Speaking of zombies in Hong Kong movies, the most impressive thing is that they wear Qing Dynasty official uniforms, have stiff limbs, green faces and fangs, and jump around. As more and more zombie movies are released, the image of zombies in the past seems very weak. Why do I say this? Because the zombies in Hong Kong movies all jump forward and are all dressed in the same uniform, which is very different from the current image of zombies.
In the late 1970s, there was a movie boom in the Hong Kong film industry. Hong Kong zombie movies incorporate the traditional Chinese zombie culture into it, forming a classic zombie image, symbolized by "Mr. Zombie" starring Lin Zhengying, which has gradually become popular.
In the 1980s, the image of zombies wearing "Qing Dynasty official uniforms" became mainstream. That was the heyday of zombie movies in Hong Kong movies. At that time, because Lin's Zombie became popular for a while, producers followed suit and invested in it. Later, in order to control the cost of the film, and because there were many Qing palace dramas, a large number of Qing Dynasty costumes were rented out at low prices. The image of zombies in Qing Dynasty official uniforms "wearing flower feathers on their heads and python-clawed robes" became a classic on the screen.
But apart from cost control, a very important reason is that Qing Dynasty clothing gives people a stiff feeling. A straight coat, mostly dark colors, and a feather on the back of the official hat, which is very consistent. Zombie image. Zombies wearing cool blue official uniforms are most suitable for the cold horror atmosphere in the movie.
Some others include political satire (the Han people were underground in the Qing Dynasty, and unfair treatment abounded. Countless people died unjustly, so those officials were filled with resentment after death, forming zombies. . ), Xiangxi corpse exorcism culture (rumors of "corpse exorcists" in Xiangxi were widely circulated in the Qing Dynasty, that is, corpse exorcists used "secret techniques" to bring the corpses of people who died in foreign lands back to their hometowns and bury them in peace.) , historical notes and other multiple factors.
The zombie images in these movies and TV shows not only have uniform clothes, but also uniform actions, that is, they walk and jump. In fact, making zombies jump and walk is not the director's setting, but it has a certain origin. There is a record in Ji Xiaolan's "Notes of the Yuewei Thatched Cottage" that corpse exorcists walked together in groups of three or five. Some tied the corpses with ropes, one a few feet apart, and put yellow paper symbols on the foreheads of the corpses, while others beat gongs and bells to clear the way. The corpse chaser threw the corpse into a pile in front of the sky, lifted up the talisman, and stood the corpse against the wall, and continued on the road at night. Because the corpse was tied with a rope, it jumped and jumped when walking, just like the zombie image in Hong Kong movies.
As mentioned before, the costumes of zombies in Hong Kong movies are based on the legend of corpse exorcism in western Hunan, and this jumping walk also draws on this legend, that is, the corpse exorcists use bamboo poles to facilitate the "dead corpse". Hold the arms of all the corpses and lead them forward. Since the body was wearing loose clothes, the bamboo poles tied under the hands would pass through the sleeves and be completely covered. From a distance, it looks like it is jumping forward with its hands raised.
Because zombies always jump forward, in the Feng Shui practice of Chinese architecture, a threshold about 15 cm high is usually installed under the door to prevent zombies from jumping into the home. But in fact this is just superstition.
Think about it, the era when Hong Kong movies were so brilliant is gone forever. Nowadays zombie movies are gradually replaced by foreign zombie movies. To say it is scary, it is also scary, but most of them give people a sense of horror. Feeling sick.