Here’s a trailer for a creepy supernatural horror short film titled Koreatown Ghost Story. The tale is based on a Korean ritual and follows a woman who entertains a macabre offer that would let her pursue her dreams, for better or for much much worse.
The film was written and directed by Minsun Park and Teddy Tenenbaum and it stars Margaret Cho and Lyrica Okano.
This trailer is shared in collaboration with the FilmQuest Film Festival, where we are looking to expose some of the awesome indie genre films and shorts that filmmakers are creating. We also included an interview with the directors below.
Without spoilers, tell us what your film is about, its characters, and its themes. Is it a proof of concept, or a standalone story?
In this supernatural horror tale based on a Korean ritual starring Margaret Cho and Lyrica Okano, a woman entertains a macabre marriage offer that would let her pursue her dreams, for better or for much much worse. Koreatown Ghost Story is a short film that we sold to Paramount Pictures in a deal to make the feature film version.
What was the inspiration for your film? How did you come up with the idea?
Minsun Park is a Korean-American filmmaker who drew upon a personal story as inspiration for this film. When a young person of marriageable age dies in Korea (and many other Asian countries), it’s seen as a great tragedy that the deceased wasn’t able to marry before death, and will be alone in the afterlife.
In some cases, the families of dead single people may call upon a religious person to marry the ghosts to each other so they have companionship in the next world. But what would happen if a living woman were asked to the bride of a ghost?
Koreatown Ghost Story puts that idea into a horror setting while exploring the themes of immigration and the generation of Americans stuck between the traditions of the country of their elders and the pressure to conform to mainstream American (white) culture.
Tell us about yourself. What is your background? How long have you been a filmmaker?
Minsun Park & Teddy Tenenbaum are a writing/directing team with combined experience in features and television, including pilot sales, staff writing, feature spec sales, and feature and television assignments. They have written separately and together, and currently write both as a team and as solo writers.
They specialize in genre writing, including horror, thriller, and action, typically with a humorous edge. They most recently wrote and directed an episode of Hulu’s Bite Size Halloween. With Minsun’s background as an Asian-American woman born in Korea and Teddy’s experience as a white dude from Ohio, they cover a lot of bases
What inspires you to work within genre cinema and tell these kind of stories?
We find that horror films are the best Trojan horse for exploring modern social and political themes while still entertaining the audience. We feel horror acts as a way for audiences to safely explore the very real horrors of modern society.
What was your favorite part of the filmmaking process for this project?
Working with the brilliant Margaret Cho was a career dream of ours, and being able to watch Lyrica Okano create a rich three-dimensional character from words on a page was a thrilling experience. In filmmaking, there’s nothing as rewarding as having an incredible cast and crew use their art to take a story and make it real.
What are you most proud of with this film?
The imagination and talent of our cast and crew make us immensely proud to be associated with them.
What is a favorite story or moment from the making of the film you’d like to share?
We shot Koreatown Ghost Story in a historic house that was once part of a convent. In fact, the house next door, the famous American Horror Story Murder House, was part of the same complex owned by the nuns.
During one shot, many of the crew saw someone on film who was not supposed to be in the shot. But in reviewing the footage, we weren’t able to find the person. Most of the crew is convinced we had a ghostly visitation.
What was your most challenging moment or experience you had while making your film?
Cramming 15 pages and two set pieces into a 3 day shoot is a great adventure we don’t particularly want to experience again.
Who were some of your collaborators and actors on the film? How did you start working with each other?
We had Margaret Cho in mind when we wrote the character of Mrs. Moon. We contacted her agent and manager, sent her the script, asked her to join us as producers, and were incredibly lucky that she wanted to be part of Koreatown Ghost Story. From there, everyone we wanted to work with, from the amazing actress Lyrica Okano to the brilliant cinematographer Jon Keng was eager to sign on.
What is the best advice you’ve ever received as a filmmaker and what would you like to say to new filmmakers?
If you are a writer, try your hand at directing. Writing is designing a house, and directing is building it. If you can design a house, you can hire the best people to help you build it.
What are your plans for your career and what do you hope this film does for it? What kind of stories would you like to tell moving forward?
We love the horror genre, although we also write thrillers and science fiction. We are currently creating an animated sci-fi/action show for a video game and film production company, and continuing to write new horror feature films. But from here on in, we hope to direct them, not just write them.
Where can we find more of your work and where can interested parties contact you? Do you have a website or YouTube/Vimeo channel? Social media handles?
Our episode of Bite Size Halloween is titled Ride or Die and is the finale of Season Three on Hulu. Koreatown Ghost Story has not been available to the public due to our contract with Paramount, but we believe we have worked that out and hope to be streaming Koreatown Ghost Story on a public website VERY soon. You can also follow us at: IG: EctoplasmEnt IG: NotSoSunnyPark IG: TeddyTbaum TikTok: TeddyTbaum
Bonus Question #1: What is your all-time favorite film?
Rosemary’s Baby is our all-time favorite horror film. Hands down.
Enjoy the trailer!
