Horror Short Film "Shop of Eternal Life" | ALTER Exclusive
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ต.ค. 2024
- Caught in the middle of China's most chaotic time, a man desperate to save his wife must sacrifice everything he has - And everything he will ever be.
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Directed and written by Yizhou Xu
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SHOP OF ETERNAL LIFE
/ watchalter
A statement from director Yizhou Xu: "Shop of Eternal Life was shot three years ago during my study in ArtCenter College design. At that time, I was already made up my mind to go back to China. This film actually reflects my personal feelings on the eve of returning back home, I realized that I have a lot of conflicted thoughts about my country.
I used to really believe in myself. I thought if I tried really hard in doing something, I would eventually succeed. I didn’t believe that there was a deity controlling people’s lives and playing with people’s fates. However, as I grew older, I started to have doubts about my beliefs. The deeper I dived into the real world, the more I felt small and useless. I feel like my fate is forever intertwined with my country’s fate. Because of that, I am extremely interested in modern Chinese history. From there, not only am I reading my country’s past but also looking into my own future.
Nowadays, most films and books like to focus on the fast transformation of China. But for me, I’m more interested in the opposite subject, the persistence of the Chinese identity. Chinese history is divided into dozens of dynastic eras. What amazes me is that everything that is happening in China right now has already happened in a previous ruling regime. They may have looked different, had different names, used different currencies and held different ideologies, but the essence of them are all the same. So when people tell me that things are improving in China, I am somewhat skeptical. If Chinese history has taught me anything, it is that history is cyclical. There's an old saying in China: "You can carve mountains and alter rivers, but a person’s nature is unmovable." I believe the same applies for my country.
For me, the most horrible thing is not ghost and monster but an inevitable fate that you can do nothing about it. This is the main inspiration of this film."
I LOOOOOVE YOU ALTER I BINGE WATCH YOUR CHANNEL ALL THE TIME I STAY ALTERED❤️❤️❤️🔥🔥🔥🔥
My feelings about my country as well. Hopeless and vulnerable
LOVE...ALTER 😈💋
Lovely!
@@lastcaress1314 Mine too if you are talking about Ireland.
I always found chinese, korean horror very intense..they dont have silly jumpsacares..but have very deep meaning.
Mmm
Although jumpscares are fun
Agreed
I just started watching Korean movies and holy shit they are a trip
Agree with you. Don't know, maybe the work on faces. The movie-makers look like more aware about how the Human face expressions trigger emotions from the viewers...
I agreed
Asian horror movies are get better than Hollywood horror movie only focus on stupid jumps scare and hire without any deeper meaning of the story.
The shopkeeper was cursed until someone replace him to release his soul. He must be very happy when the man come back after trade thousand hearts
This is so beautiful. From the sets to the story, just fascinating and beautiful. I loved the twisted conflation of the very Western image of the vampire with the ideas of the Eastern "hungry ghosts," and particularly the image of him handing over the bundles of money so clearly splattered with old, dried blood. It's both literally and figuratively blood money, but also a wonderful symbol of how truly incapable he is of caring about human social mores. He's not bothered by it, because it was yet another necessary evil to get what he wanted. That, along with the repeated symbolism of the wedding ring--the reminder of his soul that he left behind, possibly the true "heart" he left all along--and how it comes back to him in the end, is so intense. I love it.
As someone who's lived in both Mainland China and Taiwan, I really liked this one.
Story is not about him trying to save his wife.. It's about how people trade their hearts and become all successful..(drinking human blood) is referred to cheating n stealing from poor n innocent people.. So that is wat explained in the story in order to get successful u have to become heartless.!!!... Brilliant work👏👏🙌
I guess I'll never ever be successful.
For someone people but even PEOPLE WITH HEARTS ARE SUCCESSFUL you just have to learn who those people are success comes in many forms.
@@richardbidinger2577 For someone people but even PEOPLE WITH HEARTS ARE SUCCESSFUL you just have to learn who those people are success comes in many forms.
They really should make more movies, stories about these old Chinese shops, shopkeepers etc.
" Death is liberation..Living is difficult"
Word.. wise man Word!
Hands down, in my opinion, this is one of the BEST ALTER films yet in terms of plot, characters, acting and especially its moral lesson. PLUS, it still kept you guessing because even though you thought you knew what the movie was teaching you, there really wasn't just one lesson, and in addition to that, there were a few good twists to it.
