# The Game of Killing
**The Game of Killing** (天黑请闭眼, *Tian hei qing bi yan*) is a 2004 mainland Chinese Mandarin-language horror film directed and written by Kiefer Liu, credited in Chinese contexts as Agan (阿甘), and starring Wang Zhiwen (王志文), Wu Qianlian (吴倩莲), and Roy Cheung (张耀扬).[1](https://search.library.berkeley.edu/discovery/fulldisplay/alma991047970939706532/01UCS_BER:UCB) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0833547/fullcredits/) It was produced and distributed by Stellar Megamedia and is remembered as the film that topped the domestic Chinese box office in 2004 and reignited public debate over a film rating system in China.[3](https://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc51.2009/zengPRChorror/) • [4](http://english.china.org.cn/english/features/film/93170.htm)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Native title | 天黑请闭眼, cataloged as "Tian hei qing bi yan = The game of killing" (2004)[1](https://search.library.berkeley.edu/discovery/fulldisplay/alma991047970939706532/01UCS_BER:UCB) |
| Director and writer | Kiefer Liu, credited as Agan (阿甘), in both roles[2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0833547/fullcredits/) |
| Principal cast | Wang Zhiwen (as Ma Kui), Wu Qianlian, and Roy Cheung (Zhang Yaoyang)[1](https://search.library.berkeley.edu/discovery/fulldisplay/alma991047970939706532/01UCS_BER:UCB) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0833547/fullcredits/) |
| Producer and distributor | Stellar Megamedia[3](https://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc51.2009/zengPRChorror/) |
| Release | 1 April 2004 in Hong Kong listings; 2004 DVD by Beijing Bei ying lu yin lu xiang gong si[5](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1135404) • [1](https://search.library.berkeley.edu/discovery/fulldisplay/alma991047970939706532/01UCS_BER:UCB) |
| Runtime | 90 minutes on the DVD catalog record; 1h 28m in the TMDB listing[1](https://search.library.berkeley.edu/discovery/fulldisplay/alma991047970939706532/01UCS_BER:UCB) • [5](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1135404) |
| Commercial standing | Topped the domestic Chinese box office in 2004[4](http://english.china.org.cn/english/features/film/93170.htm) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and genre classification
Two documented plot accounts exist, and they describe different layers of the story. TMDB's synopsis centers on a party game: seven friends play a killing game in a bar, and the fictional kills start coming true each night, so that "the fake came true, and the game became a reality."[5](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1135404) The scholarly account by Li Zeng, a researcher of PRC horror cinema writing in *Jump Cut*, describes criminals who steal a miniature gold coffin, a national treasure, from an ancient tomb; on their way out the tomb collapses, and the thieves die mysteriously afterward, with an ambiguous ending implying the deaths may be the survivor Jingwen's delusion.[3](https://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc51.2009/zengPRChorror/) The game premise and the tomb-robbery curse may be successive or nested elements of the same narrative.
The film's classification as psychological horror rests on the ending rather than on body count. The scholarly account emphasizes that the deaths may be the survivor's delusion, leaving the supernatural cause unresolved, and describes the era's PRC horror films, this one included, as sharing an "aesthetic of restraint" shaped by state censorship and commercial priorities rather than the explicit gore of slasher cinema.[3](https://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc51.2009/zengPRChorror/)
## Identity and native title
The film is identified through converging records. The UC Berkeley Library catalog lists it as "Tian hei qing bi yan = The game of killing," dated 2004, with Agan (阿甘) as director and Wang Zhiwen, Wu Qianlian, and Zhang Yaoyang as performers.[1](https://search.library.berkeley.edu/discovery/fulldisplay/alma991047970939706532/01UCS_BER:UCB) IMDb credits Kiefer Liu (as Agan) as both director and writer, with Zhiwen Wang in the role of Ma Kui and Chien-Lien Wu among the cast.[2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0833547/fullcredits/) TMDB carries the original title 天黑请闭眼 and a 1 April 2004 release date in its Hong Kong listings, classifying the film as mystery and horror.[5](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1135404) Scholarly treatment of mainland Chinese (PRC) horror cinema places it in the same series of films by the same director, confirming the identification across library, database, and academic sources.[3](https://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc51.2009/zengPRChorror/)
