''The Medium'' (also known as ''Medium Rare'') is

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

's first full-length

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

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 American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

, Stan Barret, and finally by Arthur Smith, who was

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

. ''The Medium'' was initially seen as a revival of the local film industry. Starring

Brenda Bakke Brenda Jean Bakke (born May 15, 1963) is an American actress and real estate broker. She is best known for her roles in 1990s films ''Hot Shots! Part Deux'', '' Gunmen'', ''Demon Knight'', '' Under Siege 2: Dark Territory'', and ''L.A. Confiden ...

, Margaret Chan and Dore Kraus.

Zhu Houren Zhu Houren () is a Singaporean Singaporeans, or the Singaporean people, refers to citizens or people who identify with the sovereign island city-state of Singapore. Singapore is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-lingual country. Si ...

also cameos as a coffeeshop owner whose wife ends up getting cheated by the main antagonist.

Plot

''The Medium'' is loosely based on the

Toa Payoh ritual murders The Toa Payoh ritual murders took place in Singapore in 1981. On 25 January, the body of a nine-year-old girl was found at a block of public housing flats in the town of Toa Payoh, and two weeks later, the body of a ten-year-old boy was ...

of 1981, and its perpetrator,

Adrian Lim The Toa Payoh ritual murders took place in Singapore in 1981. On 25 January, the body of a nine-year-old girl was found at a block of public housing flats in the town of Toa Payoh, and two weeks later, the body of a ten-year-old boy was fo ...

, 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 Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...

catches him and subjected him to eternal torture. This was said to be added to re-assure audience that crime does not pay.

Production

The film cost S$1.84 million to produce with Pang financing S$1.2 million on his own.

Reception

A ''

Straits Times ''The Straits Times'' is an English-language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore and currently owned by SPH Media Trust (previously Singapore Press Holdings). ''The Sunday Times'' is its Sunday edition. The newspaper was establishe ...

'' panel liked the storyline, but found the pace was slow, with a weak script with no scare factor. Local newspaper ''

The New Paper ''The New Paper'' is a Singaporean newspaper in tabloid form. It was originally published as a "noon paper", but since 2016 has been published daily as a freesheet in the morning from 7 a.m. onwards. History First launched on 26 July 1988, ...

'' found the film clichéd and unconvincing. The film did not break even and only earned S$130,000 in Singapore during its run.

References

External links

* 1992 films 1990s thriller films Singaporean multilingual films 1990s English-language films {{1990s-thriller-film-stub