Normally I hate endings that leave it up to the audience, but this ending was called for. We all have different hearts as so eloquently described (beginning at) 7:20, so that ending was the best being ambiguous.
I didn't understand its moral can anyone plz tell me
Perfect.
I have to agree with your opinion, it's one of the best.
Agreed 💯 this is the best ALTER film I wish and I hope the director will make part 2 ..I mean I want to know what Mr sung doing after he living in that eternal life shop...did he became ghost traded for all human coming to his shop or what????this is make me confused 😢😢
The part where the shopkeeper helped him position the stethoscope over his heart because he wasn’t sure where to put it, gave you a strong hint to the division of classes and how the very poor would not have been well educated. Making them easy to manipulate and take advantage of. Classism.
excellent observation...so true!
@Purge love the name
I see you in many alter comment section
i think the true reason why he couldn´t find his heart its becouse he forgot where it was
@@valeriaalfaromoya7126 it seems more accurate,that true reason of educational gap between low and high classes lied not in poverty itself, but because education should take many years and,of course,had too high prices for lower-class peasants or citizen,whose only possibility to survive was inextricably linked to neverending hard labour - it was almost impossible for most of poor folks (unless they proved to have indeed much potential for science or law study at early age),as they were simply unable to reconcile work with education - in fact,most of them were illiterate at all,until red government's literacy campaigns.
He just wanted to save his wife 😭 Really interesting story!
He probably drained his wife's blood when he got home.
sadie girl That’s what I was thinking, too. He no longer had his heart- which held his desire to save his wife in the first place. Since that desire was basically removed from him... 🙁
You can check out anytime you want. But you can never leave.
The man lied to him it's his soul he sold so he can walk around as long as his heart was pumping.
Absolutely brilliant storyline. I would like to see a full movie. The man playing the main part was really good.
That was a great metaphor! Wasn’t scary but very thought provoking. A must watch :)
so the previous shop owner was a vampire who had traded his heart a long time ago ,a heartless fellow he himself didn't want to live that life thus, death was liberating.....this is by far one of the best from alter
loved it make sense as for [be it a democratic too ] the helpless poor are always troded upon
love from India 🤩🤩👏👏👏
This was a masterpiece. I can honestly state that no short film on ALTER has emotionally and psychologically moved me before watching your contribution. How you packed so much depth of history, human frailty and folly into 20 odd minutes is beyond me but successfully achieved this. Thank you.
And this movie gave me deep feels and shivers from the early seconds/minutes...basically from time going down the stairs.
How come short films speak so much in such a little time whereas mainstream films don't even go halfway! Not saying that mainstream films aren't good... But short films resonates deep meaning that many long films fail to do!
Because a short film (or story) usually has one specific feeling or theme that it is trying to express and all of the elements that an artist puts into the story serve that theme. It's like eating a single bar of chocolate and more readily parsing the flavors that go into chocolate, giving you a deeper appreciation for chocolate as opposed to an ice cream sundae, which is great, but blends flavors rather than pushing them forward.
Moral of the story is "Don't trade your heart / don't lose your heart"...m
To save other's heart?
@@NishantjonyJaiswal he traded his heart aka soul to the shop owner aka devil.... His wife was already going to die and due to being heart(soul)less he turned into a monster and still couldn't save his wife.... And finally turned into the devil himself....
Give a heart how am I supposed to live without a heart??????hu
Exactly!
Loved the story, desperation can make you do the unthinkable, in my contry we have a saying, " sometimes the remedy is worst than the disease". For all his sacrifice to save his wife, death was inevitable, he wound up living in his personal hell, careful what deal your willing to make, beautiful story.
I literally love the videos of alter
U may say just the best shortfilm channel I have ever wacthed on youtube
*watched
My favorite shot is where they were standing in front of the human anatomy posters the left poster was a body, the right poster a skeleton, and its symbolic to the men standing in front of them one has life the other lifeless and empty . Overall I loved this ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Me too. It was really beautiful cinematography. It reminds me of an 18th century medical drawing I gifted my father for his last birthday.
The moment we give up our hearts , we give up on life. Lose the true essence of living. What then remains is just a shell of our former selves , and no way out of the darkness that we'd landed in. What's very impervious to remember is , once you shake hands with evil , you'll never ever be rid of its shadows.
