Although some Vietnamese horror films have won, Jean Yeo, a Singaporean director and producer, said that lack of funding and experience are two factors that prevent domestic works from reaching regional levels.
Sacred Cat , the second work of director Lau Thanh Luan after Ghost Dog has led the box office for two consecutive weeks. In fact, the film's commercial success is predictable. In the context of an increasingly harsh film market, exploiting folk materials in horror works is proving effective. Projects following the above formula such as Mada , Demon Dog or right Lynx both won big despite some controversy over quality.
However, not only in Vietnam, the commercial potential of horror films has actually been seen by major film industries around the world for decades. “Making horror films: low investment, high profit” , that is not only the opinion of Vietnamese filmmakers, but also of international producers.
Horror movie fever in Vietnam and the world
Famous film researcher Stephen Follows once commented: "Horror is one of the safest genres for filmmakers because it has the highest ROI (return on investment) ratio."
In fact, horror films do not rely much on box office stars to attract audiences, do not require grand settings, and do not require overly complex, expensive special effects. The quality of the film depends largely on the director's skills, which in this case is the ability to create a tense atmosphere, bringing strong experiences and emotions. More importantly, although the budget of this genre of film is not too high, the market demand is very large.
The proof is that in recent years Hollywood has had many horror films that achieved high revenue despite very low production budgets. Get Out (2017) revenue 255 million USD with a budget of only 4.5 million USD , Insidious (2010) revenue 99 million USD with budget 1.5 million USD , or most famously the universe The Conjuring has total revenue exceeding 2 billion USD , while each part only costs about 15-30 million USD to produce. This is a difference that few other genres can match.
Perhaps because of that, the number of horror films released in theaters has increased significantly in recent years. Stephen Follows also calculated that the current number has increased five times compared to 20 years ago.
Meanwhile, Asian horror cinema, thanks to its exploitation of indigenous culture and spiritual elements, also has a strong rise. Works such as The Medium (Thailand, 2021), Exhuma (Korea, 2023), or Incantation (Taiwan, 2022) has gone beyond the familiar Hollywood horror stereotypes, making a strong impression on domestic and international audiences.
In Vietnam alone, there have been 6 horror films released in the past 2 years. The common point is that all 6 of these films are profitable, of which 2 films have reached the hundred billion mark ( Ma da , Ghost Dog ). This number can be considered extremely impressive in the context of an increasingly harsh market and the number of loss-making works is greater than that of profitable films.
Of the 24 films released in 2024 so far, 10 have made a profit, a rate of 41.6%. However, the profit rate for horror films is 100%, with 3 of them being big winners, respectively: Ghost ( 127 billion VND ), Bran ( 96 billion VND ) and Lynx ( 70 billion VND , still in theaters).
With such a remarkable result, the number of horror projects in the future is expected to increase significantly. Producer Mai Thanh Ha told Knowledge - Znews : "In the coming years, there may be dozens of horror films released in Vietnamese theaters, and many big directors will also enter this game."
As of now, at least six projects are expected to launch by 2025 — the same number as the previous two years combined, including: Ghost lights (Directed by Hoang Nam), Yin and Yang Road (Hoang Tuan Cuong), Demon possession (Pom Nguyen), Haunted room (Minh Khang), Girl at the bottom of the lake (Tran Huu Tan) and Five-toed pig (Director not announced yet).
Explaining the horror movie craze in Vietnam, Singaporean producer Jean Yeo told Tri Thuc - Znews : “I am not too surprised that horror films have become popular in Vietnam. It is a genre that is popular worldwide. However, perhaps the success of pioneering Asian countries such as Japan, Korea, and Thailand has encouraged Vietnamese filmmakers.”
Where do Vietnamese horror films stand compared to the world?
According to Ms. Jean Yeo, budget constraints are also one of the reasons why the quality of Vietnamese horror films cannot be compared to other Asian and world countries. However, this is the common situation of Southeast Asian countries.
In fact, the investment level of Vietnamese horror films is not much lower than that of other film industries in the region. “Vietnam and Southeast Asian countries in general have a much lower investment level for horror films than the West, and cannot even be compared to China, Korea or Japan,” she said.
Explaining this, producer Nguyen Cao Tung said that this is a general trend of the market, not just of Vietnam or other countries in the region. Horror filmmakers often start with low-budget projects, then only dare to invest when they have positive results.
“Horror king James Wan also followed this motif. Only later, when his horror films were successful in terms of revenue, did BlumHouse boldly increase the budget. Vietnamese filmmakers are no exception. Typically, Lynx compared to Devil Dog , Bran / Tet in Hell Village compared to Bac Kim Thang ... This is an inevitable trend, as well as a good signal for the market. Other countries have been ahead of Vietnam for decades, so they cannot be compared," the producer shared with Knowledge - Znews .
Regarding specific numbers, producer Mai Thanh Ha revealed that most Vietnamese horror films have a budget of less than 20 billion VND . However, some projects such as Lynx good Bran then the investment level will be higher, which means the risk for manufacturers is also greater.
In addition, she also commented that thanks to the loosening of censorship policies in recent years, horror filmmakers have more creative space. They are allowed to exploit more diverse artistic perspectives and are more comfortable in building tense situations. Thanks to that, investors are also more daring when investing in this genre of film.
However, if only considering the quality aspect, it seems that Vietnamese horror works still cannot compare with those of regional countries such as Indonesia or Thailand, even with similar budgets. Both countries have developed horror film industries, far surpassing Vietnam in terms of reaching global audiences. Explaining this, Jean Yeo said the key lies in the issue of experience.
“The trend of making horror films has only exploded in Vietnam in recent years, so Vietnamese creators are relatively young and inexperienced. This can lead to uneven storytelling and a lack of ability to maintain tension in the film,” the Singaporean filmmaker commented.
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