Twenty years later, "Mantra" resentment: the director's curse, the audience complained

Weaki is also the product of horror manufacturing

Author | Liuyi

Twenty years ago, the "Mantra" was released, and the miserable Gat Coconut in the extremely resentment created a horror curse with gaze. Twenty years later, the "Curse" was released, and Li Ruonan, who fell into the abyss in saving his daughter, used a spell to pass the boundless doom.

Terrorist works in the context of Oriental culture are also presented based on parent -child elements. Qingshui Chong and Ke Mengrong told the story about "curse" in different ways. Behind the curse is deep obsession, at the end of obsession, Qingshui Chong talked about being unbearable, Ke Mengrong talked about the camouflage of cultists.

It is difficult to say that "Curse" brings a "horror pleasure", and the impactful visual picture does not occupy the mainstream in the film. The implicit and delicate pavement and progressive clues make the "Curse" more "horrible and dull."

Use DV to make doom and use videos to pass doom. Is "the curse of the viewer's dispersion" is a small drama carefully designed by the director? Although many audiences feel "obscure" about such treatment, the "obscure" itself is not a by -product of horror.

Although the director's curse, the audience complained, the place where "Mantra" deserves much attention is far more than that.

"Terror Darkness"

"Mantra" tells the story of a weak mother who saves his daughter Chen Leong.

Six years ago, the heroine Li Ruonan and two friends broke into the cult ritual with a camera mistakenly, and angered the sleeping evil spirits. The two companions died in the ban. Although Li Ruonan survived, he seemed to bring back the curse of the evil spirit, and the curse was attached to her daughter. Only a DV brought back from the forbidden area recorded the truth of the time, but the machine was damaged and the content was difficult to recover.

"Do you believe in blessings?" Ruo Nan asked the whole film. During the story of the story, she constantly invited the audience to read the "blessing" in front of the first person in front of the DV lens, and imitated her gestures.

She said the reason with pleading voice- "Please help me save my daughter."

Li Ruonan and "curse" became a intersection in the play. A trace of a plot line is about the experience of the three people in the cult of cults six years ago; a plot line extends backwards, telling all the efforts of Li Ruonan to resolve the curse of his daughter. The elements of the two lines echoed before and after, and gradually revealed the truth of the curse, and also opened the evil nature of "blessing".

There are not too many shocks in the film. Compared with the pure horror pleasure brought by stimulating vision, "Curse" is more to create "strange" horror by inspiring the audience's imagination of the storyline. Essence The "Mantra" of a "puzzle solution" game is not a fast knife, but the dense anxiety brought about by the horror of the terror and the contradiction of the truth of the mystery.

Those who tried to help Ruo Nan and Duo Duo died one after another. The fragments of the curse slowly pieces together, and the death of the person involved is getting cruel. However, the more you see these people do not end well, the more urgent if the man's plea is.

Picture source: Douban

Especially in front of the DV lens, her helplessness was amplified by ten million times.

In horror movies, DV and its carried pseudo -documentary techniques can be called a "talent" narrative method. The perspective of DV recorded allows the film to repeatedly jump in the first and third -person names, continuously tied the audience's attention, and weaken the audience's "onlooker" identity, giving them the illusion of "parties".

The shaking and blurred lens, deformation or heavy shadow object, the atmosphere created by the camera is a sense of suspense with tension. At the same time, when the camera is aimed at the male, if the man starts to read himself, the communication object becomes you in front of the screen. The gloomy and strange touch slowly penetrates into the screen at the end of the screen by breaking the fourth wall.

Picture source: Douban

Not only that, the horror elements chosen by director Ke Mengrong are also very representative of Chinese horror movies. The "Big Black Buddha Mother" in the tunnel and the naked sacrifice of the believer, the ritual of pious kneeling, laid the "religious" horrible tone; Visually triggering audiences' discomfort, and implying the psychological fear of punishment will bring punishment. A Dong's corroded face, round holes on the body, and the "Big Black Buddha Mother" exposed by the film's final "Big Black Buddha Mother" is also true. Essence

Although he did not throw the cattle ghost snake god directly on the face, this slightly disgusting, later knowledgeable seepage people were still established, and in the process of the story promotion, the audience's mind was occupied little by little.

Of course, just like the phrase "Do you believe in blessings" asked by Ruo Men, whether the spirit of the film transmitted to the film determines the horror and physical sensation of the audience. So the most horrible thing is that the horror movie is "false", but it is not completely false.

"Mantra" has a certain realistic foundation, and the prototype stories are derived from a 2005 news report. It is reported that the incident of self -harm and killing each other in Kaohsiung City's self -harm and mutual death due to "attachment of the gods". Taking the real news in Taiwan as the prototype, "Curse" broke the imagination and attached realistic colors-

Picture source: Zhihu

"Zhongxie", do you believe or not? If you can't answer this question, Ke Mengrong's supernatural horror you want to create will be organic.

Why is Li Ruonan the protagonist of "Mantra"?

Li Ruonan, is it a good mother? Judging from the presentation of the film, Li Ruonan sent a flower to the welfare home and took it back to his side after the mental condition improved. In order to understand the curse of Kaituo, she tried everything. In the end, he went to the ban on the ban, facing the source of the curse in order to redeem his daughter.

Perhaps there are too many horse feet that deliberately leaked. Basically, the audience will feel that Li Ruonan will have a problem after watching the full film.

Those who try to approach the truth are bizarre, and even the mother -in -law who only seek a man's mother for a man is difficult to exempt. Why can Li Ruonan escape the rules? Obviously, before the birth of Duo Duo, he had been to Yunnan to learn about the curse. He also knew that Duo Duo was taken away and should not be used. 」」?

Picture source: Douban

She is not so innocent.

Perhaps before the authenticity six years ago, she understood when she was pregnant and could not escape the bad luck. She was selected by the "Big Black Buddha Mother" and it was her fate with her daughter. She wants to survive and disperse the curse to others. So she became a loyal cultist, and she took the Duo to her to dedicate it to the Buddha.

But from the end of the ending, Li Ruonan did not sacrifice with a flower. She was filled with a spell on her body, and she cut off the ears of the girls surviving six years ago instead of her ears as sacrifice. After she became a cursed transmission medium, he hesitated here.

From this point of view, the description of the "warmth" between Li Ruonan and Duo Duo's mother and daughter is a real record under the deliberate horse feet? Is the kite stealing the lower limb paralyzed, did it also awaken the little "maternal love" written in his hands?

Looking back on her last monologue, "I'm not a good mother" "I didn't even know how I would fall in love with you at first, did I fall in love with you when you were sleeping? Or when you were crying, I fell in love with you ..." "You can actually be fine ... I'm sorry, the mother won't make you hurt anymore ... Forget your name, forget your mother ..."

This is the confession of Duo Duo, a wake -up to love to love.

Picture source: Douban

How to play the contradictions of human nature, how to pull it on Li Ruonan alone, and hidden in the main line plot in vaguely. The straightforward routine is given to the vulgar routine, but it becomes a horrible philosophy in the changes in character mood and choice.

Li Ruonan is certainly not a "perfect person". The "contract" signed with the Buddha in the village made her scared. In order to protect the people around her, she would not hesitate to let her biological daughter sacrifice and "fool" the audience. But because of this, in the end, she sent Duo to the welfare home, went to the authentic mirror, and recovered the sacrifice. She wanted to change the trace of survival of herself and her daughter by helping the mother -in -law escape. Li Ruonan is not only a "protagonist" in the film and television sense that affects the plot, but also a "starring" who represents the human form of good and evil in human nature.

Li Ruonan, who was taken away, was full and real.

unlucky? Superstition paradox under idealism

Not all audiences feel that "Mantra" is horrible.

And a considerable part of the audience believes that the "obscure" brought by the "Curse" far exceeds the "horror" presented.

Do not feel that "Mantra" is horrible, of course, there are reasons for the film itself. From the perspective of rhythm, in the previous part of the film, if the male will pick up the contents of the part of the part, except for some simple horror scene rendering, the audience does not allow the audience to "entertain". The way of narrative and narration also makes people take a long time to figure out what story it is telling, and even the operation techniques of pseudo -documentary have been questioned by some senior horror fans.

The above defects are objective, but everyone's expectations for horror movies are different, and they also come from the sensitive points of stimulating fear. JUMP Scare is a different way of horror manufacturing, and everyone will be frightened by sudden accidents. For example, the most thrilling shot recognized by most viewers in "Curse" is the moment when the Taoist master suddenly appeared after crazy scratching his head. In addition, different audiences are inconsistent with the horrible perception of blood and the horror of the empty eyes. The subjective "fear preferences" naturally also affect the judgment of "Curse".

Perhaps "Curse" is not the best, but in the context of East Asian culture, the religion that combines curses and faith and the mysterious ritual still creates a terrorist work that can at least "understand". For the current horror movie market, "understanding" stands in front of "recognition".

Picture source: Douban

The most controversial is the "obscure" of the director's "curse" to the audience. Li Ruonan's last confession was either the exquisite treatment of Ke Mengrong or the defeat of Ke Mengrong. It turns out that the words we have said and the gestures we have talked about, and the gestures we have pushed me to the Buddha ——

Who can stand this?

In such a reversal, the subtle contradictory between blessings and curses, but the framework of the dual opposite opposite point points to the audience itself. Although the director said in the interview that the religion and gestures in the movie were created by themselves. You don't have to worry about it, you will be "blessed" after watching the "Curse".

In fact, the audience felt that the "obscure" did not really think that the curse would be passed on, but it was still offended by Li Ruonan's "deception". This is not the same as the style of "Mantra" itself. It is not a strong emotional impact, but a faint idea control. The discomfort about obscure comes from "belief". The important thing is not to read what spells and what gestures do. The important thing is that you are willing to believe in what. It is not uncommon for the superstition paradox brought by idealism. It is good for fortune telling or astrolabe. It is unbelievable that the fate is unbelievable. Just as no one will be dominated by the password of "not reposting the whole family". If you choose "unbelief", if it is not really affected, you will not feel "obscure".

So when you look back, why isn't this a horror effect of "Curse"?

No. 1 conclusion

Perhaps horror has not met expectations, maybe obscure becomes a discussion center, which does not hinder the "Mantra" as the most topical Chinese horror film in recent years.

Despite the lane of the mainland theater line, director Ke Mengrong could also be regarded as "phased victory". According to Ke Dao, "Mantra" is the first step in his plan. He will use the "One Words Trilogy" as the main axis to shoot a series of movies that inspire the "most horrible and real events in Taiwan in recent years". The sequel "Mantra 2" is not included in the trilogy, but "will use Duo Duo as the main character."

It is unknown what a new story will bring, but the detailed aftertaste and in -depth analysis of the "Curse" will bring new feelings. When the terrorist film market splashes flowers, it is already a surprise itself.

Topics No. 1: If the score is full, will you give "Curse" a few points?

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