Horror movies "bumper crop"

Always a genre loved by audiences, it is not surprising that in the second half of 2024, Vietnamese screens witnessed the arrival of a series of horror films, including works that received a lot of expectations.

The "four-horse" race

From now until the end of the year, there will be at least 4 horror and spiritual films released, including: Ghost (directed by Nguyen Huu Hoang, scheduled to premiere on August 16), Getting Rich with Ghosts (Trung Lun, August 30), Cam (Tran Huu Tan, September) and Linh Mieu (Luu Thanh Luan, November 22). There is one thing in common, after the box office success of recent Vietnamese horror films such as: Quy Cau, Ke An Hon, Bac Kim Thang, Chuyen Ma Near Nha ..., Vietnamese filmmakers are tending to use folk cultural materials in their works.

"Ma da" is based on haunting stories of the river region. Photo: DPCC

Ma da is based on the legends of many generations of people living in the river areas; or Cam , considered a horror version inspired by the famous fairy tale Tam Cam with new characters and details, evoking a feeling of both strangeness and familiarity for the audience. Cam is also considered the horror film with the largest investment in the history of Vietnamese cinema, with a long-term release strategy, not only domestically but also internationally. Linh Mieu is the sequel to the horror film trilogy with folk material. This time, Creative Director - Director Vo Thanh Hoa and Director Luu Thanh Luan chose the story of a possessed ghost as the main theme.

According to Mr. Vo Thanh Hoa, this is a completely new story, separate from Quy Cau . The crew hopes to bring new vitality and new colors to the second film in the series of folk horror films. In particular , Getting Rich with Ghosts is different when choosing a story that is both family, humorous and spiritual, and at the same time marks the first time actor Trung Lun has ventured into directing.

According to critic Tuan Lalarme: “Perhaps with so many failures in terms of revenue of different film genres, filmmakers, investors, and producers realize that making horror films will minimize the risk factor in terms of revenue. The production of horror films itself does not require a large budget, nor does it require a star face, just a story that is scary and attractive enough. Not only Vietnam, the world also favors making horror films. If a horror film is successful, the profits are extremely large.”

Positioning

Not only in Vietnam, many film experts also believe that 2024 can be considered the year of the horror film genre. Typically, Exhuma: Ghost Tomb Raider with a revenue of more than 212 billion VND in the Vietnamese market and nearly 100 million USD in global revenue. Or recently, the sequel to the famous horror franchise A Quiet Place also continued to dominate the box office with a total global revenue of more than 220 million USD.

Longlegs - an independent horror film that was just released in the US in early July, also received many positive reviews and is predicted to be a "new blockbuster" this summer. In particular, after a series of creative horror films such as : Get Out, Hereditary, Us, Nope, Lamb, M3GAN, Talk to Me, Beau Is Afraid ..., horror films also have a place in major film awards. Some outstanding horror films released in 2024 include: Abigail, Immaculate, Late Night with the Devil, Nosferatu, MaXXXine ...

“It’s a very open genre,” veteran producer Chad Archibald, who has made more than 30 horror films through Black Fawn Films, told IndieWire. “You can break all the rules. It’s a genre that tends to be a little more adventurous artistically, because horror fans are also cinephiles. They want to see different things, interesting things, new visions.”

Meanwhile, according to film critic Tuan Lalarme, despite many difficulties such as having to compete with streaming platforms, or audiences still being hesitant to go to the cinema to watch horror movies, this genre still has a loyal audience and still has a lot of potential to exploit.

“Perhaps because people are always curious about what they don’t know, what they don’t see, and always want to experience their own extreme emotions, the thriller and horror genre, with elements of horror, mystery, and intimidation, is so attractive. This is different from other genres of films, where it is very difficult to achieve a breakthrough to touch emotions of joy or pain... Meanwhile, fear seems to be the easiest thing to find when watching a horror film,” said film critic Tuan Lalarme.

VAN TUAN

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/phim-kinh-di-duoc-mua-post751982.html