Life and death are two sides of the same coin. We must accept both. Once we lose our hearts , we can never become human again. Hold on to that tightly. Times will be tough. But we're in this together. All of us. Darkness will never , ever , lead you anywhere. Always remember that. You can't find your way out of a dark room without light. Stay powerful!
@@icephoenix8023 Might be cliche but this is my opinion. I just felt like expressing it. Last time I checked , that was still a fundamental right , beautiful!
What you said, Shruti, is so true except for "once you shake hands with evil, you'll never ever be rid of its shadows" In reality, evil is merely the absence of love. Once there is that absolute awareness of who you truly are, that being pure Divine Love, evil cannot exist, not even in shadow.
@@neverthesame7887 So so so true!! Thank you very much for the piece of knowledge!
@@Thoushallnoteat Thank you! That means a lot. I forgot to mention that I loved your first sentence: "...we give up our hearts, we give up on life!"
@@icephoenix8023 cliches are cliches for a reason-because they come from truth. In light of such a beautiful movie, it is amazing to me that someone can still take the time to be mean to someone else. How'd that make you feel? Any better?
I watch mainly Asian horror, particularly Korean and Japanese horror movies. They are really intense and lend to reflections and introspection on the human nature
''shop of eternal lyf" this episode was my favorite not scary, but i was interested to know one moment at a time, in the end the man got what he deserved!!!
it is scary, though. it may not be jumpscares or gore but it is psychologically horrifying to ponder or place yourself in.
I was pretty excited when I realized it is a Chinese background horror movie.
The scenes are beautiful and authentic
Masterful, engrossing from start to finish, every frame marvellously-crafted - congratulations to everyone involved for a job extremely well done!
Perfect. Striking. Beautifully done. Thank you ALTER. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Watta storyline!!! Such an unimaginable concept. Made me think a lot. Climax showed it's never ending. But he always a vampire..
I loved watching this very different movie. 🤩🤩👏👏👏
You try to barter with Death, you fight for what you hold dear, for your beliefs and your youthful immortality, screaming It’s unfair!... but without accepting the things we cannot change-the passage of time, and the inevitable sorrows-we’ll only be stuck in limbo; restless, angry and disappointed. Life never promised you continuous happiness, you know ;)
As time passes and I've gotten older, I've found you've stated a ... great truth.
R.P. Rosen Thank you, I got the chance these two last years to meditate over my stress. Wouldn’t have considered those thoughts above though if I hadn’t gotten into listening to talks by this old wise monk, Thich Nhat Hanh. Would recommend, so much. (I think his name is spelled like that. The yt-channel for his monestary is Plum village.)
Incredible film. I was intrigued the ENTIRE time. Simple, yet very thought provoking. Does the director have other films??
"Death is liberation, living is difficult"
That was the best movie I’ve seen on this channel! Awesome , job.
Good script! Beautiful weaving of the outer world's upheavals with the men's inner turmoil.
Very deep!
Dark and mystical!
I loved it!
LOTS OF TRUTH SPOKEN LOUDLY HERE...
Great story , hits right in the feels
This was simply incredible storytelling.
Such an intense atmosphere, extremely gripping throughout.
Superb performances from the two gentlemen 👏
This was extremely good and well done...the acting was awesome. The tension between them in Part 1 was intense. What I took from this is that desperation to can make the most moral person become a monster
the top comments said："They may have looked different, had different names, used different currencies and held different ideologies, but the essence of them are all the same."
But I want to ask a rhetorical question:If China/Chniese completely changes its essence,Will it still be called China?If China/Chniese completely changes its essence,Why not treat it as America,UK,Germany and so on?
Changing their essence is why ancient India,ancient Egypt,ancient Greece and Rome have elapsed in the long river of history with their countries,cultures,languages.
By the way, I think that the director's ideas spoiled such good acting.
I don't think it's about nationality, it's about human nature
Sería bueno que agregaran subtitulos en español para la gente que no entiende o no sabe leer inglés ❣️
El va suplicando al dueño de la tienda para que lo ayude a curar a su esposa que está enferma, el dueño de la tienda le.dice que necesita 500 yuan para hacer el trabajo.
El hombre desesperado le dice que no tiene nada que dar solo su anillo a lo que el dueño de la tienda responde el anillo es falso no vale nada agarra la moneda como un regalo. El hombre sujeta el cuchillo y el hombre de la tienda le dice mátame y todo será tuyo.
