The makers of ‘Blair-witchesque’
Haunted Changi are back with a more scripted, and cinematically varied horror
movie this time called ‘After Images’. A collection of horror films appear in the ashes
after a group of friends burn paper effigy cameras as offerings to the dead, 5
to be exact, each playing on different folklore or superstitions. Here is the
synopses of the 5 filmlets:
The first film, GHOST POOL LEG,
revolves around the Chinese superstition "guei la jiao" - in which
ghosts are believed to pull swimmers’ legs to drown them.
The second film, XIAO BAO BAO,
focuses on a young woman's haunting experience after taking a postmortem
photograph of a suicide jumper.
The third film, SKIN DEEP, finds
a group of shoppers stuck in a mall elevator with a mysterious and beautiful
woman (picture below) who holds a terrible secret.
The fourth film, REKINDLING,
features a heartbroken hawker, a missing China bride, a mysterious ring, and a
suddenly popular dish called "lady's fingers" that combine for a
gruesome tale.
The fifth film, BURNT
OFFERINGS, is the most horrifying and dangerous but we will not post
spoilers here.
***
From
his first film ‘A Month of Hungry Ghosts’ to ‘’Afterimages’, its been a journey
through ‘hell’ and other spooky realms for director Tony Kern (pictured above looking up). He must have
covered the whole spectrum of Singapore’s tales from the twilight zone. We
caught up with Tony for his story on making ‘Afterimages’.
What lessons that you have learnt from creating "Haunted
Changi" that you have applied in the making of "Afterimages"?
I had actually
written most of AFTERIMAGES before I shot HAUNTED CHANGI and the approach to
each is so different that almost nothing from the experience of HC could be
carried over to AFTERIMAGES. I've really learned a great deal from
AFTERIMAGES that would be applied to any future films I would be responsible
for producing however.
I guess the
biggest lessen I've really learned at this point, it that it is not financially
sustainable for me to make another movie like AFTERIMAGES unless there is a miracle
in the near future.
In the course of shooting
"Afterimages", did any bizarre incidents occur on set? Possibly
anything that can be incorporated into the film itself?
Nothing that I
am aware of happened on set. I know it is popular to promote that
something strange happened on set during the filming of a horror movie -- but
I've got nothing. The scares are all inside of the movie itself.
However, there
is one shot taken while the cast stands in front of a burning camera and the
shot cranes up and dollies forward. During the shot some beautiful fire
reflections appear on the lens -- they look like phantasmic images of spirits…
but they are only lens reflections.
The second
story "Xiao Bao Bao", was based on an occurrence that happened to me
personally here in Singapore. A woman fell to her death right outside my
apartment. I was the first one to see her. Most of what happens in
the "Xiao Bao Bao" story was exactly what happened to me (with the
exception of all the ghost appearances of course.) I was literally
haunted by the incident and became obsessed with uncovering all information
about the woman who fell. I did in fact find something that belonged to
the woman later, just like in the story. I watched everything unfold
below in the parking lot after her death that afternoon. I visited the
29th floor where she had jumped and peered over and felt that pull we usually
feel when looking over the edge. Depressed, I imagined bodies falling
from buildings -- just like the character does. I was greatly effected by
it all for a long time. I wrote the story in the days following the
jumper's death. However, I moved away a year later. After 3 years
away, I actually moved BACK to the same original apartment and filmed the story.
I tried to recreate everything as it happened -- same exact location of
the body, the references, the chain of events all recreated as they had
unfolded. When we filmed it, we prayed and I felt the presence of the
woman in my mind. The story is for her. I hope she finds peace and
can move on.
What is the most noteable idea that you have
rejected when brainstorming for ideas for the five films?
I rejected any
idea that did not strike me as uniquely Singaporean or that didn't make me
think it was inevitably tied to Singapore. I had 30 stories to choose
from, but I had to find 5 that fit together nicely. I hope to tell the
others someday, but of course that depends on how Afterimages is received.
But I think there are some really spooky and interesting stories currently
waiting to be given life.
Could you tell us more about the Free App on
your website and its role in the marketing of "Afterimages"?
The graphic
novel app is a motion comic of the first story in Afterimages -- "Ghost
Pool Leg," and it revolves around the
Chinese superstition (gui la jiao) in which ghosts are believed to pull
swimmers legs in order to drown them. A cocky expat voyeur faces off with
a security guard over his late night swimming excursions in search of the
"midnight swimmer."
