Horror movie trend 'may harm industry'

Concerns about the effects of horror movies on teenagers and the quality of film-making have been raised amid a resurgence in the genre.

Although it is traditional to show such films around the time of the Hungry Ghosts Festival, the success of a Japanese movie, The Ring, in April has started a trend.

'When people saw that The Ring was a smash at the box office, everyone wanted to jump in and grab a share,' said Li Kuo-hsing, chairman of Mei Ah International, a film and video distributor.

'In fact, horror movies have been over-hyped by the media. Many of them are very disappointing.' Concerns about quality remain. Some film-makers had ignored quality controls in search of profit, according to industry chief Crucindo Hung Cho-sing.

'The quality of most of these films is actually very poor,' said Mr Hung, who chairs the Hong Kong, Kowloon & New Territories Motion Picture Industry Association.

'They are too similar to each other and people would grow tired of it. The box office of horror movies are now very bad.' The main fears are for young, impressionable viewers. Hong Kong Film Critics' Association chairman Sze Man-hung said most viewers were teenagers, although most of these movies were classified as category IIB or III.