Taiwan to release locally-produced English sci-fi horror movie

Taipei, May 4 (CNA) Taiwanese movie production company Killing Angel Film on Sunday released a trailer for "Mr. Monster" (地下城の怪物先生), a Taiwanese sci-fi horror film made in English.

The company released the official trailer for the movie on the YouTube channel of local production company Vie Vision Pictures Co., as well as the social media platforms of the movie.

The fully English-language trailer featured Chinese subtitles, which teased that the plot surrounds a game that determines the survival of its participants, including leads played by Taiwanese American actor Andrew Chau (周厚安) and French Taiwanese actress Camille Chalons.

The trailer also spotlighted Chau's character, who goes from being a human fighting for survival to being possessed by a dark entity.

To create a contrast between the two conditions, Chau said he used different physical performances and body language.

"The most difficult thing about playing two characters was to find the delicate point at which their dialogues transition on screen," Chau added.

Chau said that through long rehearsals and repeated attempts, he was able to gradually grasp the timing of the change to complete the challenging performance.

The action sequences of the upcoming movie were also heavily featured in the trailer.

According to Chau, in a wire stunt where he had to face the movie's eponymous "Mr. Monster," a mishap with the rig threw him onto a concrete structure.

"I couldn't stop in that moment, and my leg just hit the concrete," Chau said.

The movie's other male actor and executive producer Weber Yang (楊一展) said the sets were more prone to accidents because the story dictated that the movie had to be shot in dark lighting, with actors donning heavier clothing while choreographing tighter action sequences.

"For the sake of realism, we all fought more vigorously, so mishaps were unavoidable," he added.

Yang also previously said through the production crew that he looks forward to exciting the audience with the sci-fi plot while getting them to resonate emotionally with it.

As executive producer, Yang also said he enjoyed being given the opportunity to learn how to bring depth and volume to crazy ideas while finding the balance between creativity and business.

"Mr. Monster" was directed by Taiwanese Canadian filmmaker Simon Hung (洪昇揚), who Yang worked with on the 2020 HBO Asia television show Dream Raider (獵夢特工).

The movie, based on Hung's eponymous short film entry to the 65th Cannes Film Festival in 2012, will be released nationwide on May 22.

By Hung Su-chin, Wang Hsin-yu and James Lo)Enditem/AW