Thai and U.S. Production Companies Team Up for Low-Budget 'Devil May Call'

The horror-thriller Devil May Call is the first of two modestly budgeted movies being produced by Esperanza Films and Angel Bear Productions, as both companies target an expansion in the American domestic market.

Starring Corri English (Unrest), Tyler Mane (Halloween I and II) and former porn star Traci Lords (Blade), Devil May Call is about a young blind woman who is preparing for her last shift at a suicide hotline. She doesn’t know that one of her regular callers is a serial killer whom she has had to talk out of killing himself multiple times.

Angel Bear Productions, which is expected to finance films on budgets between $1 million and $5 million, is based in Thailand but opened offices in Los Angeles and Las Vegas in 2011. It was founded about seven years ago by Swiss financier Urs Brunner, who now lives in Bangkok.

Esperanza Films, run by CEO Camilla Monet, is a four-year-old company based in L.A. that until now has done mostly shorts and commercials. This marks its expansion into features.

Devil May Call is the first of two movies they are committing to make together. There is no domestic or international distribution set up yet for either picture.

Angel Bear has produced two Thai/American productions in the past: Bitter/Sweet, a romantic comedy starring Kip Pardue and James Brolin and directed by Jeff Hare, and Hellgate, a supernatural thriller starring William Hurt and Cary Elwes and directed by John Penney.

Its most recent Thai film, She: Their Love Story, is a lesbian drama that got a brief theatrical release in March by distributor Ariztical Entertainment.

Esperanza is also developing the feature Celestina, written by Jose Rivera (On The Road, Motorcycle Diaries), who is also expected to direct.