Please click "Follow" in the upper right corner, so that it is convenient for you to discuss and share, your support is my biggest motivation!
On this lit night, the bustling city of Hong Kong is surrounded by mysterious night, and the boudoir-like cramped apartment is lit only by a small lamp on a bedside table that flickers with a faint light.
At this moment, we see a man named Huang Ying lying quietly on the bed, his face pale, his tired eyes staring blankly at the ceiling, his chest trembling slightly with the rise and fall of his breath, as if every breath was a great challenge.
From time to time, a violent cough struck like a storm, and the yellow eagle curled up in pain, as if the strength of his whole body had been drained. When the cough had subsided, he propped himself up on the bedside table with trembling hands, and did his best to sit up.
Yellow Eagle looked around, his gaze wandering around the austere room, eventually resting on the empty pill bottles on the table. He lowered his arm weakly, and the vials crashed against the table with a jumbled sound.
With a "snap", a crumpled stack of letters slipped off the table and scattered across the floor. Huang Ying turned his face sideways, barely making out that it was some debt collection letter from a loan shark company.
He sighed deeply, struggling to brace himself to the wall again, his eyes falling on the old movie poster. The familiar image instantly evoked his memory: it was his controversial but unconventional horror masterpiece - "Magic High".
Huang Ying's eyes gradually dimmed, and his body slowly collapsed back to the bed. He seems to be nostalgic for the film career that was once full of passion and fanaticism.
The yellow eagle, who was burdened with heavy debts, died alone at home, and the lights were quietly extinguished. A generation of martial arts novelists fell on the road of chasing their dreams, and countless days and nights of hard work came to naught, leaving only endless regrets and helplessness.
In fact, in the last years of his life, Huang Ying was always under the weight of loan shark debt. In 1991, with his enthusiasm for the film industry and his incomparable confidence in his talent, he borrowed funds with high interest again, and spent a huge amount of money to invite Lin Zhengying, a popular zombie film superstar at that time, and Qian Xiaohao to co-star in the movie "Zombie Supreme" for him.
Huang Ying is full of expectations for this work, he is not only in charge of the screenwriting, but also carefully designed the plot, and the production quality is even more refined. However, the good times are short-lived, and shortly after the filming of Zombie Supreme was completed, a grim reality dawned on him – in the early 90s, the "zombie film" craze in the Hong Kong film market had gradually faded, and the audience's interest in such films was no longer as strong as it used to be.
As expected, this work that Huang Ying did his best to only received a paltry 6.6 million box office after its release, far from paying off the high loan interest owed before.
Naturally, the loan sharks will not sit idly by, and they have carried out debt collection operations without mercy, and Huang Ying is under tremendous financial pressure as a result.
Dating back to 1990, Huang Ying tried to seek a breakthrough in the emerging field of "gambling films", he directed a work called "The King of Gambling", and invited Wan Ziliang, Zhou Haimei and other powerful actors to participate.
However, compared with "God of Gamblers" starring Chow Yun-fat in the same period, "The King of Gamblers" pales in terms of quality and popularity, and in the end only achieved a mediocre income of more than 6.6 million, which could not give Huang Ying a little respite.
Despite repeated setbacks, Huang Ying's firm belief in the film industry is incomparable to ordinary people. He knows that chasing his dreams comes at a cost, and he is even willing to fall into the predicament of loan sharks.
It must be admitted that Huang Ying's adherence to ideals stems from the sincerity of his heart, not from any other factor.
Originally, Huang Ying was a well-known martial arts novelist. With his otherworldly brushstrokes, he depicts countless thrilling martial arts worlds for the majority of readers. However, his keen insight into the market led him to foresee the future of Hong Kong's film boom in the mid-80s, so he decided to devote himself to this industry full of opportunities.
After careful consideration, Huang Ying finally decided to bravely put down the pen in his hand, abandon the field of martial arts creation, and devote himself to the vast ocean of the film industry. In 1986, with an endless yearning for the film and television industry, he founded his own "Eagle Film Production Co., Ltd."
As a classic work like bright stars, Mr. Huang Ying personally led and played the first personal independent work - "Maoshan School" with a calm and firm pace. However, this eye-catching debut suffered an unexpected setback in terms of market response, only earning a rather dismal box office of more than 4.3 million.
This is tantamount to a slap in the face for a fledgling film and television production company!
However, Mr. Huang Ying is not a man who gives up easily. On the contrary, he bravely drew precious experience from this box office dilemma, laying a solid foundation for his future creative path.
In the following year, in 1987, he once again splashed ink and worked hard to create a masterpiece with a novel theme and unique style - "Magic High".
This time, Mr. Huang Ying can be described as exhausted. Not only did he take on the dual responsibilities of screenwriter and director, but he also carefully planned a new creative concept, aiming to break the conventional model of traditional zombie movies and present an unprecedented visual feast for a wide audience.
The main story line of the film "Magic Height" revolves around the mysterious theme of "immortality". It tells the story of a "human demon" who does not hesitate to devour the souls of those born in the year and the month and the day in order to realize the dream of immortality.
At the beginning of the film, it depicts the thrilling scene of "Evil Boy", "Leopard Girl", "Ah Gui" and "Three Hands of Thieves" inadvertently getting a precious treasure map and embarking on a treasure hunt.
Unexpectedly, between the palms of the Buddha statue was a terrifying "dry corpse", which brutally killed Agui and devoured his soul. Just when everyone was in despair, a mysterious figure who called himself "Uncle Nan" and his apprentice "Amai" stepped forward and started a life-and-death battle with the "dry corpse".
It turned out that "Uncle Nan" and "Dry Corpse" used to be brothers in the same sect, and they learned the "art of immortality" from a respected master. However, what "Uncle Nan" practiced was the "art of releasing life", while the junior brother of "dry corpse" went astray and instead practiced the "art of killing".
