Vietnamese psychological horror film "Arithmadtic" is leading Bee Entertainment's sales slate at Busan's Asian Contents & Film Market — a sign of how confidently Vietnam's film industry is now pitching its genre cinema to international buyers.
The film, whose Vietnamese title is "Cong Tru Nhan Chia," is set inside an elite international school styled after the Dark Academia aesthetic. According to Variety's report, the story follows a transfer student whose enigmatic bond with a teacher unfolds against a string of unexplained, supernatural incidents that crack the school's polished facade.
A school steeped in dread
"Arithmadtic" is psychological horror rather than jump-scare fare. The premise turns academic pressure into dread: gifted students, an immaculate campus, and a hidden curriculum of terror lurking beneath the surface. The Dark Academia styling — shadowed libraries, ivy-covered halls, uniforms and secrets — gives the film a visual identity designed to travel well with international horror audiences.
Cast and director
The film stars Anh Thu, known for the 2007 Vietnam–South Korea co-production "Muoi: The Legend of a Portrait," alongside Lam Thanh My of "Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass." Phuong Tra My — who played the lead in "The Third Wife," which premiered at Toronto and won the NETPAC Award — joins the cast with Chu Anh Tuan, Cong Ninh, Hoang Minh Hung and Dac Thang.
It is directed by Irving Ly, whose short "Close the Eye to See" played BFI Flare and the Korea Queer Film Festival and won a Silver Kite at Vietnam's 2025 Golden Kite Awards. "Arithmadtic" is scheduled to open in January 2027.
Vietnam's box-office momentum
Bee Entertainment is riding a genuine wave. Vietnamese films grossed more than $114 million at home in 2025, outperforming international titles in the local market for the first time. The company is using the Busan market to find partners for investment, co-development and distribution, as well as rights licensing deals — aiming to take that domestic momentum abroad.
Bee's wider 2027 slate
"Arithmadtic" fronts a genre-heavy program of four features, all set for release in 2027, plus three long-form television dramas at various stages of production. Also on the slate: "The Step-Mother," directed by Tran Nhan Kien — who trained at the Asian Film School and took part in the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival's B.I.G NAFF Fantastic Film School — following a fatherless boy whose relationship with his stepmother moves from conflict to the blurry line between strictness and care. It is dated for the second quarter of 2027.
If the Busan market responds, "Arithmadtic" could be the film that carries Vietnam's horror boom from local box-office story to international breakout.
Watch: video coverage of the Busan film market and updates on Vietnam's upcoming horror releases.
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Life of Riley (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0
Sources: Variety (via The Buzz Reporters), OWS Pakistan, The Digginator.