Personally, I’m not the biggest fan of war movies. They always seem overly gratuitous, retreading ground that I’ve seen a million times before, if not heard about from my dad or another old family member. It’s hard to find a balance with them, nearly a hundred years into the history of cinema — unless you add monsters in, of course.
That’s the premise behind the upcoming sci-fi action horror Orang Ikan, which has just released its first trailer. A World War II drama takes a hard left when it introduces a Creature from the Black Lagoon-like monster, prowling a beach where two opposing soldiers have found themselves stranded. The full plot synopsis is as follows:
May, 1942. WWII rages across a world divided. A Japanese Hell Ship transports prisoners of war to occupied territories for slave labor. Onboard the ship is Saito, a traitor to the Japanese who is being sent back to the motherland to be sentenced to death. As further punishment, Saito is shackled to another POW, a British soldier named Bronson who holds nothing but hatred for Saito because of his Japanese nationality.
When the Hell Ship is torpedoed by Allied submarines, Saito and Bronson are thrown overboard and wash ashore on a deserted island. But they are not alone. Bronson and Saito are hunted by a monstrous creature – the Orang Ikan – who will stop at nothing until both men are dead. Bronson and Saito must put aside their hatred for one another to survive the island and kill the creature before it kills them first.
Dean Fujioka and Callum Woodhouse star as the soldiers, with Mike Wiluan directing from a script he wrote himself. About the film, he told Variety, “Orang Ikan is an origin story with a horror survival theme set in the context of a realistic tragedy during the Second World War in Asia. Using both studio settings and the wonderful wild landscapes of Indonesia- I am excited to capture both the tension, horror and beauty of this concept in various exotic locations. We have assembled a wonderful cast, talented artists and the best crew to undertake this incredible adventure.”
Orang Ikan will have its world premiere at the Tokyo International Film Festival. Check out the new trailer below:
