Unexpected box office "star"

The series of horror films using folk materials, imbued with Vietnamese culture, have continuously won in revenue recently, showing that the audience has a lot of affection for this film genre.

The movie "Cam" - a horror version of the fairy tale "Tam Cam", directed by Tran Huu Tan, officially hit theaters on September 20. According to statistics from Box Office Vietnam, as of noon on October 1, the movie had earned more than 85.8 billion VND.

In addition, some horror films exploiting indigenous culture such as "The Devil Dog" by director Luu Thanh Luan and "The Soul Eater" by director Tran Huu Tan, released in theaters at the end of 2023, also reaped good revenue.

People in the industry believe that horror films that exploit folk materials and indigenous cultures, if conveyed well, will make the story more creepy and frightening, thereby conquering the audience. Because familiar stories have the advantage of being known to everyone, but at the same time, they also force filmmakers to be creative in how to bring novelty to the familiar, creating surprises for the audience.

Movie "Cam" by director Tran Huu Tan. (Source provided by the producer)

The debates, comparisons between old and new, pointing out the negative points, mixed praise and criticism are also positive signals for the work because it proves that the film is expected and creates public opinion.

Although being compared to the "star" of the Vietnamese box office at the present time due to many works of the same genre winning revenue, a reality emphasized by people in the industry is that films that are not of good quality, not invested in, and lack an attractive narrative are still at risk of failure. "Currently, audiences like to watch good movies. They will watch good movies regardless of genre, not just horror. If horror movies are not watchable and not of good quality, it will be difficult to keep audiences in theaters" - director Vo Thanh Hoa once commented.

In the near future, cultural horror film projects such as: "Linh Mieu - Quy Nhap Trang"; "Den Hon", "Duoi Bot Ho" ... will be released in theaters. Obviously, in the competitive context, many movies also focus on indigenous culture, requiring filmmakers to make efforts to improve the quality of their works. Because, the trust of the audience is not easy to build and that trust can only be built by works of increasingly better quality.

Only then will the Vietnamese film market have successful works that will have enough revenue to reinvest in the next films.

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