Recently, "The Curse", known as "the scariest movie in Taiwanese film history", quickly became a hit on the Internet as soon as it was released on Netflix. Prior to this, the film had already surprised people at the theater box office.

This is the first time that Brother Pi has seen a horror movie make such a big splash.

Recently, "The Curse", known as "the scariest movie in Taiwanese film history" , quickly detonated the entire network as soon as it was launched on Netflix.

Prior to this, this film had already surprised people at the theater box office.

Since its release in Taiwan on March 18, 's cumulative box office has exceeded NT$171 million , becoming the 2022 Taiwanese movie box office champion , and its Douban score once rose to more than 8 points.

Such a "magic film" has naturally aroused the expectations of horror film fans.

Since this film is only shown in Taiwan, China, in the past three months from March to now, people have been asking for it on the Internet. Until 3 pm on July 8, this much-anticipated hit was finally released online, and the enthusiasm of netizens was instantly ignited.

To everyone's surprise, as soon as the video resources were online, the noise was even greater than before..

Because the reputation is so polarizing.

You will understand by looking at the Douban score. After the resource came out, the score of "Curse" has been on a downward trend, and now it has dropped to 6.8.

Some netizens thought the movie was highly completed and praised it as a localized version of "The Conjuring" and "Insidious";

Some netizens gave it a score of 2 stars or even 1 star. The most commonly used word in the short reviews was "unlucky" , even more extreme netizens said, "It seems like I ate a fly", and some even asked the crew to publicly apologize.

These comments make people wonder what kind of story this movie tells, and what the "curse on the audience" in the hot comments is about.

Okay, without further ado, Brother Pi will take you today to uncover the four layers of mystery draped over "The Curse" to see if it is worthy of winning the "Box Office Championship".

In order to take care of netizens who have not watched it yet, this article of Brother Pi will try to avoid the core content of the movie's story and will not completely spoil the movie's content, so everyone can read it with confidence.

The first layer of veil: background of the story, adapted from Kaohsiung real bizarre events, which are still an unsolved mystery

Netizens who know this movie should know that the movie "The Curse" is based on what happened in Kaohsiung. Adapted from real events.

This incident remains an unsolved mystery.

This incident occurred in a 3-story house in Gushan District, Kaohsiung in 2005. A couple, their two daughters and a son, a family of 6, lived on the third floor of the house.

Like many religious families in Taiwan Similarly, this family believes in the Nezha Third Prince in Taoism , and the statue of the Third Prince is enshrined at home.

Originally this was a happy family, but they were a little superstitious, but it was because of superstition that they got into big trouble.

One day in February 2005, the youngest daughter of this family went to a shrine in Nanzi District to participate in a strange ritual. After returning home, her temperament changed drastically and she claimed that she was "possessed" by the third prince.

Later, after receiving a mysterious phone call, the eldest daughter of the family also claimed that she was "possessed" by Guanyin.

Originally, two daughters in the family had mental problems and they should go to the doctor quickly. However, the family did not do so. Instead, they turned to the so-called "gods" for help, which led to the continued growth of superstitious consciousness in the family. , the family eventually fell into madness.

For a whole month, the family locked themselves at home and did not go out. They attacked each other, self-mutilated, smeared filth on their bodies to "exorcise demons", and did not eat for a long time and only drank talisman water.

It was not until the eldest daughter died of multiple organ failure due to long-term deprivation of food that the family gradually recovered from the madness. After the

incident, although the family's life eventually returned to normal, the death of their eldest daughter became their eternal pain.

This incident also caused a sensation in Taiwan at the time. Director Ke Mengrong was inspired by this and wrote the story of "Curse".

The second veil: the story itself, the director designed a "story that Chinese people fear most"

In an interview with Ke Mengrong, he said that he had always wanted to find out what Chinese people are most afraid of, and later discovered that our awe of religion has always existed , so I conceived this story.

Although it is claimed in the promotion that the story is adapted from the "real incident in Kaohsiung", in fact this is just a gimmick. The content of the movie is a fresh start, which is far from the real incident.

In order to bring the audience a close to real sensory experience, the film uses a pseudo-documentary shooting technique.

But what Pi Ge likes more is the director's innovation. On the basis of the pseudo-documentary technique, he added a two-line story - "6 years ago" and "9 years later" developed in parallel. As the truth is revealed bit by bit, the audience is slowly brought to the core of the story.

html Sixteen years ago, a female college student at National Taiwan University, Li Ruonan (played by Cai Genyan), her boyfriend A Dong ( Lin Jinglun ), and A Dong's younger brother A Yuan (played by Wen Qingyu) went to A Dong's rural home to worship God. .

The three of them call themselves the "Ghost-busting Agent Team" and run an online video channel called "Mumbling Monsters" with the selling point of breaking superstitions.

The purpose of their trip was to worship God. In fact, it was to explore a blocked and protected "tunnel that must not be entered" in the village.

