Ghost Lamp is suspected of plagiarism despite criticizing Tran Thanh, the director came out to clarify

According to data from Box Office Vietnam, by the morning of February 11, the film "Holy Light" had earned nearly 60 billion VND after a few days of release. Previously, with more than 40,000 pre-booked tickets, the film set a record as one of the films with the highest number of pre-booked tickets in 2025.

However, there are controversies online regarding the exorcism scene in Ghost Lamp, which is said to be a copy of the movie Exhuma: Grave Digger. Another detail, the scene where the soul leaves the body to travel to another world, is said to be similar to Insidious.

Director Hoang Nam shared with the media that of the two films above, he had seen Exhuma but had not seen Insidious. "With Exhuma, I found that Korean cinema introduced their culture very reasonably and smoothly. When watching, Exhuma inspired me to make films that honor Vietnamese culture," Hoang Nam said.

However, according to the director, the plagiarism suspicions above come from people who have not really watched and understood Ghost Lights, so they make such comments. Those who have watched it will not see any similarities.

He believes that "Exhuma or Insidious themselves are not the first works to talk about exorcism or soul astral projection". For example, in Vietnam there is a very famous story called Pham Cong Cuc Hoa or many other works.

Before coming to Soul Lights, Hoang Nam was known as the owner of the YouTube channel Challenge Me - Let's challenge me with more than 1,200 videos telling mysterious stories across Vietnam.

"Having traveled all over Vietnam, being a creator and loving Vietnamese culture, I always think about how to convey that beauty in my films. That is my ideal when I came to cinema. If you plagiarize to make a film with the purpose of making money from the audience, there is no need for me to appear," he said.

According to Hoang Nam, he has watched Vietnamese horror films but with elements of Thai magic and Chinese culture demons. Ghost lights exploit very Vietnamese materials such as ghosts hidden in bamboo bushes, sleep paralysis... And to dispel those things, salt, rice, mulberry branches or children's urine are used.

Talking about the inspiration for these scenes, the director said: "Actually, those scenes were inspired by the Mother Goddess religion, the fire dancing ceremony of the Dao people, especially the story of my grandmother - who has connections with spirituality, which has been ingrained in my mind since I was a child", the director said "so when I say that the Ghost Lamp is a copycat, I find it ridiculous".

Regarding the film's achievements, the director born in 1984 said he is not too concerned about numbers. He said: "The happiest thing is that through the film, he shows the best of Vietnamese culture, bringing the audience an attractive film with a new cast, without any box office faces."

"The Ghost Lamp" is inspired by "The Tale of Kieu", the film takes place in a northern village during the feudal period. Set in a northern village in the past, the film tells the story of a woman whose husband joined the army. Disasters strike on the day she and her daughter pick up a mysterious lamp, opening a strange connection between two worlds: the underworld and the living world. The visuals also impress with the majestic filming location in Cao Bang, neat costumes and good effects.

Meanwhile, Tran Thanh's "The Four Guardians" is falling in rank and revenue is also decreasing quite sharply. Last weekend, the film earned more than 32 billion VND, bringing the total revenue to more than 297 billion VND. According to the assessment, the film will end with around 300 billion VND and will have difficulty breaking the 400 billion VND mark that "Mrs. Nu's House" has achieved.

According to Box Office Vietnam, there are no Vietnamese films released this week. Marvel's "Captain America: Brave New World" will be the notable name this week.

Who is Hoang Nam, the father of 'Soul Lamp', who is not worried about confronting Tran Thanh? Bảo Yến15:15:19 10/02/2025After a long time of cherishing, director Hoang Nam officially launched his first feature film Lamp of the Soul. He considers this a spiritual gift for the audience who have followed his 10-year journey.