El le ofrece algo a cambio quitarle su corazón, el hombre acepta y cuando le quita el corazón lo convierte en un vampiro le dice que beba sangre humana y evite el sol. También le dice vuelve en 20 años y regresame 20 veces la suma del dinero que te di hoy.
20 años más tarde regresa con el dinero, en busca de su corazón El dueño de la tienda le.pregunta cómo está su esposa, el responde muerta y lamentablemente cuando busca su corazón tampoco está el lo ha entregado a otra persona. El hombre asesina al dueño de la tienda y queda como ese rol atrapado ahí.
I agree, living is difficult. No one knows if there is truly an afterlife or not. For this reason, I wouldn't say death is easy.
I wish i was born with more thumbs to up
20 years later the money’s value is not the same again
would love a part two
Truly brilliant. Really enjoyed this movie. Can anyone tell me where can I see more of this directors stuff?
Aint that what everyone wants Eternal Life except me that shit sounds horrible 🤷🏾♂️💯
This is really good! To me it said what we would do to save somebody we love. Or hurt somebody we have known for a long time. Sands of time will tell!
Well, life is unfair...that's just the way it is
THIS DESERVS AVARD TOP 1 !!! not to screamin teenagers to quida board
Sublime!! 🌟I loved how they were able to portray the basic human nature, its values and the bitter truth of life to convey the simple yet very deep message of "everything comes with a price; think before you transact"; How the grief changes people, cloud their judgement and make them go any lengths to save something that are dear to their heart. But yes, that is human behaviour for you, very hard to change and control once the heart and brain lose the coordination.
Very well done! Kudos to the whole team and thank you Alter for bringing this Gem to us!!
Even though I could tell how it was going to end from the beginning, I think it was beautifully executed and actually kept my attention. Absolutely wonderful
"Your watch is a fake."
BRILLIANT!!! EXCELLENT in every aspect❣BRAVO👏👏👏🌹
"Tastes like MORE", a special senior client of mine once told me when asked if she liked it*~ (however, hers was in reference to her favourite cookie*🍪at the time...😂)
Now, remember, if there ever was a follow-up, his LAST meal here was NOT human blood! 😘
Stay 'safe' everyone❣Blessed be~🌜
This was amazing!
A new age shop looking for help too stop death, from happening magic can't stop it but A lot sacrifices can. One soul can't never be giving away..ever. It's not for any one too take. Everyone tell all Senators too stop playing mental games with American citizens lives and with the bill And sigh it already. Millions are suffering and struggling financially and the money is going to back into economy anyway. Ashamed all of them money.
Everyone world wide be safe and hygienic and wear a mask and gloves.
Rip for those that deceased from the virus.
Heart and Soul Is basically the same thing , it can't exist with out each other.
The seller man didn’t get old
Dude I'm stunned, who needs more than an hour horror movie if you have Alter. Tbh this is really magnificent!
I'm happy to watch this
WOW!!! SO AMAZING YOU GOT IT!!😍😘😘😘😍🤗🤗🤗 I LOVE YOU MORE ALTER!!! KEEP ON CREATING VIDEOS😘😘😍
His heart told him to save his wife and without it he has no one to tell him what to do. He literally and metaphorically is heartless. Also it seems he becomes an assassin or something. So taking lives would not affect him.
Your heart is the home of your soul and the ocean of your blood. Amazing line. Beautiful. I will try and throw that out at dinner parties...if we ever get back to having those. This movie was so unique and looped around so nicely. So may more things to say but for now. Wow. Fantastic
One of the best Alter's video!
Amazing! Well done! SERIOUSLY, I am beyond words!
This was very meaningful & messages were overwhelmingly strong 🤞🏾 appreciate what you got now cause once the decision is made you can’t change your mind 💯
I've watched a lot of the Alter short horror films, and this is easily one of the best -- if not THE best -- I've seen. Everything about it is perfect, and it felt more like a full-length movie.
Great story , hits right in the feels
Mr. Song plays in another video I really liked. He is a good actor
As the video length is 22 minutes my sweetheart ordered me-"wash clothes,clean dishes and prepare my favourite soup "...🤢🤢🤢🤢😔😔😭😭 Sometimes I hate ALTER 😡😡
what
Sougat Mohapatra Dude got embarrassed and scared and deleted all of his comments lmao.
@@sougatmohapatra8540 You don't have a girl. It's all some pathetic, cringe lie. We all know that people like you with names like yours prefer goats anyways.
