Exploiting readily available materials
The common point of these projects is not in the special effects or sensational staging, but in the way they return to the familiar material: the bizarre folk stories that have existed in the lives of Vietnamese people through many generations.
Five-nail pigs" are inspired by the popular belief in the South about pigs with bad omens. According to word of mouth, families who raise, slaughter or trade this type of pig may encounter disasters, even "induced karma". Therefore, many people choose to bring these animals to pagodas for care, and even build tombs when they die.
Those seemingly mysterious details have become the "seeds" for the screenwriting team to develop into a cinematic world full of obsession but also very close to the Vietnamese mind.
According to screenwriter Quoc Nguyen, the biggest difficulty in exploiting spiritual material is not creating a scary story, but understanding how people in the community perceive that belief. Writers are forced to "live" with culture, interact with people, beliefs to avoid superficial or imposing views.
Meanwhile, the movie "Phí phông: Quỷ máu rừng thiêng" also recorded a record revenue of nearly 180 billion VND (as of the afternoon of May 4). The movie "Quỷ nhập tràng 2" also surpassed the 100 billion VND mark after a short time in theaters.
This view shows a clear change: the spiritual element is no longer the "decoration" layer for horror films, but has become the foundation for building conflict, the fate of characters and the entire film world.
Cultural values - the "backbone" of the story
If in the past, culture in films usually only played the role of setting, in recent works, it has become the "backbone" of the script.
In "Heo Nam Mong", the film space is built from many layers of culture such as Khmer Southern Buddhism, Mother Goddess worship beliefs, and folk art forms such as Apsara dance, Chan dance or Bong Roi. These elements not only create color but also contribute to shaping the fears, beliefs and choices of the characters.
Similarly, "Phí phông: Quỷ máu rừng thiêng" not only tells about a "devil", but also reflects the entire system of beliefs and social structure of the highland community. The fear in the film does not come from the bizarre appearance, but from the "normal to scary" - when evil can hide in the familiar people around them.
This is also an important difference of Vietnamese horror films today compared to the previous period. Instead of imitating foreign formulas with simple scare scenes, filmmakers are finding their own "formula": Exploiting collective cultural memories.
Not stopping at folk elements, many works also actively incorporate modern issues to increase connectivity with the audience. In "Heo Nam Mong", the crew brings into the story issues such as the extremism of the online community, the situation of view-baiting regardless. Accordingly, "the devil" is not the absolute center, but only the consequence of ambition, mistakes and human choices.
It can be seen that the success of "Heo nam móng", "Phí phông: Quỷ máu rừng thiêng" or many other projects before that has opened up a clear direction for Vietnamese cinema: exploiting folk materials with respect and deep understanding.
