The movie "Evil" is Gui Zhihong's masterpiece, telling a thriller story with twists and turns, and a case within a case.

In this film, Gui Zhihong did his best to CULT. The corpse that was numbed in the middle of the night, squirting out a green viscous liquid; elusive, bizarre ghosts; As well as the most naked, nude drawing talismans, exorcism and evil spirits, etc., it can be said that violence, cesium, and terror are perfectly fused into one furnace.

However, because of the deliberate pursuit of thriller effects and the blind attention to surprise, there are a lot of flaws in the plot. It's just that because the other aspects of the movie are too good, there are only some shortcomings that go unnoticed.

The movie "Evil" brought huge profits to the Shaw Brothers, and in the following years, Gui Zhihong successively filmed "Evil Fighting Evil" and "Evil After Evil", two movies under the banner of sequels, until the Shaw Brothers were discontinued.

In the late 70s and early 80s, Gui Zhihong was one of the directors of Shaw Brothers, and the cult blockbuster films he shot became Shaw Brothers' magic weapon to save the market.

At that time, the rise of kung fu comedies in the early Republic of China, represented by Cheng Long, coupled with the impact of urban comedy films in Xinyicheng, caused the box office of Shaw Brothers Pictures to plummet. The previous blockbuster directors Zhang Che, Liu Jialiang, Li Hanxiang, etc., declined and declined, conservative and conservative, and scattered, so there was a talent gap in Shaw Brothers.

At this time, Gui Zhihong, who started shooting low-budget horror films, pulled out the general and entered the sight of the Shaw Brothers high-level.

Although Gui Zhihong's low-budget horror films are not high at the box office, each of them only has one or two million box office, but the relatively low cost still makes it a safe profit. And the audience for this type of horror film has always been very stable. And neither New Art City nor Golden Harvest has touched on this theme. So Gui Zhihong's horror film has become the hope of Shaw Brothers to save the city.

And Gui Zhihong did not disappoint the Shaw Brothers. After that, "Evil", "Evil Fighting Evil", "Gu", "Demon" and so on. played with cesium love violence and blood, catering to the psychology of a group of audiences who love horror movies, and 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 movie, and the box office sold more than 3 million Hong Kong dollars. also opened up a new genre for the filming of Hong Kong ghost films in the future.

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

Gui Zhihong also lost his job with the closure of Shaw Brothers, and then went to the United States to find his wife and was swept away, and even his property was swept away by her. In desperation, the Hong Kong director had no choice but to be a pizza delivery brother, but fortunately, he finally opened his own pizzeria, but it was next to the slums of law and order, and he was often in danger of being robbed.

And Gui Zhihong was severely burned by fire when he was filming for Shaw Brothers before. Inhaling large amounts of toxic gas damages the liver. Later, I went to Malay Island to shoot exterior scenes, and the local tap water was not clean. The whole group suffered from liver disease, which aggravated Gui Zhihong's condition. He later got liver cancer and had two surgeries to remove it.

It can be said that Gui Zhihong is still quite sad in his life, and he has served the Shaw Brothers wholeheartedly for half his life, but he fell into the situation of sweeping the floor and leaving the house, and this is actually the fate of many old Shaw Brothers.

Di Long, a popular student in the Shaw Brothers era, was popular all over Southeast Asia when he was young, but with the closure of the Shaw Brothers, he lost his job immediately. At that time, he was nearly forty 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 Heroes" asked him to come out again, and then Salted Fish turned over and became popular again.

Compared with Di Long, who can still rejuvenate the second spring, other Shaw Brothers actors have either changed careers or quit or changed from the first line to the second and third lines after the Shaw Brothers closed, and it is very rare for someone like Dillon to become popular again. Moreover, there was no pension in Hong Kong before, so unemployment is basically equivalent to starvation. In addition, the Shaw Brothers have always been the leader of the door-slamming gang, so even if they want to sit and eat, they will definitely not be able to stand for long. Therefore, many veteran Shaw Brothers employees are in a bleak situation in their later years and have to rely on CSSA to get by.

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Director Chu Yuan also came out of Shaw Brothers back then, but his old man's mentality was better. Since the director has nothing to do, it's better to be an ordinary actor. played some small roles in film and television dramas, and still lived a very free and easy life. And if you are not familiar with the history of Hong Kong films, who would have thought that such a small role would be Chu Qian, who was famous in Southeast Asia back then? !

However, now Director Chu Yuan is not worried that he will be unemployed, and he will be reduced to playing a small role in film and television dramas. He is now one of the directors of Hui's Dingding, and the film adapted from Gu Long's masterpiece is loved by audiences all over Southeast Asia.

This year, he has a new idea, he wants to put the classic character Lu Xiaofeng in Gu Long's novel on the screen, and has already written the scripts of "Jinpeng Dynasty", "The Battle of the Forbidden Peak" and "The Embroidery Thief", and plans to shoot his three "Lu Xiaofeng" series in a row this year, wanting to build Lu Xiaofeng into an iconic character in kung fu martial arts movies like "Huang Feihong".

