UPDATED - I met with the kind folks at Universe this afternoon and not only did they show me a rough cut "buyers-only" trailer for FAIRY TALE KILLER, but they also passed me a one-sheet including a full synopsis and a few more images. The quality of the images wasn't top-notch sadly, but I scanned the images anyway - so I will create a gallery below.
The synopsis reads as follows (Beware - potential spoilers ahead!):
One day, a medium built stammerer, Jun (Wang Bao Qiang) confesses to five murders at a police station, but fails to illustrate the details, and after a long oral examination the police believe Jun to be mentally unstable as his mentioned murders prove not to exist.
Soon after, a cold-blooded murderer unveils a series of mysterious murders in the district where Detective Han (Lau Ching Wan) is stationed. Each victim was executed in different but equally brutal ways. Han knows that he is dealing with a serial killer. Instinct tells him Jun in the suspect after reviewing his recent statements. His team searches Jun's apartment, but apart from a pile of old fairy tale books, no evidence is found there.
One night, Han gets inspired when he overhears his wife reading a bedtime story to their daughter mentioning the way to inflict punishment upon villains in the story. Han immediately examines the books found in Jun's apartment and discovers mysterious symbols scribbled on the pages. The punishments described in two of the fairy tales match two of the murders and the evidence shows that three more murders will occur.
The promo clearly shows Wang's character tormenting at least one female victim, and there seems to be a fair amount of gore and blood-letting in the film, with what appeared to be nails sticking out of a character's foot at one point. The film also appears to show how the stress of this horrific case affects Lau and his family. The visual style of the film is reminiscent of the Pangs previous work, but this does appear to be a straight-up, CGI-free psychological thriller. The real trailer, due to premiere at the Hong Kong Filmart later this month will apparently focus more on the crimes themselves and the fairy tale elements of the story. The Red Shoes and Cinderella were both name-checked during our conversation. Suffice to say this project has my attention and the minute there is more to share I'll do so. - James
*****
One of Hong Kong's greatest dramatic actors starring in a hard edged thriller directed by one of its top visual directors? Yes, please.
Lau Ching Wan - likely best known to Hong Kong neophytes as the star of Mad Detective, he needs no introduction to those who have been around a while - stars in Fairy Tale Killer for director Danny Pang, instantly handing Pang the best actor by a country mile that he has ever worked with in his solo career. Lau Ching Wan could act his way out of a soggy paper bag and make it compelling so, yes, I'm rather curious to see what he can do with Pang.Fairy Tales turn ugly, twisted and bloody. A fearless cop is appointed to investigate a series of puzzling murders which resemble Fairy Tales. Would there be a happy ending of the abnormality in real world?
Still in post production there is no trailer for the film yet but we've just been passed the first official still, above.