The House That Never Dies

The House That Never Dies
Directed by Raymond Yip
Produced by Manfred Wong
Written by Manfred Wong
Starring Francis Ng
Ruby Lin
Monica Mok
Tony Yang
Qin Hailu
Cinematography Xu Xiao Giang
Edited by Li Gia Rong
Production
company
Heng Ye Film Distribution Co.,Ltd
China Film Group
Co-production:
Shanghai Creasun Media
Chong Qing Film Group
Shanghai Media Group(SMG)
Perfect Sky Pictures
TIK Films
China Film Co., LTD Beijing Film Distribution Branch
Distributed by China Film Group
Release dates
  • July 18, 2014 (2014-07-18)[1]
Running time
 90 min
Country China
Language Mandarin
Budget 100 million yuan[2]
(US$16,000,000)
Box office 407 million yuan[3][4]

The House That Never Dies (simplified Chinese: 京城81号; traditional Chinese: 京城81號; pinyin: Jing Cheng 81 Hao) is a 2014 Chinese 3D thriller film directed by Raymond Yip. The story is based on that of a purportedly haunted mansion, Chaonei No. 81, which is located on No.81 Chaoyangmen Inner Street in Beijing, China.[5]

The Chaonei No. 81 was a three-story French Baroque-style house which was built in the 1800s by Qing officials. Legend says that the house became haunted after the end of the Chinese Communist Revolution in 1949, when the wife of a Kuomintang official who once lived there committed suicide. It is believed that her spirit still haunts the house.[6]

Plot

The 3D thriller is based on the legendary mansion at No. 81 on Chaoyangmennei Street in Beijing, follows Xu Ruoqing (Ruby Lin), a woman whose presence in the notorious mansion draws up the spirits that have taken residence there.[7]

The film starts with the story of a notable family who lives in the house right after the fall of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). When the family's third son falls in love with a prostitute named Lu Dieyu (also Lin), his request to marry her is refused and instead the family force Lu to marry their second recently deceased son in a posthumous wedding ceremony. Going from the wedding directly to the funeral, the family throws Lu into a coffin with the pale-faced dead body of her new husband.

Cast

Production

To enhance the horror effects, the producers decided to make it a true 3D thriller by using 3D cameras exclusively throughout the film. The director Raymond Yip also paid attention to the layout of the house as it was during imperial times. The pre-production preparations for the The House That Never Dies took three years, whilst production for the film took one year. The filming crew visited Chaonei No. 81 and collected over 3,000 pages of data.[8] Raymond Yip invited Lau Sai-Wa as art director, and Stanley Cheung as costume designer.[9]

Most of the scenes of the film were shot in Beijing and Wuxi, a city in southeast China's Jiangsu province.[10]

13 May 2014, Chinese title Chao Nei 81 Hao (朝內81號) was renamed Jing Cheng 81 Hao (京城81號).[11]

Soundtrack

Reception

Response

Along with good word of mouth and high box office, media outlets described the film as naving "changed people's impression that Chinese thriller films were boring".[12]

The film has struck a chord with Chinese audiences but not just for the 3D thrills and chills. The film has inspired hordes of Beijingers to make the trek to Chaoyangmen Inner Street in the city's downtown area where the notorious Chanonei No. 81 building stands reports The New York Times.[13] Following the film's release, up to 500 people per day were visiting the dilapidated and abandoned three story town house built in 1910 as a Chinese language school for foreign missionaries. The building's owners, the Beijing Catholic Diocese, had to keep the gates closed to deal with the crowds, only letting in a few visitors at any one time.[14]

Box office

In mainland China, The House That Never Dies earned $25 million in three days,[15] clocking up 81,360 screenings and 4.37 million admissions.[16] It broke the opening-day box office record for a Chinese language horror film, also it is already the highest grossing Chinese horror film of all time. The film initially accounted for only approximately 15.5% of all screenings on the Friday July 25, 2014, earning RMB45 million (US$7.07 million) from 1.29 million admissions (including early screenings). Cinemas quickly added screenings over the weekend and, by the following Sunday, July 27, 2014, it represented approximately 26.6% of all screenings.[17] The film clung on to second spot and added $27.5 million over the second weekend to give a 10-day cume of $53.7 million (RMB324 million), with 175,497 screenings and 4.8 million admissions.[18] It earned a total of US$64.3 million.[19]