@@sougatmohapatra8540 oh noooo, not the storm of your fake girlfriend lmao.
Sougat Mohapatra Bruh everybody look at this dude lmao. Holy shit 😂😂😂😂
ALTER delivers again. This is one of the best movies I seen (even better than some independent full length movies). The life wisdoms shown within are on spot.
And that's how the fake Rolex industry started. Hehehe just kidding, this was excellent.
Great short! This was like a full feature movie.
All of that and he wouldn’t have gotten it back and his wife still died.
Just a lost shell of a man great story.
Thanks for the upload Alter
🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩
Xie xie ni! This is so accomplished. A smorgasbord of delights. Love the intense context of Chang Kai Shek and revolutionary China against this hidden residual trace of the ancient enchanted ways of the Middle Kingdom. ALTER always platforms great original work. I shared the link on Instagram.
Powerful lesson
The horror is realizing how many humans walk amongst us without hearts.🤔 Those are usually the humans in power. 🤯
he became the new shopkeeper cause he did not understand on time ...his heart was valuable enough to refuse playing such a cruel role! but he did not see . he was only desperate. karma is what he allowed to be. dharma is what he deserved but did not see ...
I couldn't understand the political sattire. The shop keeper says that he traded his heart for continuous running of the shop. What does it actually means?
This one is more philosophical than a common horror story. Well done. One of the best Alter shorts.
This was a good film. Atmosphere was good. Acting was good. Ending was good. Thumbs up here.
Oh the internal turmoil of “man." Man would probably be better off if he could just survive himself. The inward struggle between good and evil, between right and wrong, the dark urges inside that threaten to consume; tsunami of responsibility, regret, lust and desire, end results snags the soul like flesh in barbwire.
Soul of man is a bottle of soda in the hands of Life, Life shakes and shakes and shakes....And who knows the horrors about to explode out.
WTF Plz don't upload these things at night plzzzzzzz
it wasn't scary at all. 🙄
I love stories that force you to think... not just about what you're watching but about yourself...
Deferent journal movieeeeee...😈
In the beginning he was leaving the shop and a gold bar fell in front of him, why didn't he pawn the gold bar for $500 and use that to save his wife? Also can someone explain the ending. He was going to take the guys heart that walked in with the watch and the cycle would begin again?
Sam Dilworth sorry that you didn’t get it.
Omg I really love the story ~
I hate to be that guy but this looks like a lower version of the webnovel trafford trading club. The other thing is whoever the guy at the end running the shop is should think about playing Mojima from Yakuza if they ever make a movie I know he is most likely Chinese but the way he looks after 20 years just screams Mojima to me.
That is true love
Zhong Xina😂😂😂
Inevitable fate that you can do nothing about is not how I choose to think about things.
There are always options,
Always a choice,
Always the fight,
Always the hope.
And as long as brilliant minds and good hearts see through this, there will always be a light to lead the way.
Pay attention to what you listen to.
This is literally like live action ju jujutsu kaisen chapter or side story abosolutly has the vibes and premise of cursed energy, cursed people, curses in general and how more existing in reality than what we understand
I love this kind of horror that signifies each element to portray humanity and life. A real horror indeed.
otherwise the movie had good actors who mae this movie look good as a fictional vampire movie ,but what the movie was saying about china is wrong
These short films are amazing not too scary and not too happy-like. Overall in my opinion best horror film channel.
THIS CULTURE IS SPECIAL MAGICAL IT'S BRINGING ALWAYS A MESSAGE INTO THIS WORLD THAT'S WHY I LOVE IT TOO RESPECT EVERY CULTURE EVERY LIFE CAUSE WE ALL COUNT AS HUMANS DARN IT
Moral: Be careful or you will become the thing you hate. Just as he seems to have become the shopkeeper. A man he hated and stated so at the beginning when he took up a knife and threatened him. He not only took the shopkeeper's possessions and position, but became him in soul, character, and thought as well. It may be he came to that realization at the end, thus the look on his face.
Also, what was that at the end. He seemed to be sitting behind a nice large shiny table. Then, when the man entered, he was sitting behind the drab little counter. Or was that some sort of camera reflection?
Great👍👍
Early!
ANOTHER OF ONE OF MY FAVORITES!!!🙂🖤💀☠👻🧛♂️🧛♀️🦇⚰🕷🕸