Five years ago, Tony Kern travelled halfway across the world to be with the woman he loved. That decision of his caused some friends and family who were unfamiliar to Singapore some anxiety.

“They feared I would get swallowed in the jungle,” he quips. “Having never been to Asia, I [too] had imagined an Orient of the past to a certain degree.”

As unfounded fears have subsided, in the intervening years, romance has blossomed for Tony and his Singaporean partner – now his wife. His mission to establish himself as a filmmaker here has gone swimmingly well, too.

Kern moved to Singapore in July 2005, after 15 years working in the production business, most recently out of Los Angeles. Having done some short films and paid his dues working on his clients’ projects, the time was right, he decided, to try his hand at features.

In the last three years, he has shot two feature films here. His debut feature in 2008, A Month of Hungry Ghosts, centred on the hungry ghost festival, something his then-girlfriend pointed out on one of his first visits here.

For that, you could say the Ohio native threw himself into the netherworld.

His second film, Haunted Changi, is about a group of young people who stumble upon creepy goings-on at an abandoned hospital. The horror film — which opened in cinemas in September — was shot over two days in January this year at the old Changi Hospital buildings along Netheravon Road at Changi Point. Leased to a private developer in 2006, the site was fenced off shortly after the film was shot.

And yet despite digging into local superstitions and customs, and choosing to stay in Geylang, a locale that undeniably shouts “Singapore”, the 41-year-old Tony confesses he doesn’t quite feel like “one of us” yet.

Singlish

“I do still feel like a foreigner here; when people break into [speaking] Chinese, I have no idea what they’re saying. Singlish, I can sometimes process if it’s repeated,” he says.

“But that’s all superficial. My mindset, spiritual beliefs and tastes have provoked some to call me an ‘egg’ – white on the outside, yet Asian on the inside.”

A lover of the “mystery and magic” of good supernatural horror films, Kern has long been drawn to ghost stories. As he puts it, these stories “open us to the possibility that there is something more out there.”

His favourite author in the genre is Arthur Machen (The Great God Pan, The Hill of Dreams), while his favourite horror films include The Thing, The Shining, Vampyr, Nosferatu, Session 9, Kwaidan and Pan’s Labyrinth.

So what is it about Singapore that inspires Kern?

“The mix of Chinese folklore and Malay supernatural beliefs is quite unique and interesting.  I am especially drawn into the animism of Malay beliefs – the jungle spirits and the ties to nature itself.

“Then there’s the hungry ghost festival. The concept alone – of the gates of hell opening and spirits entering the earthly realm – opens a treasure trove of ideas and concepts related to ghosts and the supernatural.”

Going local

In one respect, Kern has become rather Singaporean. He has developed a passion for local food such as carrot cake, gingko barley soup and chicken rice – the quintessential Singapore dish. Stingray and “everything spicy” also appeals.

Then there’s the beauty of Singapore he had not anticipated prior to his arrival.

“As you might expect, I love the old shophouses and abandoned buildings I find, and even big grimy gutters,” he says. “And I love all the cats in Singapore – each has its own unique personality.  I’ve fantasised about doing a movie with just cats here.”

For the foreseeable future, newly married and with more films on tap – Kern has a screenplay called Third Eye Open under development – the filmmaker will continue to call Singapore home, even if making movies here has inherent challenges.

“Then again, it’s probably even more difficult in the US!” he says. “But I love the weather and mix of cultures here. I guess only time will tell what is on the cards for me and Singapore.”

With the jungle safely navigated, Lady Love on his arm, and a few films under his belt, Kern’s tropical adventure certainly hasn’t been a horror story as he continues to dream up ghostly yarns.

* This year's Hungry Ghost Festival, a traditional Chinese festival celebrated by Chinese in many countries, starts on the 31 July and ends on 28 August.

* This article was written by Kong Shu Chiang and first published in Singapore Magazine (Oct-Dec 2010 issue).