The king of ghost horse comedy

Chapter 371 Four Eyebrows Chen Xunqi

The movie "Evil" is Gui Zhihong's masterpiece. It tells a thrilling story with bizarre twists and turns.

In this film, Gui Zhihong tried his best as a CULT.The numb corpse in the middle of the night spewed out green viscous liquid; eccentric and grotesque ghosts; and finally the nude talisman, exorcising evil spirits, etc., can be described as a perfect fusion of violence, sex, and horror.

However, because of the deliberate pursuit of horror effects and blindly paying attention to surprises, there are many flaws in the plot.It's just that because the other aspects of the movie are so good, there are only some shortcomings that have not been noticed.

The movie "Evil" brought huge profits to the Shaw Brothers. In the following years, Gui Zhihong successively filmed two films under the banner of sequels, "Evil Fights Evil" and "Evil Ends Evil". When Shaw ceased production.

At the end of the 70s and the beginning of the 80s, Gui Zhihong could be regarded as one of Shaw Brothers' leading directors, and the CULT blockbuster he shot became Shaw Brothers' magic weapon to save the market.

At that time, the rise of Kung Fu comedy films represented by Cheng Long in the early Republic of China, coupled with the impact of urban comedy films in New Art City, caused the box office of Shaw Films to plummet.Previous blockbuster directors such as Chang Cheh, Liu Jialiang, Li Hanxiang, etc., declined and declined, conservative and conservative, strayed away and scattered, so there was a talent gap in Shaw Brothers.

At this time, Gui Zhihong, who started out as a low-budget horror film, came into the sight of Shaw Brothers executives by pulling out generals from within.

Although the box office of Gui Zhihong's low-cost horror films is not high, and each film only has a box office of 200 million, the relatively low cost still allows it to make a steady profit.Moreover, the audience for this type of horror film has always been very stable, and neither New Art City nor Golden Harvest has involved this subject matter.So Gui Zhihong's horror film became Shaw Brothers' hope of saving the market.

And Gui Zhihong did not disappoint Shaw Brothers, and later released "Evil", "Evil Fighting Evil", "Gu", "Magic", etc., playing sex, violence and blood, catering to a group of audiences who like horror movies Psychology, sure enough, the box office is very good.

Among them, "Evil Fighting Evil" innovatively added funny elements to the ghost film, making it a very good-looking and interesting ghost film, and the box office sold more than 300 million Hong Kong dollars.It also opened up a new genre for the subsequent shooting of Hong Kong ghost films.

With these low-cost and blockbuster horror films, Gui Zhihong also became one of the most popular directors in the Hong Kong film industry in the late 70s and early 80s.It’s just that he alone can’t turn the tide. With the rise of New Art City and Golden Harvest, independent film companies have become the mainstream of Hong Kong’s film industry, and Shaw Brothers’ large-scale studio system has gradually become obsolete, and was eventually crushed by the wheels of the times.

Gui Zhihong also lost his job following the closure of Shaw Brothers, and then went to the United States to find a wife and was kicked out, even his property was swept away by her.In desperation, the great Hong Kong director had no choice but to become a pizza delivery boy. Fortunately, he finally opened his own pizza shop, but it was next to a slum with chaotic law and order, and he was often in danger of being robbed.

When Gui Zhihong was filming for Shaw Brothers, he was severely burned by a fire, and he inhaled a large amount of poisonous gas, which damaged his liver.Later, I went to Malay Island to shoot location scenes. The local tap water was not clean, causing the whole group to suffer from liver disease, which aggravated Gui Zhihong's condition.As a result, he got liver cancer and underwent two resection operations.

It can be said that Gui Zhihong's life was quite sad. He devoted half of his life to serving the Shao family, but in the end he fell into the situation of being swept away, and this is actually the fate of many old officials of the Shao family.

Ti Lung, a popular young man in Shaw Brothers era, was popular in Southeast Asia when he was young, but he lost his job immediately after Shaw Brothers closed.At that time, he was nearly 40 years old, and his popularity had long since disappeared, so for more than half a year, no one came to him to act.It wasn't until director Wu Yusen's "The True Colors of a Hero" asked him to come out again, and then Xianyu turned around and became popular again.

