During this time, there is a word that appears frequently on the Internet:
Chinese horror.
Obviously, it means the combination of traditional folklore and treacherous atmosphere.
It hits the novelty spot with great precision.
Unfortunately, this kind of creation has been very barren in the mainland in recent years.
Especially in the field of movies and TV dramas.
American horror and Japanese and Korean thrillers are popular, and there are occasional masterpieces from Hong Kong and Taiwan.
As for internal entertainment, it is almost blank.
However, a new online drama recently launched boldly under the banner of "Chinese horror aesthetics".
Is it another Chinese drama fraud, or is the Chinese horror really on the edge?
Let me see today whether it works or not--
"19th floor"
The 19th floor is adapted from the best-selling novel the 19th floor of Hell.
Author Cai Jun has held the best-selling record of suspense novels in China for nine years in a row.
One of the greatest features of his story is that it is full of traditional Chinese elements.
At the same time, he is also very good at creating an atmosphere of terror.
Not only that, the play is produced by the third uncle of the Southern School who wrote the Notes of Tomb robbing.
Needless to say, this one is handy in terms of "Chinese-style terror".
This time, the two work together, and the atmosphere is filled at once.
In addition, it may be in order to feel more in place.
The heroine of this play is Sun Qian, who is known as "Xiao Quan Zhixian". The main theme is the sense of atmosphere.
It is under this premise that as soon as the "19th floor" comes up, there are three "big" in a row.
First in a dilapidated and abandoned building.
With the singing of the traditional opera, the shadow dancing on the cloth suddenly stepped out of the curtain.
The small figure was suddenly pulled a few feet high, and the cold weapon in his hand was ghastly.
Then came a ghastly ancestral hall.
In the middle of the hall, there are many dusty tablets whose names cannot be seen clearly.
Around the hall, there are countless memorial archways with all kinds of words about loyalty and filial piety.
When I looked up again, I could see that there was no top in the sky, and countless strange coffins were hung in the air by chains.
And the creepy puppets.
There are many "people" walking back and forth on the path of the ancient town and village without a trace of popularity.
The skin is pale and wrinkled, and there are rough sutures on the body.
If you hide and watch them secretly, they can accurately capture your position and stare at you with twisted posture and white-eyed eyes.
*** High-energy warning ***
Shadow puppets, operas, ancestral halls...
These settings do have the smell of "Chinese horror", and they do make people feel bright in front of their eyes.
But...
It's really just a flash of light.
Let alone, the so-called "Chinese horror" is the content mentioned above, the story develops to the back, you can no longer see the relevant elements.
And when the gimmick disappears, you will find:
The show is exactly like an online drama that came back from ten years ago, and even failed.
The whole story of "19th floor" is actually very simple.
Because of a car accident, the heroine Chunyu (Sun Qian is acted the role of) inexplicably enters a game called "19th floor".
She was accompanied by her roommate, senior Gao Xuan (Wei Zheming), Uncle Lin from the school canteen and three thugs.
In the game, they need to break through various hurdles to get the chance of survival.
People who fail to break through or are "killed" in the game will also affect their bodies in reality.
The light ones fall into a coma, while the serious ones face life-threatening.
Always suddenly enter the game, the friends around also fall into danger one after another, Chunyu's life becomes a mess.
In order to find a way to end the game, but also to find out the truth of the existence of the game.
Chunyu and Gao Xuan joined hands, with the help of their companions, while playing games, while conducting investigations.
It is not difficult to see that in addition to Chinese horror, another major attraction of this play is Infinite flow.
Before the popularity of "the beginning", the suspense drama with unlimited flow mode came into the public's view.
But the 19th floor is still a little different.
Unlike the beginning, the protagonist loops infinitely in the same event, looking for different clues by repeating it over and over again.
Stills of "beginning"
"19th floor" is a game that goes in and out repeatedly, and the content of each level is different.
As a result, many people say that the play is like the Chinese version of Alice of the dying country.
Under this premise, the wonderful degree of the game determines the good-looking degree of the play.
But unfortunately, the games in the 19th floor are boring, and some of them are even retarded.
For example, the previously mentioned shadow ghosts and puppet ghosts are tested on the player's physical strength and intelligence.
They should not only find ways to avoid the pursuit of ghosts, but also find ways to subdue ghosts by searching for clues and tools.
However, in this play, only men and women are really doing things.
Other companions are like NPC who are here to slow you down.
Chunyu and Gao Xuan have to fight, explore, appease their companions and become their backing, which is not too outrageous.
Moreover, every time the spring rain finds some key props, they all rely on accidents and coincidences, with almost no technical content.
It's like fighting the puppet.
Chunyu accidentally found a whistle. Although it seemed useless, she stayed behind.
Unexpectedly, this whistle became a key prop.
Then, relying on the spring rain to whistle to attract firepower, everyone was able to escape.
