by FilmInk Staff
SCARE CAMPAIGN, the Australian horror film written and directed by LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL filmmakers Colin and Cameron Cairnes, has been reimagined in Korea.
Believed to be the first-ever Asian remake of an Australian horror movie, KILLING TIME is directed by Jang Jun-Yeop and stars Ryu Hye-young (Reply 1988, Law School) and Nam Yoon-su (Love in the Big City) in his first leading role in a feature.
The film is produced by Moon Noh and Myung-chan Kang for SLL Joongang, one of Korea’s biggest studios.
The Cairnes Brothers’ original film, produced by Julie Ryan (100 Bloody Acres, Hotel Mumbai), follows the crew of a horror-prank TV show who are forced to up the ante after losing viewers to increasingly brutal online content.
KILLING TIME takes that premise and gives it a distinctly 2020s spin, shifting the action into the world of livestreaming, where the relentless pursuit of views, likes and ever more sensational content can have deadly consequences. Much like the original, which was shot almost entirely at an abandoned asylum in country Victoria, KILLING TIME was filmed on the grounds of an abandoned hospital outside Seoul.
KILLING TIME is currently playing in South Korean cinemas, where it is being distributed by THE TITLE.
REDICE Entertainment is handling international sales.
“Being massive fans of Asian genre cinema, it was a particular thrill to learn there was interest in a Korean remake of Scare Campaign, a film that seemed to go under the radar when it was first released,” say the Cairnes brothers. “We’d always felt that the movie’s timely take on media excess and amorality, combined with its fun and sometimes vicious twists, meant it had the potential to connect with horror fans. We wish the Korean team all the best with the release of Killing Time.”
On KILLING TIME’s approach to the material, producer Mon Noh says, “We wanted to preserve the original film’s unique appeal—its relentless twists and timely themes—while shifting the focus from its full-throttle descent into splatter territory to a survival-and-revenge narrative that places greater emphasis on its underlying message.”
The Cairnes Brothers are repped by CAA and Entertainment 360
