Asia Premiere

Soriya only has a faded photograph of her childhood home and relatives back in Cambodia. Her mother fled with her when she was young and she grew up in Tokyo where she is now an aspiring manga artist. After her mother passes away, she decides to travel to Phnom Penh with her photographer boyfriend Daichi and stay in an old housing complex where her aunt and grandmother remain. Initial warm welcomes soon take a menacing edge as Soriya experiences nightmarish visions and gruesome events linked to something lurking in the building that is afflicting the residents. Soon, the couple find themselves surrounded by threats from the past and present.
In a striking debut, Inrasothythep Neth and Sokyou Chea’s unnerving horror film earns comparisons to horror classics through its dilapidated building, dreamlike lighting, and weird housemates, but it becomes its own beast thanks to its central character facing her background and the nation’s tragic history with the Khmer Rouge, elements of which lend a uniqueness to scary images. [Jason MAHER]