father was the Jade Emperor, the mother was the Queen Mother, the eldest daughter was Guanyin Bodhisattva, the second daughter was the Seven Star Empress, the youngest daughter was Prince Nezha, and the son was Zen Master Jigong.) However, The six people did not recognize each other as true gods, and accused each other of being demons, pretending to be gods and ghosts. Family members either beat each other or harmed themselves.
In the end, the whole family decided that the eldest daughter was the biggest evil spirit, so she was tortured and imprisoned at home, and she starved to death.
After a neighbor reported the incident, the incident was revealed. The five members of the Wu family insisted that their eldest daughter died of exhaustion after being possessed by an evil spirit. Eventually, the police arrested the five members of the Wu family. Doctors once conducted a mental evaluation on the Wu family and determined that they all suffered from collective delusional disorder.
The story of the movie "The Curse" is generally based on this evil incident. Through the perspective of the protagonist Li Ruonan, the audience is led into this terrifying and bizarre incident. Because uses a large number of first-person perspectives and hand-held lenses, it seems that the audience is Experience an exorcism ceremony live broadcast .
The film emphasizes the interactive feel of the film from the first shot, which begins with the heroine's monologue.
The heroine Li Ruonan invites everyone to participate in a spiritual experiment. The picture shows a rotating Ferris wheel and a speeding high-speed train. Li Ruonan tells the audience in a deep voice that as long as they use their inner imagination, they can A moving Ferris wheel or train changes direction, from left to right, from forward to backward.
Li Ruonan told the audience that reality can be changed with willpower. People's thoughts are actually quietly changing the world. This is the principle of the so-called "blessing".
If we strictly follow the scientific discussion, the Ferris wheel and train that constantly change directions are actually just using the visual information deviation of the human eye. Whether it is a "Ferris wheel" or a "train", it is actually an illusion of the human eye.
This phenomenon also has a scientific name called " wagon wheel effect ". The main reason is that the frame rate of and in the sequence image is lower than the rotation speed of the wheel. If you don’t believe it, try closing your eyes for a second and then opening your eyes to look at the picture. You will also feel that the Ferris wheel and train in the picture have changed direction.
The above is based on scientific explanation and goes back to the movie plot. The real purpose of Li Ruonan's spiritual test is actually a narrative strategy of the director, which guides the audience to participate in this visual experiment from the beginning . Although the heroine's tone is bland and the plot is not particularly scary, this kind of The feeling of extreme horror lingers in the hearts of the audience from the first scene of the film.
The film officially begins. The main plot of the film is actually Li Ruonan telling the camera about her horrific experience. She posted a video on the Internet. The director obviously made reference to the popular tabletop movie format in recent years.
Li Ruonan’s narration starts from the family relationship with his daughter Duoduo.
The heroine Li Ruonan played by Cai Genyan is a single mother. After successfully curing the mental illness that has troubled her for many years, she takes her daughter Duoduo, who was previously sent to a welfare institution, home to live with her.
Faced with not seeing her daughter for a long time, Li Ruonan made up her mind to be a good mother and create a family for Duoduo to grow up in peace of mind. Therefore, she bought a camera specifically to capture her daughter's daily life and provide a better way for mother and daughter. They both left wonderful memories that they can look back on in the future.
In order to record the life of mother and daughter reunited, Li Ruonan will carry a camera almost everywhere he goes. Even if he cannot hold it, he will put it next to him to shoot. He also requires his daughter Duoduo to develop the habit of recording, even if she carries it with her. There is also a camera hidden in the rabbit doll.
The director made this arrangement in order to use the "mock documentary" style and deliberately blur the boundaries between reality and fiction, allowing the audience to clearly see the subsequent experiences of the mother and daughter through these subjective perspectives or images taken from the side. of terrorist incidents.
At first, Li Ruonan took good care of his daughter, and the mother and daughter got along well. However, the good times did not last long, and strange things began to happen at home. One time, her daughter Duoduo suddenly asked her mother Li Ruonan to help her get rid of the "bad" (the scary evil spirits in the children's mouth) hidden in the ceiling. Li Ruonan then began to suspect that her daughter seemed to have yin and yang eyes , which could See things that ordinary people cannot see.
The film cuts into Li Ruonan's memories. uses a narrative method that intersects reality and memories. tells the story of Li Ruonan's horrific experience that happened six years ago. After years of mental treatment, she originally thought that the terrifying experience was just her own. It was a delusion after psychological trauma, but the changes in her daughter now made her realize that the nightmare from six years ago was coming back again.
Six years ago, Li Ruonan, together with her boyfriend A Dong, and her boyfriend's cousin A Yuan, founded a video studio that specializes in exploring supernatural events and exposing horrific rumors, similar to the "ghost zone" on short video platforms. UP master". In order to gain traffic, Li Ruonan and her boyfriend A Dong visited haunted houses and searched for various weird legends.
According to the unchanging law of horror movies, if you don’t do something, you will not die. Li Ruonan and the three learned that A Dong’s distant relatives lived in the "Chenjiazhuang" deep in the mountains and forests. There was a terrifying tunnel that was sealed with a very evil sect, so the three of them Then we came to Chenjiazhuang with our camera.
Chenjiazhuang is full of weirdness. The locals seem to be extremely superstitious about a secret sect with the "Big Black Buddha Mother" as their deity. The Chen family makes sacrifices and supports on the altar every night, and performs strange mudra with hands folded in reverse and recites the meaning. The unknown eight-character mantra "火 Buddha Xiuyi, Xinsha Moo" treats the sealed tunnel as a forbidden area.
