Vietnamese Horror ‘The Scourge,’ Inspired by Hit Video Game, Leads Skyline Media’s Cannes Film Market Slate (EXCLUSIVE)

Skyline Media, a Vietnam-based international sales agent, is heading to the Cannes Film Market with a five-title slate led by “The Scourge,” one of the first feature film adaptations of a Vietnamese video game IP.

The source game has topped China’s Steam Early Access chart, accumulated over 60,000 downloads, earned a 94% positive rating on the platform and drawn millions of views on YouTube. The horror feature draws on a Vietnamese urban legend about a cursed Saigon apartment block from the 1990s, following an estranged young man who returns home to discover his mother is possessed. He must work alongside his sister to unravel a malevolent force tied to forbidden rituals, buried family secrets and the spirit world. The project is produced by Charlie Nguyen and Jimmy Pham Nghiem of Chanh Phuong Films, whose credits include “The Rebel” and “Clash.”

Related Stories

'We Were Liars' Season 2 Casts Young Versions of the Sinclairs as Show Travels Back to Summer of 1999

Eva Longoria and 'House of the Spirits' Showrunners on the Magic and the Realism That Brought Isabel Allende's Beloved Novel to Amazon

A second horror title, “The 10th House,” comes from ProductionQ, the Vietnamese period horror studio behind “Vietnamese Horror Story,” “The Soul Reaper” and “The Sisters.” The film is helmed by Tran Huu Tan and Hoang Quan, who share directing and producing duties, and centers on a young man who begins documenting strange events in his home after his father’s mysterious death. He exposes a forbidden ritual rooted in Vietnamese folk magic that links the building to a chain of violent supernatural occurrences.

A market screening is scheduled for “Chrysalis,” a U.S.-Vietnam co-production. Based on the memoir of Sir Daniel K. Winn — described as the first Vietnamese-born artist to receive a knighthood — the film is set in 1970s Saigon and follows a Vietnamese-American artist who confronts childhood trauma through memory and his relationship with his grandmother. The cast includes veteran actress Kieu Chinh, known for “The Joy Luck Club,” alongside Nguyen Vu Uy Nhan, Samuel An, Le Anh Huy, Tien Pham of “The Sympathizer” and Winn himself.

Also in the lineup is “Blue Season,” a six-episode U.K. crime thriller directed by Zen Nguyen. Its creative team includes cinematographer Mari Yamamura, BAFTA-winning composer Adam Lewis and Christopher C.F. Chow, with a cast featuring Catherine Nguyen Dauphin, Earl Wan, Ray Calleja and Kate Cook.

The slate’s animated entry is “Scotty,” a feature assembled by a crew of more than 300 artists working across six years. The English-language film follows a cat living on the streets and the improbable partner it finds on a journey home. Its voice cast includes Penelope Rawlins, William Hope, Stuart Milligan, Dario Coates and Jessica Preddy.

“As the first Vietnamese feature film inspired by an original local game IP, ‘The Scourge’ is a major step forward not only for Vietnamese cinematic storytelling, but for the country’s broader content ecosystem,” said Hang Trinh, CEO of Skyline Media. “At the same time, our wider slate at Cannes this year reflects Skyline Media’s expansion into cross-border collaborations and multi-format storytelling, spanning feature films, series, animation and internationally driven productions that showcase how locally rooted stories and international creative partnerships can evolve together onto the global stage.”

Skyline Media acts as distributor for more than 800 foreign films and as sales agent for more than 150 Vietnamese and Southeast Asian titles, with reach across more than 50 countries and territories through more than 130 partnerships.