The
incredible artwork was done by JC Wong, with animation by Yizhi Ang and
programming done by YiFei Boon. American author Andre Duza adapted from
my original screenplay.
In
addition to the graphic novel portion there is a 360 degree virtual world
"Find the Ghost".
I
thought the graphic novel app was really cool, but I don't think many people
know about it or have tried it unfortunately. It's available for iPad and
Androids. There is a "Lite" version with only the 360
"Find the Ghost" for mobile phones.
It's
all free. I hope people try out the graphic novel on the tablet. I
thought it was well done. A lot of work went into it. Ya, it ties
to the movie, and it was supposed to help us promote the film, but knowing that
no one has really seen it… I guess, that's strike one.
Which horror films do you draw your inspiration
from?
For AFTERIMAGES
it was mainly THE TWILIGHT ZONE and TALES FROM THE CRYPT TV shows as well as
Japanese ghost anthology KWAIDAN (1960s). Also, original Thai horror
movie SHUTTER, many horror anthologies, and of course the usual citations:
THE SHINING, THE THING, RINGU, JU-ON.
Perhaps even
more than movies, the heart of the inspiration revolves around hundreds of
short horror anthology books I've read in the past, along with the original
KWAIDAN by Lafadio Hearn, TALES OF MOONLIGHT AND RAIN by Ueda Akinari,
even STRANGE TALES OF LIAOZHAI by Pu Songlin and finally, TALES FROM
THE MIDNIGHT HOUR by J.B. Stamper which I read as a kid. But ya, I'm
still a kid.
All these
influences helped me shape the Singapore stories I wanted to tell with
AFTERIMAGES.
What is your favourite Singapore horror urban
legend and does it serve as a source of inspiration in the making of
"Afterimages"?
With
AFTERIMAGES, I tried to create my own urban legends based on cyclical events
that happen in Singapore. For example, things that are more likely to
happen in Singapore rather than the US -- like people falling/jumping off high
rise buildings, body parts in the canal, certain blackmagic practices, and of
course, burning offerings for the spirits.
IF there is
ever a continuation of the stories, they will start to address widely held
urban legends here like various Malay hantu and of course the infamous
Pontianak. I guess, for a favorite I'd have to go with the popular
pontianak and it's banana tree origin. I've alway like that. And I
have at least a half-dozen pontianak movie ideas lurking in the background.
If you are to shoot a realistic scene of a character burning an
actual camera, how would you go about to do so?
If would
definitely have to be a time-lapse sequence if it was going to be a real motion
picture camera! Lots of gasoline. If it were in America, we'd
probably just blow it up.
If you received a challenge to rewrite one of the
stories as a Comedy, which would you pick? Please also provide a short response
to the challenge.
I think the
fourth story "Rekindling" already has some comical elements -- so I'd
choose that one. The "reunion" of the characters certainly has
plenty of opportunity for comedy if it were done with a different spin,
especially if they tried to sit down and work on their relationship together
with a marriage counsellor. Hmm… we might have just come up with a
horromedy angle for a sequel.
Though Asia has a whole has gained a fearsome
reputation for producing blood-curling horror films, each Asian culture has its
distinctive approach to the horror genre. What do you think distinguished
Singapore horror films from other Asian horror films?
Well, for me, with
Singapore it's West-meets-East as Singapore has become an international hub and
their are a great deal of foreigners here. It's the introduction of the
cultural practices to the foreigners and the local flavor of the supernatural
and how the local character deal with the situations.
Which horror subgenres are you likely to attempt next?
If forced to
choose, I'd probably have to settle with the "found footage" or POV
genre -- for better or worse. I would love to make an extravagant
big-budget ghost story epic like A CHINESE GHOST STORY or a big monster movie
like THE HOST or GODZILLA or perhaps even Sci-Fi horror, but I'm pretty sure
the financial reality of my situation would force another low-budget entry… if
I get the chance to make another movie.
Cathay-Keris Films is the Singapore theatrical distributor
of AFTERIMAGES. The film opened on 11 September 2014 islandwide in all major movie theatres..
The
AFTERIMAGES app is free and available for download on iPad and Android tablets:
HYPERLINK "http://aihorror.com/app"