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Recently, Nintendo released a new horror game. Yes, Nintendo made a horror game.

In the trailer, a man wearing a paper bag on his head and a windbreaker stands in the middle of the video. Accompanied by lo-fi music and video noise, the smiling face on the paper bag is clearly visible, which surprised many players: Damn, why is it a "smiling man (笑み男)".

Many players are looking forward to the new game announced by Nintendo. Many players hope that Nintendo can shine in this new work. Of course, there are also players who make fun of the memes and post pictures at this time - especially the famous character "Luigi" who is suffering in the haunted house. Many players hope that he can appear in the work "The Laughing Man".

Some people have even made new "promotional pictures" for Nintendo's offline stores.

Although there is no further in-depth news about this game, there are only some so-called leaks. For example, some people speculate that this is a work jointly launched by Nintendo and Bloober Team, the latter of which has had glorious achievements such as "Layers of Fear", "Blair Witch" and "The Medium"; many players also speculate that it may be the classic old work "Famicom Detective Club" - this work also features the "Smiling Man", which is very consistent with the style of the previous trailer.

By the way, "Persona 2" also had a smiling man image, and it was even a "paper bag type"

Anyway, the news surrounding Nintendo's new game is full of mystery, just like the temperament of the game. But there is still a lot to say about this smiley face, after all, it is also a classic element in horror works.

The Smiling Man, or the Smiling Man, Smiling Man, or Smiling Man. Fans of horror and thriller works are definitely familiar with this - as one of the most well-known urban legend characters, the Smiling Man Ghost Story has always been popular.

In this kind of urban legend, the protagonist will always meet a neatly dressed person with psychedelic and strange movements in a foggy alley, on the side of the road at midnight, or in a park in the evening. He will walk towards you slowly at first, and then suddenly start running at a very fast speed, or even chase you. When you look back while running for your life, you can only see a "smile" on his face that is so exaggerated that it does not belong to the human range.

Don't take a walk late at night, you never know what you might encounter (the original picture is very scary, if you are interested, search for Smile Man by yourself)

For literary and artistic creators, the weird sense of disharmony created by the combination of "smile" and "horror" is their perfect weapon to scare the audience. So over the years, we have seen one character after another with a weird and scary smile as their signature feature.

We have selected some well-known such roles here for your "appreciation":

The Joker in DC Comics and related derivative works

"Smiley Man" in "Ghost in the Shell SAC: Smiley Man"

The "Guy Fawkes mask" worn by the protagonist V in "V for Vendetta"

Black and White Bear in the Danganronpa series

Fukuzo Soguro who fulfills wishes and sees through desires in "The Smiling Salesman"

The reason why characters like the Laughing Man can successfully scare people is inseparable from psychological effects including the uncanny valley effect and filming techniques including Kubrick's gaze.

There is no need to introduce the uncanny valley effect in detail, I believe everyone is already familiar with it. Simply put: at a certain node interval, the more similar humanoid robots are to humans, the more they will arouse resistance and boredom in humans. This may be due to the infinite magnification of their dissimilarities with humans, or it may be due to the rejection caused by racial competition in human genes.

Thomas the Tank Engine also triggers people's uncanny valley effect to some extent, especially in some specific scenarios

The Kubrick gaze is a well-known shooting technique in the industry: as the name suggests, it comes from the famous director Kubrick, whose films such as The Shining and A Clockwork Orange all have a strong personal style. The classic shot is that the actor's head tilts down, but his eyes always look straight at the camera - that is the "Kubrick gaze". You can find shots using the "Kubrick gaze" in characters including Pennywise in IT, Hannibal in The Silence of the Lambs, and even Sinuo played by Zhang Zifeng in Detective Chinatown 1.

In addition to the above, many of the characters of the Laughing Man are also accompanied by carefully arranged Lo-Fi music or creepy sound effects. The hideous smiles and twisted behaviors that are difficult for humans to show complement each other on these characters, which is enough to make many viewers and readers shudder and make their hair stand on end.

"The Shining", "The Silence of the Lambs", "IT", "Detective Chinatown 1" | I won't say any more, I'm going to change my pants first

Speaking of Nintendo's new work, although I am a person who is extremely resistant to playing horror games, this does not stop me from looking forward to this game - after all, this is a horror game made by Nintendo, and to be honest, I am very curious about what Nintendo, which is good at surprising people, can do with the horror theme this time.

So what do you think Nintendo can do with this game?

Link can also be a smiling man