Hong Kong SAR, China (Tuesday, March 26, 2013). New Horizon Picture Corp, ACE Studios, Hippopotamus Films are proud to announce that during the Hong Kong Filmart Mike Hostench, Deputy Director of the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival, viewed the Roger Corman produced film, THE HAUNTED, and has invited the film to be a part of this year's Sitges line-up.

THE HAUNTED is the first Roger Corman film to be made in China. Winner of the 2009 Honorary Oscars for Lifetime Achievement, Corman is the King of B Films in Hollywood and a mentor to Hollywood film directors including Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard, and many others. He has also helped launch the careers of actors including Jack Nicholson, Sandra Bullock and Robert De Niro, etc.

THE HAUNTED is a feature horror with a western and oriental crossover story starring Katie Savoy (LA actress star in ABC pilot SUPER CITY and TNT series FRANKLIN & BASH) as Rebecca with her crew making a documentary in China about the Chinese Ghost Festival, and discovering a story about a head concubine, Ping Wei, played by JuJu Chan (American-Hong Kong action actress, star in FIST OF THE DRAGON, TVB People's Choice Award for Miss Chinatown USA 2009) violently murdered another concubine Chan Ju Chi played by Yixin Li (Chinese actress star in China TV Series CODE THIRTEEN).

Directed by Australian-Hong Kong director Antony Szeto (Director of Wushu, produced by Jackie Chan), and filmed at ACE Studios in Nanhai, China, this US-China coproduction THE HAUNTED was given a very tight budget for a film that includes over 400 CGI shots and various imperial sets. “With such a tight budget to work with it was a challenge to bring the bar up on a film like this, “ says Director Antony Szeto. “Having this sort of recognition gives validation to all the hard work that went into making this movie at ACE Studios.”

THE HAUNTED will be screened at Sitges Film Festival in October 2013. For more information, please contact us.

Photos attached to this press release:

High-resolution photos can be downloaded here:

1. From Left: Drae Williamson, Kerem Bursin, Katie Savoy, James Taku Leung

2. From Left: Yixin Li, Juju Chan 

3. Catherine Siggins

5. Juju Chan (as Ping Wei) 

6. Yixin Li (as Chan Ju Chi) 

Synopsis

Following in the footsteps of her late fiancée, who drowned under mysterious circumstances, Rebecca (played by Katie Savoy) and her film crew are in China making a documentary about the Chinese Ghost Festival. There, she learns of a story about a concubine Chan Ju Chi (played by Yixin Li) who is violently murdered and thrown into a well by the head concubine Ping Wei (Played by JuJu Chan) within the secret grounds of a palace. Legend has it that the Chan Ju Chi has risen to become a “jiangshi”, killing innocent people in the hope of taking over their bodies. Things take a turn when a worker is attacked in a decrepit well within an old palace. Rebecca tries to piece together the mystery behind the legend as one by one the people she knows are gruesomely murdered.

Producer: Roger Corman

Executive Producer: Henry Luk (陸志剛)

Director: Antony Szeto (司徒永華)

Writer: Frances Doel

Genre: Horror

Duration: 86 minutes

Cast:  

Katie Savoy as Rebecca

Catherine Siggins as Ashley

Kerem Bursin as Adam

James Taku Leung as Wong

Juju Chan (陳鈺芸) as Ping Wei

Yixin Li (李依馨) as Chan Ju Chi

Wenjie Wang （王文杰） as Ping Wei's brother

A full crew list is available on http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2510700/

Subject to availability, our actors, director and producer are happy to give quotes andinterviews in person (if the interviewer is nearby) or via telephone, e-mail, chatroom or other medium. Please let us know who you would like to interview, the overall subject of your interview or questions if you have them ready, a few available times and dates (including your time zone), your preferred medium and your contact details and we will do our best to arrange it for you.

Director's Bio

Antony Szeto began his film career as a stuntman in Australia where he specialized in fight choreography. He later studied film at university, receiving a double major in Film and Finance.

His directorial debut was Hong Kong's first CGI animated feature film called "DragonBlade", starring the voices of Daniel Wu, Stephen Fung, Karen Mok and Sandra Ng. The film won him an Award from the Australian Directors' Guild, and was Nominated for a Golden Horse Award in 2005. He then developed a family action film called "Wushu" which was released in 2008. It starred Sammo Hung and was produced by Jackie Chan.

Szeto's most recent project is directing his second Roger Corman film called “Fist of the Dragon”.

Directing Filmography:

The Haunted (血屍)

Wushu (武術之少年行)

DragonBlade (龍刀傳奇)

Producer's Bio

Roger William Corman with hundreds of movies to his credit, he is one of the most prolific producers the film medium has ever produced, and one of the most successful. Corman has been dubbed "The King of the Cult Film" and "The Pope of Pop Cinema," and his filmography is packed with hundreds of remarkably entertaining films, dozens of genuine cult classics. Corman has displayed an unrivaled eye for talent over the years--it could almost be said that it would be easier to name the top directors, actors, writers, creators in Hollywood who got their start with Corman than those who didn’t. Among those he mentored are Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Jack Nicholson, James Cameron, Robert De Niro, Peter Bogdanovich, Joe Dante and Sandra Bullock. His influence on modern American cinema is almost incalculable. In 2009, he was honored with an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Production Company Bio

ACE Studios is China's first and most versatile independently owned and operated full service film studio, combining the resources of China's vast talent pool with cutting-edge Hollywood techniques to offer filmmakers worldwide the unique opportunity to make their films at extremely competitive rates. It started making films in 2008 and has to date been involved with over eleven completed feature films mainly for the US market. Its uniqueness stems from it having a full time crew in its studio lot as well as complete top-of-the-line digital camera equipment, lighting, set designer and builders, etc. On top of this it also has a large post production staff including some 40 people in visual effects, as well as in-house editors, scoring, sound mixing and colourist. The company can deliver a complete digital feature film without any outside involvement. Because of this it is able to bond below-the-line risk for investors.