For many years now, Vietnamese horror films have been virtually uncompetitive in domestic theaters. Most horror films by Vietnamese filmmakers have been criticized by audiences for their content, special effects, and especially the actors’ poor acting.
From the push of "Soul Eater", "Ghost Dog"
Examples include “Cù lao quả sống”, “Bến phai quả sống”, “Kẻ đồ ơi”… all of which left theaters with disastrously low revenues. In addition, the films were also criticized as cinematic disasters, causing many audiences to lose faith in Vietnamese horror films.
However, after the success of "Soul Eater", "Ghost Dog" had good revenue, the producer Vietnamese movies has started to exploit this topic again. Remember, "Soul Eater" when released received a lot of praise for its content and the acting of the stars. The film brought in 66 billion VND and led the box office for many consecutive days when released at that time.
In particular, “Quy Cau” created a boost for Vietnamese horror films when for the first time a work of this genre surpassed the 100 billion VND mark. Accordingly, the film left theaters with more than 108 billion VND, setting a record for the highest-grossing Vietnamese horror film of all time.
From these 2 projects, in the second half of 2024, there will be 4 horror projects announced for release including: "Getting Rich with Ghosts", "Ghost Skin", "Con Cam", "Linh Mieu". Most of these films are based on folklore themes that are quite familiar to audiences. However, is it easy to exploit this genre of horror films?
Not easy with horror themes about spiritual culture
After the movie "Quy Cau", director Luu Thanh Luan and Creative Director Vo Thanh Hoa plan to complete a series of three horror films based on Vietnamese folklore.
According to the producer’s plan, “Quy Cau” is the first film in a series of three horror films based on Vietnamese folklore. If “Quy Cau” is based on the story of “a dog wearing a hat”, “Linh Mieu” has the theme of “a demon in the intestines”.
Director Luu Thanh Luan said: “The script of the movie Linh Luc only borrows the image of the lynx and the concept related to the possession of ghosts. The rest of the story will be developed in the direction of the tragedy of a family living in Hue in the 1960s.
Like “Quy Cau”, the film “Linh Mieu” carries a strong message about karma. The film incorporates the beauty of Hue ceramic mosaic culture, a unique culture of the Nguyen Dynasty.
After a series of blockbuster horror films such as "Tet in Hell Village", "Soul Eater"... the duo of producer Hoang Quan - director Tran Huu Tan have just announced the release of a new project called "Con Cam".
The movie “Ma da” starring Viet Huong has just released its first images. The movie has the image of “ghost pulling legs” reminiscent of scary folk tales in Vietnamese culture. In the movie, Viet Huong plays a country woman who works as a corpse collector, with a haggard appearance and an older appearance compared to real life.
Viet Huong said: “This is the film that I have spent the longest time in the Dat Mui - Nam Can - Ca Mau area so far, to feel the natural beauty as well as the people here. When participating in this film, I had to start learning to dive, learn to swim, as well as learn about the reality of the work and life of a corpse collector.”
The comedy film project combining family and spiritual themes called “Getting Rich with Ghosts” by director Nguyen Nhat Trung has just started, with the participation of many famous actors, in which Tuan Tran plays the main role. Different from the 3 films above, this horror project has humorous and fun details for the audience to watch.
In general, the above projects mostly share the same formula of borrowing folk cultural elements, giving the projects an advantage in attracting the audience's attention.
However, making a film with this theme is not easy, especially at a time when Vietnamese films have a lot of competition and the audience is more demanding. In particular, the costumes and settings of the film are quite elaborate and require restoration if you want to make an old film like "Con Cam", "Linh Mieu"... In addition, with the horror genre, especially inspired by folk culture requires actors to play their roles well to convey the message to the audience.
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