5 of the best and scariest Chinese horror films to watch

Audiences in China who are eager for a viscerally scary cinematic experience at Halloween often look to overseas productions, as the country’s film censors frown on anything that promotes cults and superstition. China’s communist socialism is underpinned by Marxism and dialectical materialism, which advocate respect for the natural sciences and empirical inquiry – the antithesis of everything paranormal.

To pass the censors, ghosts in legendary Chinese stories are often turned into wicked spirits or characters from folklore on the big screen to tone down the netherworld connotations. One example was when the book Liaozhai Zhiyi, or Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, by Qing dynasty novelist Pu Songling, was adapted to television and cinema; the female lead character – Nie Xiaoqian, a ghost siren – was turned into a waifish elf.

That’s also why so-called ghost films made in China often offer a sensible and scientific explanation at their conclusion which explains all the supernatural happenings away. The contrived twist leading to a penny-dropping finale is either the discovery of mental illness in the haunted lead character or a Freudian explanation where all the apparitions and disembodied voices are boiled down to dreams.

The plots of Chinese ghost movies are so contrived that they often turn into farcical comedies, inducing peals of hysterical laughter instead of horrified screams from the audience. In spite of the draconian censorship rules, however, Chinese moviemakers see horror flicks as a money-spinner as they can be made on a low-budget and generate quick returns.

Amid the reams of lousy Chinese ghost movies, we have dug up five rare gems which are surprising not only for having slipped through the net of censors, but also for showing the macabre creativity of Chinese directors.

1. The Possessed (2016)