The low-budget horror filmmakers The Vang Brothers (Abel and Burlee) are set to film their next “supernatural thriller,” ‘The Uncanny’ and they have cast Ken Kirby and Michelle Krusiec in the leads. The film will also feature Ellen Wroe (‘Shameless’).
The story follows social worker Claire Yang, who has been haunted for years by visions that she is only just beginning to understand as a connection to the spirit world. When she is assigned a new domestic abuse case, she discovers that the problem is being caused by a supernatural entity and must use her clairvoyance to help save the family.
In a joint statement, The Vang Brothers said:
“The spiritual medium, often a female, is a horror archetype that has appeared in almost every film where a family is faced with a supernatural haunting and she usually enters the story in the third act to save that hopeless family. It is never about her story – she is simply reduced to a plot device. In our film, we’re re-inventing this character as if we’re telling an origin story. We explore her backstory, and all the barriers she must struggle through in order for her to find her place in the world.”
‘The Uncanny’ is The Vang Brothers’ follow-up to their 2016 horror film ‘Bedeviled’, which featured a multiethnic cast, but the brothers were surprised to run into resistance with casting a film with two Asian leads. This led to them struggling for almost three years to get ‘The Uncanny’ made. The Vang Brothers got their way and filled the production with multiple cast and crew members of Asian descent, as well as other people of color, women, and members of the LGBTQ community.
“Too often, Asian actors are cast in only supporting roles, thus they are hardly ever given the role of the main hero or heroine. The film is never about their story or their struggle. Why is it that a film must explore Asian culture and themes in order to even consider an Asian actor in the lead role? The Uncanny, like films such as Searching or Always Be My Maybe, never explores anything specifically Asian. It simply is just a film whose main protagonists happen to be Asian. This is really how we can end racial and ethnic stereotypes on the screen.”
Kirby stars on Freeform’s ‘Good Trouble’, and previously appeared in two episodes of FOX’s ‘Gifted’. Krusiec won two awards for her role in the 2012 film ‘Sunset Stories’. More recently, she starred as Lin Johnson on ‘Shooter’, and Michelle Shioma on ‘Hawaii Five-O’, and appeared on ‘Supergirl’.
‘The Uncanny’ will film in Los Angeles and Orange County and will be produced by Carr Lee and Stephen Stanley.
Source: Deadline