Although their uncle at home repeatedly warned them not to run around and locked them in the room, the three of them picked the door lock and walked into the mountains to find the mysterious tunnel.

A Dong and A Yuan entered the tunnel. Li Ruonan did not go with them due to physical discomfort caused by pregnancy, and stayed outside the tunnel to watch.

Unexpectedly, the two of them encountered a terrible thing in the tunnel and died. Li Ruonan was also "cursed" because he violated a taboo.

After returning home, Li Ruonan began to have mental problems, and even caused her family to die tragically in a car accident. After giving birth to her daughter Duoduo (played by Huang Xinting), she was sent to a mental hospital for treatment.

Duoduo was fostered by a welfare institution to the home of a caring person named Xie Qiming ( played by Gao Yingxuan), and gradually grew up under his care.

html Sixteen years later, Li Ruonan, who has returned to normal consciousness, hopes to take Duoduo back after being discharged from the hospital. However, in order to live with her daughter, she still needs to go through a period of assessment.

Duoduo gradually adapted to the new life under the care of her mother. However, strange things began to occur frequently at home, and an evil force was devouring the small family.

In order to firmly hold on to his happiness, Li Ruonan must protect his daughter and keep his custody rights; on the other hand, he needs to face life and death and fight against the curse on himself.

A battle between good and evil begins, and as the truth is revealed, the audience in front of the screen can also feel the horror and depression from the movie.

The third veil: the source of online criticism, the director played a clever trick, but caused an uproar

Of course, creating shock is the primary task of a horror film.

For this reason, the director put a lot of effort into the lens performance. In addition to the main lens of the protagonist's handheld camera, the film also uses surveillance video of the scene, a small camera carried with him, and a camera installed on a rag doll to achieve multiple angles. perspective change.

In order to give the audience a deep sense of immersion, the film has put a lot of effort into serving the Tao, investing most of its funds in the production of statues of gods, clay boys, and artifacts, striving to make the fakes look like the real ones.

Especially the production of props for the "Big Black Buddha Mother" statue, its gestures and shapes are so lifelike that it is frightening to see.

Jump scare is a commonly used scare technique in horror films. Some large-scale shots are also very "conventional". From these, we can see that the director's techniques are very mature.

But the scare methods of "Curse" don't stop there. The biggest scare comes from the plot itself, which is what Pig thinks is the most "advanced" part of the movie.

Our Asian horror films like to use "curse" as the selling point. From the "Midnight Ring" series to the "The Grudge" series, this routine is used. How to create new ideas in this "curse" routine depends on the director's production level. Ke Mengrong is very good at this aspect.

The movie was set from the beginning to be a video made by the heroine Li Ruonan for her daughter Duoduo.

At the beginning, Li Ruonan used the two animated pictures of "Ferris Wheel" and "Train Track" through the camera to guide us the audience to understand the so-called "power of blessing". As the story finally revealed the mystery, we discovered that this so-called The "blessing" is actually a curse.

This kind of interactive segment that breaks the fourth wall and confesses to the audience has an immediate frightening effect..

The "curse" the director placed on the audience is the reason why many viewers reject it and think it will bring "bad luck".

But in fact, isn’t this kind of repelling effect on the audience proof of the film’s success?

Although director Ke Mengrong has explained that the gods and curses appearing in the film are all fictitious by him and do not exist in reality, so the audience does not need to worry about bringing bad luck.

Many viewers still can't accept the director's "little cleverness", which is why "The Curse" received a low score.

The fourth veil: Underneath the horror story, what does the movie really want to express?

Under the structure of a horror story, the movie is actually a story about family love.

The movie shows the story of Li Ruonan and Duoduo's estrangement and gradual approach, Duoduo's relationship with her adoptive father Xie Qiming, Li Ruonan's bravery and persistence, and Duoduo's obedience and sensibleness. In particular, the child actor Huang Xinting's authentic performance makes it easy for the audience to like him.

Therefore, in the process of watching the movie, the audience will easily become immersed in the frustrated experiences of these mothers. Every life and death test they face will cause our emotional fluctuations.

It is not easy for a horror film to tell a good story nowadays, and horror films that can arouse emotional resonance are even rarer. In this regard, Pi Ge believes that "The Curse" performed very well.

But from the perspective of the quality of the movie itself, Brother Pi still feels that the degree of completion of "The Curse" is very high.

Moreover, from the perspective of Fong Huadao's meticulous production, the presentation techniques of mockumentary and dual-line narrative, and the actors' fully committed performances, the movie is excellent and is a classic horror film that is rare to see in recent years.

Therefore, Brother Pi feels the need to recommend it to netizens and friends around him.

But at the end of the article, Brother Pi also wants to give some advice to netizens who have not watched the film yet.

Firstly, this is not a movie suitable for minors to watch; secondly, netizens with poor mental endurance and prone to random thoughts are best to watch it in the company of friends or family.

Text/Pippi Movie Editorial Department: Hot Blood Danxin

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