I created the myth of the Great Old Ones.

If those ghosts and monsters could be understood, seen through, and even destroyed, then the sense of terror would completely disappear.

In horror games, if you only have a flashlight, any random thing that appears can scare you half to death. But if you give the player a gun loaded with bullets, the player will just shout for more monsters to come.

Dangers that cannot be resisted and can only be avoided will cause people to feel uneasy.

And mental patients fit this description perfectly.

In many works, the mere appearance of a mental patient is enough to create a terrifying atmosphere. If this patient is also disheveled, emaciated, and holding a tattered baby doll while singing a nursery rhyme or two, it will definitely leave a deep impression.

When Lu Ban returned home, the TV was still on, playing short videos of industrial manufacturing used to relieve stress online; this time it was about making a mirror.

He saw Lu Ban in the mirror, who seemed to really enjoy watching these things, staring intently at the screen.

The two wisps of steam on the sofa seemed completely unconcerned, as if they were already asleep.

Lu Ban went to the computer, opened the document, and began to record his thoughts and feelings from today.

Three days later, on the last day of April, the May Day holiday was about to begin. On the afternoon of the 30th, everyone was already distracted from work and only thinking about how to spend the holiday.

But for the cinema staff, this holiday was anything but relaxing.

Many films will be released during the May Day Golden Week holiday, marking the start of the summer movie season, including "The Mouth of a Madman".

The pre-sale box office for "The Mouth of a Madman" has reached nearly 50 million yuan, which is an excellent result for a horror thriller. It should be noted that many similar films only gross about the same amount. Horror films, which are naturally associated with B-movies, are mostly synonymous with low budgets and low box office returns.

With such large productions and investments, who would bother making horror movies? Wouldn't it be better to make superhero or disaster movies instead?

Horror movies are not cost-effective.

May 1st, midnight.

The premiere of "The Mouth of a Madman".

Countless viewers flocked to cinemas at night, just to see what the first work under Lu Ban's horror movie worldview was.

Bai Qiquan, a student at Yannan Media University, and his girlfriend Pang Zhen are among them.

Bai Qiquan has been studying horror movies recently. After being exposed to "The Crying," he became interested in horror films. He hadn't watched many before, but he's been catching up like crazy lately, even watching B-movies. He's become very familiar with the tropes of horror movies.

It's nothing more than suddenly popping up something to scare you, using disgusting things to make people feel disgusted, plus ketchup, severed limbs, chainsaws, and scenes like hospitals, mental hospitals, and schools.

He is preparing his graduation thesis this year, and Bai Qiquan is still considering whether to choose a topic of research on horror movies.

As Bai Qiquan entered the cinema, he saw that many people were still smiling.

This is quite normal, because the huge success of "The Crying" brought horror movies into the public eye, and more and more people started watching them. This is also why the pre-sale box office is so high.

In other words, many viewers were just there to join in the excitement of the midnight premiere, and didn't have any prior knowledge of Lu Ban's horror films.

Bai Qiquan felt a bit schadenfreude, but upon closer reflection, he realized he was now sitting in the audience, and he wondered who would look worse in the end.

He stopped talking.

As the movie began, he calmed down and watched it attentively.

More than a hundred minutes later.

As the credits and end credits rolled, the huge movie theater fell silent.

Bai Qiquan stared at the screen, his mind completely blank.

This is not quite the same as being frightened or feeling scared.

If watching "The Cry" and Lu Ban's other works brought him direct fear, the terror of fear turning into a venomous snake and coiling around him, then this film felt like a bunch of things were forcibly stuffed into his head.

Some people have this experience when they are young: they used to only live in their own home and move between kindergarten and primary school, and they felt that the world was very small, only that big. But one time, they suddenly saw something grand, such as the ocean, the boundless starry sky, or those huge and bustling cities. The feeling at that moment is what Bai Qiquan realized.

It was a fear that was beyond one's control, understanding, and cognition. Bai Qiquan cried the moment the credits rolled and the movie theater lights came on.

He felt that his life seemed meaningless, that everything was hypocritical, just like the protagonists in the movie, just like that famous person. No matter how hard he tried, he could not stop the world from heading towards destruction.

This movie is like a switch; once you press it, you feel completely empty.

"Lu Ban, this person is terrifying!"

During his time of reflection, Bai Qiquan was filled with emotion.

Chapter 253 Breaking the Fourth Wall

May 1st is supposed to be a day for taking a break and relaxing.

But everyone in the film industry felt the situation was very serious.

Lu Ban's film is more than just a box office hit.

The clues conveyed behind this film are surprising.

On the popular role-playing website Dongleme, under the question "How do you evaluate 'The Mouth of a Madman'?", several more trending replies have been added.

[Filmmaker Aping]: I retract my previous comment. "The Mouth of the Madman" is groundbreaking for the horror film genre, and even for Chinese films in general. Its content is not limited to the work itself, but extends beyond it. This technique of combining reality and illusion and blurring the boundaries is very novel. It can be said that the viewing experience of the entire film reached its peak in the final revelation. To be honest, I am now a little curious whether we are actually living in a book, just characters in it, being manipulated by others?

