Southeast Asian film investment fund Triple Green CineCapital (TGC) has announced its first investment in a Vietnamese project, partnering with Charlie Nguyen’s Chanh Phuong Films on The Scourge. 

The horror drama is based on a Vietnamese video game of the same name, which has more than 100,000 downloads and a 94% positive rating on Steam. The film adaptation will keep the game’s main setting – a haunted apartment building inspired by a real abandoned building in Ho Chi Minh City – but will add to the game by mixing in local urban legends, ghost stories and old Vietnamese customs. 

Vietnam’s Skyline Media is handling sales and started to introduce to buyers at the Cannes market last week. 

Chanh Phuong Films, founded by Vietnamese-American filmmaker Nguyen, has produced some of Vietnam’s biggest hits including Clash, Jailbait and Fool For Love. 

TGC was launched last year to invest in the rising tide of Southeast Asian genre films that are filling the demand among young audiences for local-language films. In a statement, the fund said that horror films are proving to be particularly successful as strong, scary viusals can easily transcend language barriers. 

“Recent Asian horror hits based on local stories, like South Korea’s Exhuma and Thailand’s Death Whisperer horror franchise, clearly show that this genre is the key to bringing local films to the world,” the fund said. “This is particularly true for the Vietnamese market, where the booming cinema market is currently driven by a massive appetite for local urban legends and folklore, such as Blood Demon or The Soul Reaper, can reach various international markets.”

Leonard Lai, CEO of Triple Green Cinecapital, said: “The film markets in Vietnam and Southeast Asia have incredible room to grow with unique local stories that have not been fully explored yet, in which expanding the content ecosystem is one of the most important strategies. TGC decides to choose The Scourge as our first investment in Vietnam to reinforce the power of original content IP and local filmmakers in Southeast Asia. This partnership with Chánh Phương Films shows TGC’s trust in the commercial value of the Vietnamese entertainment industry, combined with a clear business plan to bring Vietnamese films to global audiences.”

Nguyen added: “The companion of a regional investment partner with a global mindset like TGC gives us a strong launchpad, proving that Vietnamese stories and talents are strong enough to compete internationally and set a new standard for adapted horror films in Vietnam.”