WHAT in hell is showing at our cinemas? Over the next two weeks, cinemas will be haunted by the terrified screams of audiences. In an excellent example of the follow-the-leader mentality of the local film business, no fewer than 12 horror films will be playing.
Film distributors have always released a spate of horror - in particular, supernatural - movies at this time of year to coincide with the seventh month of the lunar calendar and the Hungry Ghosts Festival (which falls on August 24 this year).
'It has become a habit with film distributors,' says film critic Thomas Shin. 'At this time of the year, they will push out some Hollywood B-movies and during Christmas, audiences would expect to be watching romantic love comedies. It's a reflection of the season.' The two 'Hollywood' horror films on the circuit now - Resurrection and Urban Legend - fit the B-movie description, although they are essentially scare movies with lots of gore.
The local products are low-budget quickly produced films dealing with local supernatural folklore. Given the industry's state, horror films have been the cheapest to churn out, accounting for almost half of local productions.
Most of the offerings this year revolve around the subject of suicides and vengeful ghosts. Stupid, Social Worker, Believe It Or Not and Troublesome Night 6 all fit the bill.
In Stupid and Believe It Or Not, evil spirits lead the characters to commit suicide and become wandering spirits themselves. In Social Worker, the ghost of a social worker who killed herself after being raped comes back to haunt her clients.
Troublesome Night 6 might well be the showbiz industry's warning to the paparazzi, as it deals with a reporter haunted by the ghost of a suicide victim whose pictures he disrespectfully plastered in his magazine. But at least it boasts a good cast with Louis Koo Tin-lok and Simon Loui Yu-yeung.