Ratings System

China has no film ratings system, but there are growing calls for a national setup to protect minors. In the absence of a film classification system in China, a cinema in Xinjiang province has taken the bold step of introducing its own in-house ratings scheme to shield children from inappropriate movies after their childish cries of fear disturbed other cinema-goers. Since Aug. 3, the Urumqi branch of the China Film theater chain has started rating movies shown on its six screens, including "G" (all ages admitted) or "PG-13" (parents strongly cautioned; some material may be inappropriate for children under 13). While censorship for political reasons makes the headlines, the Film Bureau also makes cuts to, or bans outright, films that are unsuitable for children.

The policy has been applied after a number of younger viewers were driven to tears of terror by Raymond Yip’s The House That Never Dies. The wailing children disturbed other viewers, the theater owner told local media.[20] The six screen complex, part of state-owned China Film Group’s nationwide circuit, recently issued a ‘PG-13’ advisory to The House That Never Dies.[21]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 3D巨制《朝内81号》曝今生版海报 定档7月18日 QQ.com April 11, 2014
  2. ↑ Francis Ng, Ruby Lin star in 'The House That Never Dies' china.org February 27, 2014
  3. ↑ "2014中国内地电影票房总排行榜". douban.com. Retrieved 2014-08-27.
  4. ↑ "2014年度电影票房排行榜前15名（截至9月1日）". askci.com. Retrieved 2014-09-01.
  5. ↑ 《朝内81号》曝剧照五月3D上映 吴镇宇变鬼宅掌门人 msn.com February 11, 2014
  6. ↑ Beijing’s Haunted Mansion: Chinese Shun Expensive Beijing Property for Fear of Ghosts odditycentral.com September 26, 2013
  7. ↑ 3D effects to wow audiences of 'House That Never Dies' China.org July 8, 2014
  8. ↑ 《朝內81號》曝海報 林心如上演冥婚 Sina.com February 25, 2014
  9. ↑ 3D惊悚片"朝内81号"探班 林心如吴镇宇入主凶宅 mtime.com June 23, 2014
  10. ↑ Star in 'The House That Never Dies' CRIENGLISH.com February 26, 2014
  11. ↑ 《京城81号》首曝凶宅内部 林心如化蝶 Sina entertainment May 13, 2014
  12. ↑ Horror Film The House That Never Dies Breaks Record CRIENGLISH.com July 24, 2014
  13. ↑ Haunted House in Beijing Attracts Visitors Following Release of 'The House That Never Dies' Hollywoodreporter July 25, 2014
  14. ↑ Film Has Crowds Swarming to Beijing House, Haunted or Not The New York Times July 22, 2014
  15. ↑ China Box Office: Big Time for ‘Tiny Times 3,’ as ‘Transformers 4′ Passes $300 million variety.com July 21, 2014
  16. ↑ China Box Office: Local Sensation ‘Tiny Times 3.0’ Knocks 'Transformers 4' Off Top Spot hollywoodreporter July 21, 2014
  17. ↑ Tiny Times 3 dazzles at China box office filmbiz.asia July 21, 2014
  18. ↑ China Box Office: Local Title 'Continent' Bows at $47 Million as 'Transformers' Exits on $317 Million High Hollywoodreporter July 28, 2014
  19. ↑ Nancy Tartaglione and David Bloom (January 10, 2015). "‘Transformers 4′ Tops 2014’s 100 Highest-Grossing International Films – Chart". deadline.com. Retrieved January 10, 2015.
  20. ↑ Chinese Cinema Sets Its Own Ratings System as Scary Movies Frighten Kids Hollywoodreporter August 11, 2014
  21. ↑ Chinese Multiplex Launches Own Film Rating System variety.com August 11, 2014

External links

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