By Xinhua Writer Gong Yidong
BEIJING, March 25 (Xinhua)-- Chinese scary movie fans
are really scared this time when the state censor -- the General Administration
of Press and Publications (GAPP) -- banned last month all horror or supernatural
films from sale.
"It's sort of like The Mummy Returns (2001)," says a
fan.
Last year, when the GAPP banned the popular Death
Note books and films, the moviegoers were reminded of "The Mummy," the 1999 film
about the awakening of a being from a bygone age who sets out to wreak havoc.
Just like the zombies in "Dawn of the Dead" (1978),
the ban will only make more illegal horror movies keep on coming, whatever the
GAPP can throw at them, says Yang Yang, the creator and editor of the Horror
Paradise fan website.
The 21-year-old student at Beijing City University
says he and millions of his Chinese peers find the thrill of a good fright just
too much fun to let the censors spoil it.
"The ban won't make much difference," says Yang.
"We'll just download out movies from the Internet."
Yang thinks of the ban as irrational. "Don't they
remember that they're supposed to be promoting the concept of letting one
hundred flowers bloom in the garden? " he says rhetorically.
Quick
release
He still remembers the film adapted from Liao Zhai
Zhi Yi, or Strange Tales from a Scholar's Studio, a collection of ghost stories
written by Chinese literary master Pu Songling in the Qing Dynasty (1616-1911).
"As a three-year-old, I was scared out of my wits,
but that thrill still excites me as an adult."
In the 1990s, he trawled video shops looking for the
latest films from Hongkong. "Some of them were pretty coarse, but I enjoyed
them."
In middle school, his passion for horror developed
and in the past ten years, he has collected and watched more than 1,000 horror
movies, mostly from the US, Europe, South Korea and Japan.
Initially, he enjoyed brutality and gore, but he has
come to appreciate the psychological element of horror moves. "Watching them is
an effective release from outside pressure, in an instant way. It's a fantastic
feeling that nothing else can offer."
Since starting in 2006, Yang's Horror Paradise
website has attracted almost 1,000 members nationwide, making it a most popular
site on douban.com, a Chinese website dedicated to the sharing of books, DVDs,
music and films.
The Horror Paradise members often debate the content,
techniques and art of horror movies.
"Contrary to the stereotype impression of horror
movies as superficial or violent, they reflect deep and insightful themes."
He cites "The Descent" (2005), which depicts the
experience of six women who are hunted by strange subterranean beings when they
get lost while exploring in a cave in the mountains.
"It's a great film about our susceptibility to the
evil side of human nature when our survival is at stake."
Du Jian, a senior student at the Chinese Youth
University for Political Sciences in Beijing, agrees. "Classical horror movies
are a vivid description of human nature."
Du's favorite is "Dead Silence" (2007), in which a puppet seeks revenge on the descendants of townspeople who brutally murdered its long dead ventriloquist owner. "I've learned through the movie that even lifeless things deserve our care, especially those that have accompanied us for a long time, because we develop a sense of intimacy with them."