Compared with Ti Lung, who was able to rejuvenate for a second time, other Shaw Brothers actors changed careers or quit after Shaw Brothers closed, or changed from first-tier to second- and third-tier, and it is very rare for Dillon to become popular again.Moreover, there was no pension in Hong Kong before, so unemployment is basically tantamount to starvation.In addition, the Shaw Brothers have always been stingy gang leaders, so even if they want to sit and eat, they will definitely not last long.As a result, many old employees of Shaw Brothers are in a bleak situation in their later years, relying on CSSA to survive.

……

Director Chu Yuan also came from Shaw Brothers back then, but his old man's mentality is better.Since the director has nothing to do, he should be an ordinary actor.Playing some small roles in film and television dramas, I still live happily and freely.And if you are not familiar with the history of Hong Kong movies, who would have thought that such a small character would be Chu Wan, who was famous in Southeast Asia back then? !

But now Director Chu Yuan is not worried that he will lose his job and be reduced to guest roles in film and television dramas.He is now one of Xu's leading directors, and the film he made based on Gu Long's masterpiece is loved by audiences all over Southeast Asia.

This year he has a new idea, he wants to bring the classic character Lu Xiaofeng in Gu Long's novels to the screen, and he has already written the scripts of three films, "The Jinpeng Dynasty", "The Battle on the Forbidden Top" and "The Embroidered Bandit". Well, I plan to shoot his three "Lu Xiaofeng" series consecutively this year, and I want to make Lu Xiaofeng a symbolic character in kung fu martial arts movies like "Once Upon a Time".

Xu Guanwu is very much in favor of director Chu Yuan's idea.To be honest, he also likes this four-browed Lu Xiaofeng very much.Compared to Chu Liuxiang, who was too dreamy, Lu Xiaofeng, who was actually full of problems, seemed a little more amiable and lovely.Lu Xiaofeng's relationship with Chu Liuxiang is actually like Spiderman's relationship with Superman.

Director Chu Yuan chose to play Lu Xiaofeng, and Xu Guanwu couldn't help but praise him. He is the famous mustache in the Hong Kong film industry-Chen Xunqi.There are several famous mustache actors in the Hong Kong film industry, one is Chen Xunqi, one is Lin Zixiang, one is Wu Yaohan, and the other is Feng Cuifan.And these four actors have been called quasi-first-line actors in the Hong Kong film industry for a certain period of time, so maybe it is the charm of this mustache.

Chen Xunqi can be called an all-rounder in the Hong Kong film industry. He is the best soundtrack among Hong Kong directors, the best producer in the soundtrack, the best speed director in the production, the best screenwriter in the speed direction, and the most famous among screenwriters. One of the best actors and one of the most successful directors among actors.

In this way, although the meaning of ridicule is relatively strong, it is actually very close to reality.Chen Xunqi is a very famous soundtrack composer in Shaw Brothers. He studied under Mr. Wang Fuling, a famous composer, and has composed music for many movies.Later, he thought the soundtrack was too boring, so he started his acting career again.In "The Prodigal Boy", which was co-produced with Hong Jingbao and Yuan Biao, he played the role of a master of martial arts, Baylor, and quickly became a popular star.

After that, Chen Xunqi established Yongjia Film Company with the support of Princess Jin, and his pioneering work "Beware of Little Hands" created a new theme of urban action movies.And he is also one of Wang Jiawei's Bole, and he has made soundtracks for films directed by him such as "Evil, West Poison", "Chongqing Forest", "Fallen Angels" and so on.

Among them, "The Lonely Shadow of Heaven and Earth, Let Me Go" in "Evil in the East and Poison in the West" is the most famous. It appeared at the end of Zhou Xingchi's "Journey to the West", which is very touching.