After a few episodes, Xu was worried that the audience would be aesthetically tired when watching the copies of fighting and killing all the time.
The screenwriter designed a psychological war: truth or dare.
Players need to answer the questions of the characters on TV, tell the truth and be severely punished if they tell the truth.
You also know that the problems that arise must be problems that alienate the team relationship.
At first, the players answered questions honestly, and the team was successfully provoked.
But soon Gao Xuan seized the flaw.
The lamp that determines the truth is false.
The rules of the game don't make it clear who answers the questions.
So Gao Xuan was instantly possessed by Lv Xiucai and used his "mouth-beating" skill to output to the TV in the opposite direction.
Finally, join hands with friends to use the trick of "I won't answer, what can you do with me?"
I saw Uncle Fish shouting outrageously.
However, what is even more outrageous is that the subject maker, who was not afraid of arrogance just now, was said to have breached the defense and ran away.
Except for being speechless, he is still speechless.
The game is ugly, so look at the performance of the characters.
But it's also a long story.
The whole play is a stage starring both male and female actors.
The two men's strength value is off the table. When others are only concerned about screaming and running away, they can "rotate and jump" to complete a complete set of difficult movements, and then solve the problem.
The two of them are full of intelligence.
Gao Xuan is a high-tech genius, cracking all kinds of passwords is a piece of cake.
Chunyu is a genius with excellent memory. No matter how complicated the map is, she can engrave it in her mind at a glance.
So all the clues were visible only to the two of them.
As for the others, they were either typical green tea white lotus flowers or crying white rabbits, all of whom seemed to have come out of the online articles ten years ago.
In addition to dragging his feet, he is waiting to be saved.
The main content is like this, not to mention other plots.
The whole drama, watching Uncle Yu is scratching his heart and liver, restless.
At this point of writing, it should not be difficult to see why the play focuses on "Chinese horror".
To put it bluntly, it is to cover up the failure of the play.
However, the creator doesn't seem to understand the core of "Chinese terror" at all.
Many people like Chinese horror, but what they like is the suffocating sense of "shudder" behind it.
The source of this experience comes from the "inhumane" part of traditional culture and folklore.
For example, whenever Chinese horror is mentioned, it is impossible to get around a classic "Liangzhu".
In this film, there are two colors:
White and red.
Bai was in layer after layer of grease on Zhu Yingtai's father's face.
Red in the hard rouge on everyone's face.
When these two colors appeared on Zhu Yingtai at the same time, the most classic and terrifying scene in the movie appeared:
Zhu Yingtai, whose face looks like death, was wrapped in a "coffin" composed of fat powder and wedding clothes, and was sent to a grave step by step.
Later, she tore off her restraints and ran to Liang Shanbo's grave with tears and blood in her eyes.
The rouge tears that melted on her face were also the blood of her heart.
Therefore, people through the red and white ghost of the picture, fear is the feudal high pressure patriarchy brought terror.
There are also the old domestic films "married Girl" and "Widow Village" that Uncle Yu once talked to you about.
Whether it's hanging yourself against fate or jumping into the sea to protect your reputation.
The sense of fear brought by this novelty-hunting folk custom represents the harm of feudal thought to women.
Stills of "married girl"
And I have mentioned several times that "the red lantern is high".
The most creepy scene in the movie was Songlian's expression as she watched the third aunt being dragged to her cabin in the turret of Chenfu.
In all the above examples, there is no enchantment, but it makes people chill.
Because compared with the horrible and ghastly ghosts, it is the most frightening that it belongs to the dross of Chinese traditional culture or the dark side of folk customs.
And this is also the fundamental source of Chinese terror.
But you don't get that in 19.
In this play, all the Chinese horrors are actually misappropriated by cultural symbols.
Whether it is shadow or opera, whether it is an ancestral temple or even a somewhat lovely monster, it is only a symbol of traditional culture.
You know, it is not to add some violent and bloody elements to this, or it is Chinese-style terror.
Chinese horror can become hot, but also because the horror aesthetics accords with the aesthetics of many Chinese audiences.
According to Uncle Yu, the two most typical examples are the movies Blood Guanyin and Zombies.
The former draws Chinese horror aesthetics to the extreme at the beginning of a scene.
In the picture, the aging performer sits in the hall of Yan Luo, singing "the cycle of cause and effect".
The "professional mirror platform" on the table follows the flustered footsteps of Tang Zhen.
And the top of her walk is the wooden plaque "you are here" on Yan Luo's temple.
All of a sudden, the meaning of karma is expressed incisively and vividly.
The latter "zombies" can be reflected in posters.
The corpses covered with coins show a strange feeling that belongs to our culture, horrible but energetic.
In contrast, the "19th floor" is obviously not even "painted skin".
After watching it, Uncle Fish was even more disappointed.
I just feel that it is not so much Chinese horror as--
It is another "Chinese joke" for internal entertainment.
