Scene from Mysterious Island, a rare horror hit on the Chinese mainland. Photo: CFP.

There's a paradox about Chinese horror films. A genre subject to rigorous censorship pertaining to the supernatural, what's released is rarely good and no big director ever picks the genre. At the same time, what does succeed are often shoestring affairs, meaning great returns on little investment.

Low-budget horror Mysterious Island (孤岛惊魂)showcases the situation. With an 80 million yuan ($12 million) take for July, director Chung Kai Cheung has good reason to be happy.

He's off to Korea to meet 2007 Cannes Best Actress Jeon Do-Youn to discuss his next project, a thriller, but before that he sat down with the Global Times to discuss his recent success and the horror genre.

Good fortune

With a budget of 5 million yuan ($776,759), Mysterious Island recouped around 16 times its original investment, despite showing against Beginning of The Great Revival (建党伟业), a film which saw almost all perceived competitors cleared to make way for its expected dominance.

In the event, after barely a month and despite allegations of rigging, Revival managed to make only half its hoped-for 800 million yuan take, as Mysterious Island emerged as an unlikely alternative choice for young cinemagoers.

Up-and-coming Palace actress Yang Mi plays the female lead. "Many believe it is Yang Mi who attracted the young students," Chung laughed, "but I consider it more luck. I waited a year till the film passed censorship, then the experienced mainland producer managed to choose a slot and we luckily got a good one."

Despite a slew of bad reviews on major websites such as mtimes.com, Chung responded optimistically. "I got much horrible feedback on my Weibo," he conceded.

"I understand if they say Mysterious Island is not great but some of them insisted Transformer 3 is pretty good. I then doubt their credentials."


Scene from Mysterious Island, a rare horror hit on the Chinese mainland. Photo: CFP

Censorship woes

Although there has never been a significant Chinese mainland horror film, the genre enjoys mass popularity among Chinese fans. Japanese horror series The Ring (1998-2000) failed to make theatres but enjoyed so many pirate DVD and online viewings that the main character, Sadako, became a by-word for horror.

The Game of Killing (2004) and this year's Fatal Invitation and The Man Behind the Courtyard House are domestic attempts at horror although neither has had the impact of Mysterious Island. But is it actually horrifying?

"I made Yang scream a lot, since there is only screaming left," Chung said.

Censors' approach to the genre is so strict in China, it borders on the bizarre. Rules by the State Administration of Radio, Film and television disallow "violations of state religious policy, dissemination of cults and superstition… Content that mixes murder, violence, terror, monsters, and spirits, [offensive "value orientation"], killing, gore, violence… excessively shocking visuals, dialogue, background music, or sound effects." The result? More screaming - but little that's screamworthy.

"I wanted to make a [dead] body walk in the opening scene. I gave up," Chung said.

Less understandable is a generalized fear of "the unknown" - essentially the lifeblood of the genre. Film critic Yang Jian, writing in Sohu, explained that awkward devices ("It was all just a dream - or those drugs I took!") and pseudo-scientific explanations are often used to explain events, providing an anticlimactic resolution and depriving horror of its roots.
 

Scene from Mysterious Island, a rare horror hit on the Chinese mainland. Photo: CFP

Limits on creativity

"There are investors who want to give up on the mainland but only distribute in Hong Kong, Taiwan. So I could make a most horrible film with blood, violence and sex elements," Chung admitted. But "now they saw I made 80 million, they ask for mainland distribution as well.",

"It's not that Chinese viewers don't love horror - they love it - but the censorship limits. It is very hard to make a scary film with no blood, violence or the supernatural," Chung said. "Hitchcock's Psycho was considered inappropriate and boycotted by many in the 1960s… when regulations were loosened up, it became accepted."

In 1968, Hollywood abandoned the notoriously prudish system known as the Hays Code in favor of new rules, paving the way for an era of groundbreaking cinema. Chung urged Chinese censors to follow.

"Thrillers or horror films cannot survive without suspense, violence and sex elements; they should be employed wisely. Even Transformer 3 was still very violent,' he observed.

"It's just if a machine dies, we see pieces of metal instead of blood. They also portrayed the female lead very sexily," Chung added.