Vera Miao's debut feature 'Rock Springs' blends horror with the immigrant experience, drawing on the 1885 Rock Springs massacre of Chinese immigrants. The film stars Kelly Marie Tran as a widow haunted by her husband's death and ancestral spirits. Miao emphasizes healing through acknowledging historical tragedies amid current anti-immigrant sentiments.
Vera Miao's first feature film, 'Rock Springs,' uses horror to explore the emotional weight of diaspora and untold American history. The story follows Emily, played by Kelly Marie Tran, who relocates with her daughter (Aria Kim) and mother (Fiona Fu) after her husband's death. Their new home reveals spectral visions and ties to the site of the 1885 massacre of Chinese immigrants, where ancestral spirits seek resolution.
Miao, a self-described child of immigrants, drew from her love of horror subgenres like ghost stories to convey loneliness and haunting. "I knew I wanted to explore what it felt like to be part of diaspora through horror," she told Variety. She subverts classic tropes, such as a creepy doll, to connect supernatural elements to real-life atrocities. "A creepy doll is not necessarily a creepy doll," Miao explained. "You find out instead how it’s connected to this supernatural world. That reveal, I hope, comes back to the real-life horror."
The director cast Tran, known for her role in the 'Star Wars' series, to portray a character grappling with layered grief. Miao praised Tran's depth: "She has a darkness. She has grief. She carries a pain, and she’s so bright and so winning. But that pain that she carries, that grief that she carries inside, is what drew me to her."
Tran highlighted the film's intergenerational trauma: "The grief exists not just in her present day, but also the grief of things that happened in the past, and how these things seep into our environments, into our energy." She appreciated how the script addresses "past tragedies that have been historically erased."
Releasing during a time of attacks on immigrants, 'Rock Springs' aims to foster understanding. "Storytelling is the way that humans make meaning," Miao said. She envisions the film as a path to healing: a family processes death by acknowledging history, offering hope against cruelty. Despite its dark themes, Miao insists it's "a redemption story" and "a story of healing," providing light in troubled times.