## Production and credits
**The director.** Kiefer Liu, known in Chinese-language contexts as Agan, directed and wrote the film.[2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0833547/fullcredits/) *The Game of Killing* was his fourth horror feature: the sequence runs *The Mirror* (Gu jing guai tan, 2000), *Cameraman* (Shan ling xiong meng, 2001), *Ghosts* (Xiong zhai you ling, 2002), and *The Game of Killing* (2004).[3](https://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc51.2009/zengPRChorror/) This run mattered for the industry: after more than forty years of absence from PRC cinema, the horror genre returned to mainland production through these films, and following them more filmmakers ventured into what the scholarship calls a sensitive field.[3](https://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc51.2009/zengPRChorror/)
**The cast and production.** Wang Zhiwen plays Ma Kui, with Wu Qianlian and Roy Cheung in principal roles.[1](https://search.library.berkeley.edu/discovery/fulldisplay/alma991047970939706532/01UCS_BER:UCB) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0833547/fullcredits/) Stellar Megamedia produced and distributed the film.[3](https://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc51.2009/zengPRChorror/)
## Release, censorship, and distribution
The film passed the state Film Bureau's examination "smoothly," according to Agan, with only two abridged scenes: footage in which two leading actors' head and body fell apart, cut as improper for younger viewers.[4](http://english.china.org.cn/english/features/film/93170.htm) The excised special effects had cost the producer RMB 170,000 (about USD 20,500) and 50 days to complete.[4](http://english.china.org.cn/english/features/film/93170.htm)
The film's success brought the long-debated issue of film rating for Chinese movies back to the attention of the public and the film industry.[4](http://english.china.org.cn/english/features/film/93170.htm) On home video, the film was released on DVD in 2004 by Beijing Bei ying lu yin lu xiang gong si (北京北影录音录像公司), a single disc of 90 minutes in Mandarin.[1](https://search.library.berkeley.edu/discovery/fulldisplay/alma991047970939706532/01UCS_BER:UCB)
## Reception and by the numbers
The film topped the domestic Chinese box office in 2004, a standing reported while it was still in release.[4](http://english.china.org.cn/english/features/film/93170.htm) The commercial context comes from Agan's earlier horror films: *The Mirror* (2000) earned RMB 11 million (USD 1.3 million) at the domestic box office, and his 2002 film *Fierce Spirit* (Shanling Xiongmeng) earned 13 million yuan, figures that show the genre he built was already profitable before *The Game of Killing* became the year's domestic leader.[4](http://english.china.org.cn/english/features/film/93170.htm)
The runtime is reported differently by two cataloging sources: 90 minutes on the DVD record and 1h 28m (88 minutes) in the TMDB listing.[1](https://search.library.berkeley.edu/discovery/fulldisplay/alma991047970939706532/01UCS_BER:UCB) • [5](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1135404)
## How it compares with its contemporaries
*The Game of Killing* belongs to the early-2000s revival of horror in mainland Chinese cinema, a genre that had been absent from PRC screens for over forty years before Agan's four films reopened it.[3](https://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc51.2009/zengPRChorror/) Its visual vocabulary borrowed from the [Japanese horror](https://www.edgepedia.org/japanese-horror) wave of the period: the female ghost Li Jia imitates Sadako in *Ringu*, appearing as a woman in white with long straight hair covering her face, an image shared with other PRC horror films of the era such as *Seven Night*, *The Matrimony*, *Ghost Inside*, and *Email*.[3](https://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc51.2009/zengPRChorror/)
What distinguishes the film within that cohort is its commercial result and its policy aftermath. Sibling films of the revival shared the same aesthetic of restraint, a restrained approach in which supernatural suggestion takes precedence over explicit gore, shaped by censorship and commercial priorities, but *The Game of Killing* was the one that reached the top of the domestic box office in 2004 and turned that formula into a public argument about how Chinese films should be classified for audiences.[3](https://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc51.2009/zengPRChorror/) • [4](http://english.china.org.cn/english/features/film/93170.htm)
## References
1. [Tian hei qing bi yan = The game of killing, UC Berkeley Library catalog](https://search.library.berkeley.edu/discovery/fulldisplay/alma991047970939706532/01UCS_BER:UCB)
2. [The Game of Killing (2004), Full cast & crew, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0833547/fullcredits/)
3. [Li Zeng, PRC horror films, Jump Cut 51 (2009)](https://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc51.2009/zengPRChorror/)
4. [Terror Flicks and Film Rating, China.org.cn](http://english.china.org.cn/english/features/film/93170.htm)
5. [The Game of Killing (2004), The Movie Database (TMDB)](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1135404)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Horror films (individual works) › Psychological horror films › Psychological horror films, 1990s and 2000s*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license