Chen Xunqi then worked as a speed director, and once helped Cheng Long film the very popular "Thunderbolt". The entire film invested [-] million Hong Kong dollars, making it one of the highest-invested films in Hong Kong.It's a pity that the box office is not very strong, and it is also known as Cheng Long's midlife crisis.

Chen Xunqi is still active in the Hong Kong film industry, but now Hong Kong movies are in a straight decline, so his film "The Female General of the Yang Family: Military Orders Like Mountains" also encountered Waterloo and attracted a lot of criticism.But it's not entirely the director's fault.

In today's film industry where the investor is the uncle, how much power the director still has when making a film is actually a big question.The actors have to listen to the investors, and the script has to listen to the investors. Even the star actors among them can dictate the script... A layman leads an expert, and no matter how professional the director is, there is not much room for maneuver.

So scolding the director when the film is bad is actually very unfair to the director.Big stars are paid tens of millions for a movie, but directors only get hundreds of thousands, at most over a million.But when an accident happened, the star became more and more popular, and the next film will be discussed soon, and the salary may even increase.

However, the director has to bear all the box office responsibilities. If the box office is good, he can continue to make another film, and the salary will be increased accordingly.And if the box office of the movie is not good, then the director can take a rest.

Chen Xunqi rested for several years, and went out for the first time to shoot "The Military Order of the Female Generals of the Yang Family", which claimed to have an investment of 2000 million US dollars.However, judging from the general propaganda method of filmmakers, the real cost should be cut in half, which is about 1000 million US dollars.Besides, apart from Zhang Yuzhi, who has just come out of Yan Zhaomen, who is still popular in the film, others such as Zhou Yumei, Liu Xiaoqing, Zheng Peipei, Jin Qiaoqiao, etc. are undoubtedly not the legendary TV stars.

The so-called TV cafes are those who often show their faces in TV dramas. They seem to be quite popular and eye-catching, but their net worth is not very high, and these actors have long since passed away. Besides Zhang Yuzhi, they are a bit topical , everyone else is just familiar.This lineup was changed to 20 years ago, and it is definitely a top lineup with high popularity and great looks.Unfortunately, it was decades too late.

Xu Guanwu had watched this "The Female General of the Yang Family: Military Orders Like a Mountain" before. In fact, the title should be "The Female General of the Yang Family: The Taijun Goes First", which actually fits the movie better.It's a pity that Chen Xunqi, a rare talent in the Hong Kong film industry, couldn't be guaranteed at the end of the year, and made such a bad movie.

……

Director Chu Yuan chose Chen Xunqi to play the role of Lu Xiaofeng. In addition to his own four eyebrows, he looks almost similar to Lu Xiaofeng, and his personality is also like Lu Xiaofeng. Some are humorous, some are persistent, some are smart and some are cute .At the same time, because of his years of martial arts practice, Chen Xunqi's skills are also very good, so it is enough to meet the needs of filming martial arts scenes.

Chen Xunqi has also cooperated with director Chu Yuan before, and he just got out of Shaw Brothers recently, and he wants to make a foray into the stage.Director Chu Yuan happened to be planning to shoot the "Lu Xiaofeng" series, so he immediately caught Chen Xunqi's attention.

Xu Guanwu was in favor of director Chu Yuan looking for Chen Xunqi to shoot "Lu Xiaofeng". To be honest, he felt that there was no one more suitable to play Lu Xiaofeng than Chen Xunqi.Feng Cuifan is too old, Wu Yaohan is too ugly, and Lin Zixiang is not good enough.

Seeing that Xu Guanwu agreed to his arrangement, director Chu Yuan happily went to discuss with Chen Xunqi.Apart from these established directors, Zhang Guoming also wanted to make a police film.And this gangster film was written by Superintendent Chen Xinjian.

Ever since he wrote the script "Dancing Ashes" for Ms. Xiao Fangfang that year and achieved a very good box office, Chen Xinjian became interested in the screenwriting industry, so he wrote several scripts one after another, all of which are similar to "Dancing Ashes". "Such police and robber themes.

(End of this chapter)