TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A new major motion picture based on the popular Taiwanese horror video game “Detention”(返校) is set for release this fall. Its studio uploaded a trailer of the film as well as some promotional posters on Wednesday (June 19).
The film is scheduled to hit theaters in Taiwan on Sept. 20. The story is set in 1962 during the “White Terror” period of martial law under the KMT government and follows a high school girl who awakens in an empty school, only to find that her entire community has been abandoned except for one other student.
As the story progresses, the students realize they have entered a realm filled with vengeful spirits and hungry ghosts. The lead character, Fang Ray Shin (方芮欣), must unravel a mystery surrounding the disappearance of a former teacher if she hopes to survive.
The film introduces elements of Taiwanese folk religion in the ghostly landscape that the main character has to explore. The traumatic, high-tension environment of the film reflects the fear and horror Taiwanese people experienced during parts of the martial law period.
The director of the film, John Hsu (徐漢強), issued a statement with the trailer release.
“As a gamer, the original Detention game left me shocked and made a deep impact. Even then, I hoped the story could be adapted to film to reach even more people. My goal was to keep the film true to the spirit of the game, but to further develop a unique vision and emotion. I wanted to create a truly unique psychological thriller.”
The original Detention survival horror video game was released in January 2017 and became the third bestselling game on the Steam video game platform within a week of its release. Detention was produced by the Taiwanese game company Red Candle Games.
Red Candles Games was recently the target of a massive public outcry in China over the controversy surrounding its follow-up survival horror title, “Devotion,” when it was discovered that one of the game’s developers had hidden messages in the game defaming and ridiculing China’s supreme leader Xi Jinping.
Despite anger directed at the game from ultra-nationalist Chinese gamers, Devotion was a resounding success, climbing to the top on Steam before it was removed by the company.
According to a report from Abacus, fans of Red Candle Games see the release of the new Detention film as good news for the company. Some fans are also crossing their fingers in hopes that a Devotion film may also be in the works.
Check out the trailer for the Detention film, produced by 1 Production Film Co. and Filmagic Pictures, and starring Gingle Wang (王淨) as the main character.
