‘Orang Ikan’ – First Images from World War II Fish-Man Creature Feature

Inspired by horror classic Creature from the Black Lagoon, the upcoming international creature feature Orang Ikan is set to premiere at the Tokyo International Film Festival, the website SciFi Japan reports this week. The site also shares the first images from the monster movie.

Dean Fujioka (“Fullmetal Alchemist”) and Callum Woodhouse (“All Creatures Great and Small”) lead the cast of Orang Ikan, set during World War II and centered on a fish monster.

Here’s the full official synopsis…

May, 1942. WWII rages across a world divided.

A Japanese Hell Ship transports prisoners of war to occupied territories for slave labor. Onboard the ship is Saito, a traitor to the Japanese who is being sent back to the motherland to be sentenced to death.

As further punishment, Saito is shackled to another POW, a British soldier named Bronson who holds nothing but hatred for Saito because of his Japanese nationality.

When the Hell Ship is torpedoed by Allied submarines, Saito and Bronson are thrown overboard and wash ashore on a deserted island. But they are not alone. Bronson and Saito are hunted by a monstrous creature – the Orang Ikan – who will stop at nothing until both men are dead.

Bronson and Saito must put aside their hatred for one another to survive the island and kill the creature before it kills them first.

Mike Wiluan (“Buffalo Boys,” “Grisse”) wrote the script and directed Orang Ikan.

Producer Eric Khoo tells Variety, “I grew up on a steady diet of horror movies which ranged from the supernatural to monster flicks. One of my childhood favorites was the classic 1954 monster movie, Creature from the Black Lagoon. During the pandemic I came across Hell in the Pacific, a 1968 war film about a Japanese soldier and an American serviceman marooned on an island trying to kill each other off. This was the lightbulb moment for me – what if an orang ikan had come ashore in that scenario? In order to survive, the two mortal enemies would have to team up to battle this terrifying beast! What an exciting premise!”

“Orang Ikan is an origin story with a horror survival theme set in the context of a realistic tragedy during the Second World War in Asia. Using both studio settings and the wonderful wild landscapes of Indonesia- I am excited to capture both the tension, horror and beauty of this concept in various exotic locations,” said writer/director Mike Wiluan. “We have assembled a wonderful cast, talented artists and the best crew to undertake this incredible adventure.”

Check out images and art below and expect more information soon.