Three years after tabla! featured its struggle to raise funds for post-production, Singapore’s first disability-led psychological horror feature, The Damned Ones, is heading to an international film festival in Italy.
The 102-minute English-language film has been officially selected for the online section of the 13th Torino Underground Cinefest, which runs from Sept 29 to Oct 4.
Written, directed and produced by Singaporean filmmaker Reena Deen, The Damned Ones is billed as Singapore’s and Asia’s first disability-led psychological horror feature. Made on an ultra-micro budget, the production involved Southeast Asian filmmakers and performers with disabilities both in front of and behind the camera.
Set in Singapore, the story begins with the disappearance of visually impaired university student Siti Limento. Suspicion falls on her hard-of-hearing classmate Laura, who tells police a strange story involving “Dempsey’s Village of the Damned”.
The film draws inspiration from Singapore urban legends and combines mystery with psychological and supernatural horror.
Its lead actresses bring their own lived experiences to their characters. Jade Ow, who is hard of hearing, plays Laura, while Amanda Yip, who has a visual impairment, portrays Siti.
Ms Deen, who has CPTSD and dyslexia, made a deliberate decision to have Ms Ow voice her own character, including speaking with her natural deaf accent.
“Disabilities are often watered down for the comfort of non-disabled people, and I did not want that in The Damned Ones,” Ms Deen said. “Though the film’s story doesn’t centre around disability, the lived-in experiences of the disabled characters have been realistically portrayed.”
Both lead actresses also contributed suggestions to ensure that the disability representation was authentic.
For Ms Deen, choosing horror was itself significant. She said people with disabilities in the genre have traditionally been portrayed as either “pitiable victims” or “repulsive villains”, often by able-bodied actors.
“We chose to make a film where characters with disabilities are in a story and in roles typically reserved for non-disabled people,” she said.
That approach, however, meant the project did not fit conventional disability filmmaking grant criteria. The disability community subsequently rallied behind Ms Reena’s fundraising campaign. She also invested her savings, while Pokka provided S$5,000 in sponsorship.
Evan Ginzburg, associate producer of the Oscar-nominated The Wrestler, praised the finished film.
“There’s a sense of foreboding that works extremely well that many films on a far bigger budget can’t match,” he said, also highlighting its musical score.
Torino Underground Cinefest in Turin showcases independent, experimental and unconventional cinema from around the world.
For The Damned Ones, the selection marks another significant step from a Singapore passion project struggling to complete post-production in 2023 to an international festival platform three years later.
The film will be available during the festival through a private, password-protected Vimeo screening restricted to viewers in Italy.
