From the push of "Soul Eater", "Demon Dog"
We can mention "Zombie Island", "Zombie Ferry", "The Grave Digger"... all left theaters with miserably low revenue. In addition, the films were also criticized as cinematic disasters, causing many audiences to lose faith in Vietnamese horror films.
However, after the boost of "Soul Eater" and "Demon Dog" had good sales, Vietnamese filmmakers have begun to return to exploiting this topic. Remember, when "Soul Eater" was released, it received many compliments because of 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 it was released at that time.
In particular, "Devil Dog" created a boost for the Vietnamese horror film genre 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 two projects, in the second half of 2024, up to 4 horror projects were announced to launch, including: "Get rich with ghosts", "Ghost skin", "Con Cam", "Lynx". Most of these films take themes of folk culture that are quite familiar to audiences. However, is it easy to exploit this horror movie genre?
It's not easy with the horror topic about spiritual culture
After the movie "Devil Dog", director Luu Thanh Luan and Creative Director Vo Thanh Hoa plan to make a complete series of three horror films based on Vietnamese folk materials.
According to the producer's intention, "Devil Dog" is the opening film for a series of three films in the horror genre with Vietnamese folk materials. If "Devil Dog" follows the story of "a dog wearing a crazy hat", then "Lynx" has the theme of "a devil entering the world".
Director Luu Thanh Luan said: "The script of the movie Lynx only borrows the image of the lynx and the concept related to demons entering the world. The remaining story will develop towards the tragedy of a family living in Hue in the 1960s.
Like “Demon Dog”, the movie “Lynx” carries a strong message about karma. The film integrates the beauty of Hue ceramic mosaic culture, a unique culture of the Nguyen Dynasty.
After a series of popular horror works such as "Tet in Hell Village", "Soul Eater"... the duo producer Hoang Quan - director Tran Huu Tan have just announced the launch of a new project titled " Con Cam”.
The movie "Ma da" starring Viet Huong has just released the first images. The film has the image of "leg-pulling ghosts" reminiscent of scary folk tales in Vietnamese culture. In the film, Viet Huong plays a rural woman who works as a body salvager, with a shabby appearance and an old image compared to real life.
Viet Huong said: "This is the movie in which I spent the longest time ever in Dat Mui - Nam Can - Ca Mau, to feel the natural beauty as well as the people here. When participating in this movie, I had to start learning to dive and swim, as well as learn about the reality of the work and life of a body collector."
The comedy project combined with family and spiritual themes called "Get Rich with Ghosts" by director Nguyen Nhat Trung has just kicked off, with the participation of many famous actors, in which Tuan Tran plays the role main. Unlike the above 3 films, this horror project mixes humorous and fun details for the audience to watch.
In general, the above projects mostly have the same formula of borrowing folklore elements, giving the projects an advantage in attracting audience attention.
However, making a film on this topic is not easy, especially at a time when Vietnamese films have more competition and audiences are more demanding. In particular, the costumes and backgrounds of the film are quite elaborate and require restoration if you want to make old films like "The Bran", "The Lynx"... In addition, with the horror genre, especially taking the Inspiration from folk culture requires actors to play their roles well to express the message conveyed by the audience.
