A Wicked Tale
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 A Wicked Tale poster, 2005 |
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| Directed by | Tzang Merwyn Tong |
| Written by | Tzang Merwyn Tong |
| Starring | Evelyn Maria Ng Johan Ydstrand Wolf Danker Catherine Sng |
| Running time | 45 minute |
| Country |  Singapore |
| IMDb profile | |
A WICKED TALE is a 45 minute experimental film by INRI studio. It is written and directed by Singapore filmmaker Tzang Merwyn Tong. The film premiered to critical acclaim at the 34th Rotterdam International Film Festival and was a surprise hit at the 2005 Montreal FanTasia Film Festival.
This low budget film is a dark re-imagination of the Little Red Riding Hood fable. Critics have compared it to the work of cult director Takashi Miike and Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin. It has received equal amounts of praise and criticisms for its strange storyline, surreal imagery and psycho-eccentric visual treatment. A WICKED TALE was released in its uncut version on DVD in December 2005 in Singapore along with INRI studio's debut film, e'TZAINTES.
It won the Gold Remi Award at the 2005 WorldFest in Houston, USA.
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[edit] Storyline
Beth, a curious little girl with a fascination for the forbidden meets a mysterious stranger in the woods. She suddenly becomes aware of her own sexuality. Like all teenagers, she wants to know how far she can go before she makes her escape. Gingerly, she flirts along, allowing herself to be manipulated by her seducer, thinking that she can shy away from his bestial intentions unscath...
[edit] Genre
Independent/ Experimental Psychological Thriller/ Suspense/ Horror/ Fantasy/
[edit] Cast
- Evelyn Maria Ng as BETH
- Johan Ydstrand as LOUIS LE BON
- Wolf Danker as UNCLE CHARLIE
- Catherine Sng as GRANDMAMA
[edit] Festival Screenings
A Wicked Tale was a surprise hit in the film festival circuit. It made its World Premiere to a full house crowd at the prestigious 34th International Film Festival Rotterdam and was the closing film at the highly-celebrated 2005 Montreal FanTasia Film Festival. Like the full house screenings in Rotterdam and Montreal, tickets were sold out when A WICKED TALE made its Asian Premiere at the 18th Singapore International Film Festival. This is quite an interesting feat considering the fact that Tzang Merwyn Tong is very much an 'unknown', having only made e'TZAINTES before this.
"A WICKED TALE is the film that caused the most impact in our festival. I've heard lots of "What on earth have we just seen?!" comments after the screening." says festival programmer Tomer Shalev from the ICON 2005 festival in Israel. It also won the Gold Remi Award at 2005 WorldFest in Houston, USA.
Also giving it kudos is Jonathan Doyle of FanTasia who describes it as a "puzzling, low-budget oddity that will get a reaction out of even the most jaded horror fan". The film got its most interesting response however during its Scandenavian premiere at Lund in Sweden. Half the audience loved it while the other half absolutely hated it, confirming Festival Director Mats-Ola Nilsson's prediction that A WICKED TALE could be "the year's most controversial film of the festival".
- 34th Rotterdam International Film Festival, The Netherlands
- 18th Singapore International Film Festival, Singapore
- 2005 Melbourne Underground Film Festival, Australia
- 2005 Montreal FanTasia Film Festival, Canada (Closing Night Film)
- 2005 Houston WorldFest, USA
- No. 11 Lund Fantastisk Filmfestival, Sweden
- 2005 AsiaFest, Germany
- 2005 Leeds Anime-Horror Film Festival, UK
- 2005 ICON, Israel
- 2005 Melbourne Independent Filmmakers Festival, Florida, USA.
[edit] Awards
Gold Remi Award WorldFest in Houston, Texas, USA.
[edit] Trivia
- Tzang Merwyn Tong is the youngest Singapore filmmaker to have his film released on DVD.
- Phillip Cheah, the director of Singapore International Film Festival has called A Wicked Tale 'the most fucked-up Singapore film ever made.'
- A WICKED TALE was screened on the Closing Night of the FanTasia Film Festival. It is also the first Singapore film in the history of FanTasia.
- A Wicked Tale is slowly gaining an underground following in Berlin and Montreal. Unauthorized bootleg versions of it are being screened at pubs, clubs and late-night theatres.
- Tzang Merwyn Tong was 23 years old when he made the film.
- The Region 3 DVD is currently available for sale at www.MachiavelDVD.com
- A Wicked Tale made its World Premiere to a full house crowd at the Rotterdam International Film Festivals. Tickets to the Asian Premiere at the Singapore International Film Festival and the Canadian Premiere at the Montreal FanTasia Film Festival were also completely sold out.
