The Medium | |
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Directed by | Arthur Smith |
Produced by | Errol Pang Derrol Stepenny Productions |
Written by | Margaret Chan Rani Moorthy |
Starring |
Brenda Bakke Margaret Chan Dore Kraus Zhu Houren |
Release date
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Language | English Chinese Malay |
Budget | S$1,840,000 |
The Medium (also known as Medium Rare) is Singapore's first full-length English language film. It was released in local cinemas in late 1991 and produced by Singaporean Errol Pang. It was initially supposed to be directed by a Singaporean, Tony Yeow, then by an American, Stan Barret, and finally by Arthur Smith, who was British. The Medium was initially seen as a revival of the local film industry. Starring Brenda Bakke, Margaret Chan and Dore Kraus. Zhu Houren also cameos as a coffeeshop owner whose wife ends up getting cheated by the main antagonist.
The Medium is loosely based on the Toa Payoh ritual murders of 1981, and its perpetrator, Adrian Lim, with a supernatural twist to the ending. Lim murdered two children and was sentenced to death in 1988. However, in the movie ending, the main character based on Adrian Lim escaped from the prison and ran into an incoming truck where Satan catches him and subjected him to eternal torture. This was said to be added to re-assure audience that crime does not pay.