For Director Chu Yuan's idea, Xu Guanwu is very much in favor of it. To be honest, he also likes this four-eyebrow Lu Xiaofeng. Compared with Chu Liuxiang, who is too dreamy, Lu Xiaofeng, who actually has a lot of problems, is more amiable and cute. Lu Xiaofeng is to Chu Liuxiang, in fact, what Spider-Man is to Superman.

And Director Chu Yuan's choice to play Lu Xiaofeng also made Xu Guanwu can't help but be amazed, he is the famous mustache in the Hong Kong film industry - Chen Xunqi. There are several famous mustachioed 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 all been quasi-first-line actors in the Hong Kong film industry for a certain period of time, so maybe it's the charm of this mustache.

Chen Xunqi can be called an all-rounder in the Hong Kong film industry, he is not only the best soundtrack among Hong Kong directors, but also the best producer in the soundtrack. The best speeding director in the film. The best screenwriter in the speed car director. One of the most famous actors in the screenplay, and one of the most successful directors among actors.

Although this is a bit ridiculous, it is actually very close to reality. Chen Xunqi is a very famous soundtrack musician in Shaw Brothers, studying under the composer Mr. Wang Fuling, and has sounded music for many movies. Then he thought the soundtrack was too boring, so he started his career as an actor again. In "The Loser" co-produced with Hong Jingbao and Yuan Biao, he played a superb martial arts Lord Baylor, who quickly became a popular star.

After that, Chen Xunqi established Yongjia Film Company with the funding of Princess Jin. The 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 has scored for the movies he directed, such as "East Evil and West Poison", "Chongqing Forest", "Fallen Angel" and so on.

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

Chen Xunqi was then engaged in speed car coaching, and once helped Cheng Long shoot the very popular "Thunderbolt", with an investment of 200 million Hong Kong dollars in the whole film, which is one of the highest investment 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 mid-life crisis.

Chen Xunqi is still active in the Hong Kong film industry, but now Hong Kong films are in a straight decline. Therefore, his filming of "The Military Order of the Female General of the Yang Gate" also encountered Waterloo. provoked a lot of scolding. But in fact, the director can't be blamed for this.

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

So scolding the director when he sees a bad film is actually very unfair to the director. A big star is paid millions or tens of millions of dollars for a film, and the director only gets a salary of hundreds of thousands or more than one million. But if something happens, the more the star scolds, the more popular he becomes, the next film will be approached immediately, and the salary may be able to rise.

The director has to bear all the responsibility for the box office, and if the box office is good, he can continue to shoot the next film, and the salary will be increased as appropriate. And if the movie doesn't do well at the box office, then the director can go where it is cool and rest.

Chen Xunqi took a break for several years, and went out of the mountain for the first time to shoot "The Military Order of the Female General of the Yang Gate", claiming that the investment was 20 million US dollars. However, according to the filmmaker's method of publicity, the real cost should be cut by half, which is almost $10 million. And in addition to Zhang Zhengzhi, who has just come out of the mountain after experiencing Yan Zhaomen, is still popular in the film, others such as Zhou Yingmei, Liu Xiaoqi, Zheng Peipei, Jin Qiaoqiao, etc., are undoubtedly not legendary TV cafes.

The so-called TV coffee often shows his face in TV series, it seems to be quite popular and eye-catching, but in fact, his net worth is not very high, and these actors have long been out of breath, except for a Zhang Lingzhi who is still a bit topical, everyone else is just familiar with each other. This lineup is changed to 20 years ago, and it is definitely a top lineup with high popularity and excellent looks. But alas, it was decades late.

Xu Guanwu had seen this "Yang Men Female General's Military Order Like a Mountain" at the beginning, in fact, the name should be "Yang Men Female General: Taijun Goes First", which is actually more suitable for the movie. I am very sorry for Chen Xunqi, a rare genius in the Hong Kong film industry, who is not guaranteed to make such a big bad movie.

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Director Chu Yuan took Chen Xunqi to play the role of Lu Xiaofeng, in addition to his own four eyebrows, which looks similar to Lu Xiaofeng, and his personality is also like Lu Xiaofeng, some humor, some persistence, some intelligence and some cuteness. At the same time, because of the perennial 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 has just recently got out of Shaw Brothers and is trying to break through to the stage. Director Chu Yuan happened to be planning to shoot the "Lu Xiaofeng" series, and immediately fell in love with Chen Xunqi at a glance, and the two hit it off and hated each other.

Xu Guanwu raised his hands in favor of Director Chu Yuan's finding Chen Xunqi to shoot "Lu Xiaofeng", and to be honest, he also felt that there was no more suitable person to play Lu Xiaofeng than Chen Xunqi. Feng Cuifan is too old, Wu Yaohan is too ugly, and Lin Zixiang is not enough to fight.

Director Chu Yuan saw that Xu Guanwu agreed to his arrangement, and immediately happily went to discuss with Chen Xunqi. In addition to these directors who already have a foundation, Zhang Guoming also wants to make a police film. And this police film is written by Superintendent Chen Xinjian.

Since he wrote the script "Jumping Ashes" for Ms. Xiao Fangfang that year and achieved a very good box office, Chen Xinjian has become interested in the screenwriting industry, so he has written several scripts one after another, all of which are police and bandit themes like "Jumping Ashes". (To be continued......)