Lights, Camera, Busan
It’s giving major main character energy for Abnormal Studios at this year’s Asian Contents & Film Market in Busan. The Malaysia-based powerhouse is showing off a stacked lineup, and we are lowkey obsessed with the variety.
Leading the charge is a fresh, Phnom Penh-set take on the 2010 Korean hit Wedding Dress. It follows a single mom who’s a bridal gown designer—her career is highkey demanding, which has created some distance between her and her 10-year-old daughter. After a terminal diagnosis, she decides to spend her remaining time prepping her daughter for a happy life. Expect to be crying in the club for this one.
More Spooks and Feels
Abnormal Studios is also bringing The Hungry One from Venezuelan horror pro Alejandro Hidalgo. It follows Emily, an American woman visiting her husband’s ancestral home in Malaysia during the Hungry Ghost Festival. If you know, you know—the boundary between the living and the dead gets thin, and things get eerie fast.
Looking for something darker? Check out Ali & Ben’s Spicy Meats. It’s an independent cannibal black comedy-horror about two friends who find success with a spicy beef jerky recipe... that happens to be made of human flesh. No cap, that is wild.
The studio is also repping a massive list of titles, from the sci-fi fantasy Mimpi Kita: Castle in the Air to the Canto-rock tribute Because of You Ka Kui. Plus, they’re bringing in favorites from Indonesia like The Doll and Rumah Kentang.
Why it matters
Abnormal Studios has been making waves since 2020, now moving about 100 films a year across the Asia-Pacific region. By bringing diverse, hyper-local stories like Cambodian folk horrors and Malaysian dramas to the global stage in Busan, they’re showing that the plot is getting way more interesting in the regional film scene.
