Ma Xo's revenue achievements in the early days of release show the significant attraction of folk horror films to Vietnamese audiences. This is also one of the few works that has recently attracted attention thanks to exploiting local cultural elements instead of just focusing on scare screens.
The easily noticeable point in Ma Xo is that the film chooses the Mekong Delta setting as the center of the story. Familiar images in life such as river houses, sleeping mosquito nets or daily living spaces are brought into the film as part of fear. This helps the work create a closer feeling to viewers, while bringing a different color compared to many Vietnamese horror films set in urban areas.
Another factor contributing to the film's attention is the way it builds the atmosphere. Instead of completely relying on unexpected scare scenes, Ma Xo spends a lot of time creating a sense of insecurity through sound, light and storytelling rhythm. This is also a trend being pursued by many Asian horror films in recent years.
In addition, the participation of actors such as Le Khanh, Meritorious Artist Hanh Thuy, Avin Lu or Tin Nguyen helped the film attract the attention of many different audience groups. After the first screenings, many discussions on social networks revolved around acting as well as details related to folk elements in the film.
However, like many horror works that focus on the atmosphere, the film's pace in some segments is deployed quite slowly to build emotions. This can create different feelings depending on the expectations of each audience member.
The film's visual effects scenes are not a strength, and are even somewhat limited in a project with low budget.
More importantly, the effect that Ma Xo creates shows that Vietnamese audiences are increasingly interested in horror works associated with local culture. In the context that folk films are becoming a new trend of Vietnamese cinema, the reception for Ma Xo partly reflects the need to see stories close to life and cultural memories of Vietnamese people on the big screen.
