In March 2022, the box office of curse, which was popular, has exceeded NT $130million in local box office, and it is also known as “the most terrifying film in Taiwan’s history”. It is filmed in the way of pseudo documentary focusing on the mysterious curse. Although the mysterious evil spirit force is depressing and three outlooks are not correct, the deep love between mother and daughter and the struggle for despair still infect people!
Li ruo’s boyfriend and his friend formed a special attack team to catch ghosts. He accidentally broke into the forbidden area of the cult six years ago, thus angering the great black Buddha mother and causing collective evil. Many years later, Ruonan, who was dependent on her daughter one after another, found that the sleeping evil spirit wanted to kill her daughter. The whole film recorded bit by bit with the camera, which was more gloomy and depressed.
The whole film begins with the heroine’s monologue: “do you believe in blessing?… it may be just an idea or a reminder. In fact, we all unconsciously believe that our consciousness can bring good results, but do you really know that your consciousness can change the results?” Interacting with the audience!
Li Ruonan also used Ferris wheels and trains to guide the audience to participate in this visual experiment with the example that they can change directions if they think in their minds. Although the heroine’s tone is flat and the plot is not particularly frightening, this feeling of thinking and fear lingers in people’s hearts from the first second.
Then, Li Ruonan took good care of her daughter. She would take a camera almost everywhere, and there was a camera hidden in her rabbit doll. At first, the mother and daughter got along well. Unexpectedly, the good times didn’t last long, and strange things began to happen at home.
Her daughter often wakes up in nightmares and stares at the bedroom roof carefully, asking her mother Li Ruonan to help her drive away the “bad bad” hidden on the ceiling!
Li Ruonan’s relatives and friends were also killed one after another. They first appeared to be “possessed by ghosts”, showing their ferocious faces, and finally died unexpectedly. All these nightmares seem to be closely related to her breaking into the forbidden area six years ago.
It turned out that six years ago, Li Ruonan and her boyfriend a Dong, as well as her boyfriend’s cousin a yuan, formed a “ghost breaking secret service team”. They visited supernatural events everywhere and exposed feudal rumors. According to the horror film principle, if you don’t die, you won’t die. The three broke into the “Chen family village” in the deep mountains and forests, entered the taboo tunnel and were cursed and killed from then on.
In the front two-line narration, on one side, Li Ruonan’s previous visits to taboo tunnels are all kinds of terrorist experiences. On the other hand, her daughter began to be evil. From the beginning, she saw “bad bad” on the ceiling to a sudden change of temperament as if she were insane. She went to watch the DV video recording evil spirits, and began to fall seriously ill, her body festered, and her life was at stake!
In the middle, with the help of a female doctor, the screenwriter said to the heroine, “are you afraid of not being forgiven, or are you afraid of not forgiving yourself?” She said that some people said there was a ghost when they saw the chair fall down, but others said it was a miracle of God. What the world is depends on how you look at it. “She was quite philosophical.
Another old couple claimed to be able to break the curse on Li Renan’s daughter, but asked her not to eat or drink for seven days, otherwise they would die! Then, Li Renan gave his daughter a drip and asked her to vomit pineapples in the toilet. Later, the old couple were all killed, and one of the old grannies jumped on her body, almost killing the heroine!
The eight character mantra “fire Buddha Xiuyi, heart Sammo” that runs through the film turns out to be a homonym for the Minnan language of “fortune and disaster depend on each other, and life and death are famous”. According to her boyfriend’s investigation before his death, the context of this sentence turned out to be the power to break the curse of the God of bad luck, the great black Buddha mother!
Unexpectedly, Li Ruonan claimed to deceive everyone behind, “fire Buddha Xiuyi, heart SAMA moo” is not a blessing, but a curse. The more people recite the curse, the more people bear the curse. At the same time, the smaller the curse power added to their daughter’s blossoming body. When they recite heaven and hell, the “blessing” and “Curse” have something in common!
Instead of “attacking” terror by sudden ghosts, it gradually creates a thrilling feeling of deep thought and fear by relying on the true faces of spells, gestures, symbols, altars, sacrifice sites, round headed children, burned corpses, meat bugs, and Buddha mothers. Like the recorded DV video, the death of two curious men is very strange and frightening.
In the ancient Chenjiazhuang, the little girl whose body is full of scriptures and the strange gods in the tunnel all create the mystery behind the special beliefs and ceremonies of the people in Chenjiazhuang. Li Ruonan and her boyfriend want to go back to the village, but on the way, they meet the “ghost hitting the wall” and enter a dead cycle, which is also very creepy.
In order to save his daughter, Li Ruonan returns to the mysterious tunnel of Chen family village. She was covered with spells, helped the disordered facilities in the tunnel, recited the sensational lines of trying to save her daughter, and blindfolded to remove the curse! Finally, she was evil and hit her face with blood, which was equivalent to the disappearance of the fragrance. The evil spirit won, and the Three Outlooks were not right!
The art and sound effect design of the whole film are commendable, and the distorted lens of the human body is also very frightening. After the red symbol of the “big black Buddha mother” is taken off, it turns out to be black and bloody. This disgusting visual impact makes people feel goose bumps, so patients with dense phobia must watch this film carefully!
As for the end of the dispute, many people criticized the director for “lowering his head” to the audience. Director Ke Mengrong also stressed that the religion and gestures in the film were all created by himself. We don’t have to worry about being “blessed” after watching the curse. The director, who was famous for his short film “ghost”, has made a great success at the commercial box office.
It is said that the whole film is adapted from a real event. A family of six, consisting of a couple surnamed Wu and their children, all believe in the third prince, and even become so fascinated that they firmly believe in being possessed by gods. In the state of being evil, they beat each other with sticks, burned their skin with lighted incense candles, and splashed and fed feces to each other, resulting in the death of their eldest daughter.
“Curse” is closer to the folk customs and religions of daily life, coupled with the horror stories rooted in people’s minds, director Ke Mengrong successfully created a depressing and terrifying atmosphere, which is very scary after reading. The overall completion and creativity are far better than the horror films that sell sensory stimulation purely, such as cry and sorrow and corpse city.
Of course, the shooting techniques of fake documentaries, various scenes of nausea and evil spirits, plus plot bugs, are different opinions, so the experimental horror film “Curse” will not be liked by everyone! But Li Ruonan, played by Cai genyan, is sometimes frightened and sometimes sad. She plays the deformed maternal love very shocking!
Although the ghosts and gods in feudal superstition cannot be believed, it is recommended not to go casually to the mysterious and taboo ancient village tunnel! After all, nature is full of all kinds of mysterious and evil terrorist forces, which are easy to kill human beings.
Although Li Ruonan broke into the forbidden area by mistake, he killed his relatives and friends, even himself! But she went back to the tunnel to fight against the powerful evil spirits. Even if she failed, the weak woman fought a dying battle for her flesh and blood, which was still pitiful and admirable!