Touted as Singapore's first Hollywood horror movie, The Faith of Anna Waters is directed by Kelvin Tong, whose previous works include The Maid (2005) and Rule #1 (2008).

The local film-maker had secured Hollywood funding to make this movie, which makes Tong the first Singapore film-maker to have his own Hollywood-financed movie.

However, he did not disclose how much of his modest US$5 million film came from Hollywood and he had downplayed the Hollywood connection in 2014 when news of the project first came out.

The movie is partly supported by the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) under its Production Assistance Grant, where the film-maker will get back 40 percent of every production dollar spent in Singapore.

But the budget is still his biggest for a movie to date. His last movie, It's A Great Great World, in 2011, was made at a cost of about $2 million.

Check out the trailer here:

What movie is about

The Faith Of Anna Waters is a horror movie, with hints of The Conjuring, and it revolves around a Chicago-based reporter Jamie Waters (Rice), who arrives in Singapore to investigate the sudden death of her sister Anna.

It stars two Hollywood actors, Elizabeth Rice (Mad Men) and Matthew Settle (Band of Brothers).

From the trailer, local actor Adrian Pang looks like he is playing the role of the priest.

Shots of The Singapore Flyer and Singapore colonial-era houses are featured.

Singapore-based Australian-Chinese actress-host Jaymee Ong is also in it, while IMDB has also listed Pamelyn Chee as one of the local actresses who has a part in the movie.

The main cast also comprises Australian actors Colin Borgonon and Adina Herz.

Although the trailer claims the movie is based on true events, it is not related to the real story involving a missing five-year-old girl named Anna Christian Waters, who is believed to have been a kidnap victim when she disappeared from Purisima Canyon, a rural area near Half Moon Bay, California, on January 16, 1973.

Research for the screenplay included interviews with members of the clergy in Singapore, while the scenes of possession and exorcism are based on actual occurrences.

The movie opens on May 12, 2016.

Editor's note: This article was amended on April 5, 2016, to include information that the movie is not related to the real story involving a missing five-year-old girl named Anna Christian Waters.

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