For every time the "dry corpse" devours the soul of a person of the same birth as itself, it can prolong its lifespan, and if it devours another 49 people, it will live forever.
Faced with the threat of "dry corpses", Uncle Nan had to seek the assistance of "Dog Wang Lun", let a divine dog possess him, and track the whereabouts of humans and demons for him with his keen sense of smell.
This is the beginning of this breathtaking adventure! Huang Ying's ingenious conception in this film can be described as original, incorporating many innovative elements, such as the magical depiction of "dog upper body" and the mysterious character setting of "female ghost love ring".
While retaining the comedy elements, the whole film focuses more on creating a terrifying and tense atmosphere, presenting an unprecedented audio-visual feast for the audience. However, "Magic High" seems to have made a slight mistake in the choice of release time, the film was officially released on December 10, 1987, and "Mr. Phantom", also from the hand of "Hong Jiaban", followed closely behind, and debuted on December 17 of the same year.
Although the creative concepts of the two films are quite similar, they are both committed to strengthening the horror elements and striving to break through the inherent mold of traditional zombie films. However, it is a pity that "Mr. Phantom" is not only far ahead of "Magic High" in terms of production cost, but also brings together a number of powerful superstars such as Lin Zhengying, Sammo Hung, and Lu Fang.
In such a fierce competitive environment, "Magic High" had no choice but to bid farewell to the screen just seven days after its release, and finally only received a box office score of more than 2.7 million. For Huang Ying, this is undoubtedly a heavy blow.
He poured a lot of effort into this film, bravely tried to innovate, but in the end failed to achieve the expected goals due to various unfavorable factors, which is really regrettable.
In stark contrast to Huang Ying's "Magic High" in the same period suffered a box office waterloo, it is another masterpiece directed by director Liu Guanwei - "Mr. Zombie". This film not only achieved an unprecedented box office success of more than 20 million, but also set off a new "zombie craze" in the entire Hong Kong film industry.
After sufficient funds, Liu Guanwei quickly assembled an elite team and embarked on their filmmaking journey. However, during the filming process, the budget was almost exhausted. In order to ensure the smooth completion of the film, the company had to repeatedly make additional investments, making the final production cost of "Mr. Zombie" a staggering 8.5 million yuan.
Initially, many industry insiders, including Sammo Hung, were skeptical about the film, predicting that it would most likely lose two or three million after its release. However, it turns out that "Mr. Zombie" has successfully broken all kinds of doubts and created a glorious chapter in the history of cinema with its unique charm and outstanding performance.
The reason why this film can achieve such brilliant achievements is undoubtedly because of the superb acting skills of elite actors such as Master Lin Zhengying and Qian Xiaohao, and more importantly, director Liu Guanwei is like a general who commands Ruoding, carefully mobilizing the strength of the entire team.
In addition, the film's adaptation of Huang Ying's original novel, with its ups and downs, is fascinating, which is also one of the key factors for its success.
When we compare the life journeys of the two directors, we can't help but sigh that although they put in the same effort and toil in the filmmaking process, fate has arranged for them very differently.
Liu Guanwei finally got his wish and realized his life ideals; And Huang Ying has experienced ups and downs on the road to chasing his dreams, suffered repeated failures, and suffered heavy blows again and again, which is really heart-wrenching.
Looking back on the past, Huang Ying, who was once full of movie dreams, is so high-spirited and courageous! He saw the opportunity and foresaw the vigorous vitality of the Hong Kong film industry in the mid-80s, and decisively gave up the creation of martial arts novels that he was good at, and devoted himself to the vast world of film without hesitation.
In 1986, Huang Ying founded his own "Eagle Film Production Co., Ltd.", and then directed his first work "Maoshan School". Although his first attempt did not go well, he was not discouraged, but summed up his experience in the second year, regrouped, and launched a unique masterpiece "Magic High".
This film can be called Huang Ying's painstaking work. He dared to challenge the tradition, boldly broke the outdated pattern of zombie films, and incorporated many new and unique creative concepts. In addition to retaining comedy elements, "Magic High" pays more attention to creating a thriller and horror atmosphere, presenting an unprecedented audio-visual feast for the audience.
However, fate always seems to like to play tricks on people, and Huang Ying's "Magic High", which he poured countless efforts into, failed to achieve the expected success due to the improper choice of release timing. In the face of contemporaneous director Liu Guanwei's "Mr. Phantom", his masterpiece was overshadowed, and it had to be withdrawn after only a short seven days of release.
Despite this, Huang Ying did not give up easily. He did not hesitate to bear the pressure of loan sharks and continued to devote himself to the filming of the gambling film "The King of Gamblers" and the zombie film "Zombie Supreme", but unfortunately, these works failed to arouse enthusiastic response in the market.
The heavy burden of debt swallowed him like a boundless quagmire.
Until the moment when the flame of life was gradually extinguished, Huang Ying still could not get rid of the shadow of pain in his heart, and the pressure of life was like a rolling dark cloud tightly wrapped around his home, making him tired of dealing with the ruthless recourse of those loan sharks every day.
And the poster of "Magic High", which was once a symbol of his passionate ideals and firm belief in life when he was young, has now become a witness to his last lonely figure.
Just ask, who could have predicted that the Yellow Eagle, who once had endless dreams, would end his life in such a sad way? He has spent his whole life trying to achieve his dreams, but fate always seems to play tricks on him, bringing him heavy blows again and again.
He bravely explored the unknown and made bold attempts, but it was never easy to succeed. Time flies, time flies, and now when we mention the name Huang Ying again, our hearts are filled with not only deep respect for his outstanding talent and perseverance, but also endless nostalgia and deep regret for that short and crazy film life.