[My name is Teacher Zhao]: I think that only a minority of people can rationally evaluate this movie right now. Most people are still in a state of confusion, as if their brains have been stirred up. If you think about it carefully, Lu Ban, who is shocking us and changing our understanding with one movie after another, is very similar to that famous figure in the movie. After watching this movie, I seriously considered the possibility that I am a fictional character. Of course, if this is a real story, then perhaps Lu Ban is the absolute protagonist of this story, and I am just a faceless extra praising him.

[Deep Blue Melancholy: My face hurts a little. I originally thought that at the normal production speed, Lu Ban's movie wouldn't be available for at least two years. I didn't expect it to be released in just six months. Did this guy secretly stockpile a dozen movies and release them one after another? This leaves no room for other directors. Someone can make good movies and do them fast. How can others compete with him? It's unreasonable!]

However, many people are still deeply moved by the impact of the film.

Before Lu Ban's films, the discussion of the fourth wall was very superficial. In most of the films, the actors ignored the audience and were completely immersed in the worldview of the film, so the audience did not feel that the relevant film themes were "acted".

However, in "The Mouth of a Madman," the interaction between the family and the main characters, as well as the main plot of the film, clearly breaks the fourth wall of horror stories, connecting reality and illusion. Viewers can either think of the film as the story of "The Mouth of a Madman," with the family existing outside the story, or they can think of the family as part of the story, a film about how things are accomplished.

This easily leads to a question: are the audience watching the movie also characters in an event called "The Mouth of a Madman"? Is the world we live in real?

When Bai Qiquan returned from the premiere, he was completely dumbfounded.

He got up very early today. He barely slept last night, dreaming of spiders crawling all over people's bodies, men in suits with their heads twisted, and vicious dogs with heads that were tentacles exploding.

When Bai Qiquan woke up in the morning, he rubbed his eyes.

He suddenly saw a man in a suit standing in his dormitory room.

Upon hearing Bai Qiquan's movement, the other person turned their head.

Holy crap!

Bai Qiquan sat up as if he had been electrocuted, his head almost hitting the wall. A shiver ran through his body, and he even felt his hands and feet twitching.

"What are you doing? You look like you've seen a ghost."

The man in the suit asked a question.

Bai Qiquan then realized that this was his roommate.

"Why...why do you wear a suit all the time?"

He asked, his voice trembling slightly.

"Oh, I had an internship interview today, so I wore a suit."

My roommate laughed.

"Oh……"

Bai Qiquan was finally relieved.

Then I fell into that inexplicable sadness again.

"Do you think it's possible that we're just characters in a book, and the whole world is fictional?"

He suddenly asked his roommate.

"what?"

The other person didn't understand and asked a question in return.

"Never mind, you wouldn't understand."

Bai Qiquan shook his head.

He now felt like the first scientist to grasp the heliocentric theory, while everyone else remained ignorant, and only he had glimpsed the truth.

He lay in bed, picked up his phone, and searched for information about the end of the universe, the end of time, and the destruction of Earth.

Do you know?

Bai Qiquan then asked his roommate.

"Know what?"

My roommate is confused again.

"The sun will expand into a red giant in five billion years, at which time the earth will be completely swallowed up, and human civilization will be destroyed!"

Bai Qiquan said earnestly.

"Oh, five billion years? That's still a long way off."

My roommate suddenly wondered if Bai Qiquan had fallen seriously ill.

"Are you really okay? Should we go see the school doctor?"

"It's okay, I'm fine..."

Bai Qiquan waved his hand, lay down again, and searched for some thought experiments such as the brain in a vat and the Ship of Theseus. He became melancholy again.

This situation continued throughout the night.

Bai Qiquan played a few games with his roommates during their regular gaming session. After losing five games in a row, he completely forgot about things like the end of the universe, the end of time, and the brain in a vat.

"Damn it, I'm not going to sleep until I win a game today!"

Bai Qi clicked repeatedly with the mouse to start the next round.

Then he stayed up all night again.

……

On May 1st, "The Mouth of a Madman" grossed 170 million yuan, setting a new domestic record for the highest-grossing opening day for a horror film.

Furthermore, as the holiday continues and word-of-mouth spreads, its box office continues to climb.

The next day, "The Mouth of a Madman" grossed 200 million yuan, and on the third day, the figure reached 250 million yuan. This is a rare achievement for a film that has seen its box office continue to rise despite sufficient pre-release publicity.

It's worth mentioning that before this, the highest-grossing domestic film was a military-themed movie, which grossed over 5 billion yuan, while the lead actor's total box office exceeded 8 billion yuan.

According to current data calculations, Lu Ban's "The Mouth of a Madman" is likely to gross over 3 billion yuan, reaching 4 billion yuan. Combined with "The Crying," he could almost become one of the top five directors and actors in terms of total box office revenue in China.