A Dong and others did not understand this religious ritual. In order to investigate the secrets of the forbidden area, they broke through the layers of blockade and broke into the sealed tunnel late at night. As a result, they accidentally awakened the sleeping evil spirits, causing A Dong to go crazy on the spot. After a tragic death, A Yuan also went crazy while escaping from the tunnel, and died mysteriously as soon as he came out of the tunnel. The only survivor was Ruo Nan, who was waiting at the door because of his injuries.
Afterwards, the Chen family immediately cremated Adong's body in order to appease the anger of the Big Black Buddha Mother.
The plot of "Chenjiazhuang" can be said to be the most powerful scene in the entire film. From the moment we entered Chenjiazhuang, the director created a strong sense of weirdness and horror. Whether it was the bizarre and special spells and seals, the little girl with scriptures written on her body, or the weird statues in the tunnel, they all created a special feeling for the people in Chenjiazhuang. The mystery behind the beliefs and rituals.
After entering the forbidden area, the shaky hand-held camera makes people afraid of missing any scene and makes it difficult to breathe. It is obviously just the plot of a movie, but it makes people feel that the fake has become real. In conjunction with the method of breaking the fourth wall mentioned above, the Big Black Buddha Mother has subtly existed in the hearts of moviegoers, which makes people shudder.
Back to the story, although Li Ruonan escaped from the forbidden area of Chenjiazhuang, he could not escape the shadow of the evil spirit's curse. After that, everyone who saw the images in the tunnel died unexpectedly one after another. Li Ruonan's parents also died mysteriously in a car accident. .
From then on, Li Ruonan could not withstand the blow and became mentally ill. After she gave birth to her boyfriend A Dong's posthumous daughter "Duo Duo", the court ruled that she lost the custody of her daughter and could only hand over her daughter Duo Duo. Welfare organization volunteer Xie Qiming takes care of him.
After six years of treatment, Li Ruonan's mental condition improved, and he finally got the opportunity to take his daughter home. He wanted to make up for his guilt as a mother, but unexpectedly, his daughter Duoduo also began to show signs of being cursed by evil spirits. ——From the beginning when he saw the terrifying "bad guy" on the ceiling, to his seemingly mental disorder, his temperament changed drastically, and finally he fell seriously ill, with skin ulcers and life-threatening injuries.
It is not difficult to guess the next plot. As a mother, Li Ruonan began to try every means to resolve the curse on her daughter.
Li Ruonan knew that the source of the curse was the taboo violated six years ago, which led to the fate of those around her today. In order to save her daughter's life, she and her adoptive father Xie Qiming sought help from various magicians to resolve the curse on their daughter.
Although it is not difficult to guess the plot direction of the entire film, the most daring part of the movie is the reversal at the end.
The rotating Ferris wheel and Mercedes-Benz train that appear at the beginning of the movie seem to be Li Ruonan explaining to people that "ideas can change the world", but the answer is not revealed until the end. In fact, the heroine Li Ruonan deliberately told the story to the audience to let the audience participate. Come to this blessing ceremony.
So the mystery of the movie is completely reversed. It can be understood as a "scam" carefully designed by the heroine.
After her daughter's physical and mental condition deteriorated, she collected the previously shot scenes, edited, packaged, and uploaded them to the Internet. By telling a story, she gradually led the audience to understand her horrific experience and tragic experience. Guide the audience to participate in praying together.
The purpose of Li Ruonan's doing this is to make everyone fall into the curse of the Great Black Buddha, because she believes that the more people she inspires to start praying for blessings, the more people will be able to share the curse of the Great Black Buddha. strength.
uses the method of "sharing" the curse to eliminate the evil spirits in his daughter's body.
In this sense, the movie is about the extreme and abnormal mother's love. The eight-character mantra that runs through the movie "Fire Buddha cultivates one, the heart is silent" turns out to be " good fortune and misfortune depend on each other, life and death are famous " is a homophonic pronunciation of in Hokkien. This mantra reveals the theme of the movie -
One's thoughts may change the world, but one thought of heaven will lead to another thought of hell.
As a pseudo-documentary-style horror film, this film is quite bold and vigorous in creating a horror atmosphere. The director uses a large number of details in daily life to stack some supernatural events layer by layer to increase the mood of terror and uneasiness, and combine the horror atmosphere. The situation in daily life will be even more chilling.
Not only that, the audio-visual design of the film is excellent. The art and sound design of the film are both remarkable. Some of the sudden scary shots are indeed very frightening. Some of the shots of human body distortion make people crazy.
At the end of the article, let’s talk about the most controversial ending of the film. Many people criticized the director for “lowering” the audience’s heads while watching the movie. This is indeed a very offensive approach, because lowering the heads of the audience will not please atheists ( It makes people feel that the movie is no longer scary) , and it cannot please the theists (after watching it, I feel that the movie is very unlucky) .
From my personal point of view, as a viewer purely to watch a horror film, this "offensive" ending will not affect my viewing experience, and from the perspective of script design, I boldly It is speculated that the director arranged such an ending reversal just to achieve a "narrative trick" and to strengthen the feeling of extreme horror created by the entire movie.
It is recommended that friends who want to watch the movie can recite the following mantra
Regarding this kind of shooting technique, different audiences have different opinions. It is understandable that the film has received negative reviews. I suggest that curious friends, if you want to watch this film, please read the part in the story by yourself. A mantra, replace it with "大伟天龙" and read again.
If we look purely at the film itself, "The Curse" can be regarded as a quite creative horror movie. The overall degree of completion is far better than a movie that purely sells sensory stimulation like "Crying". It may not be purely It's scary, but it's really scary after watching .
