Sundance Film Festival 2026 – Emily (Kelly Marie Tran) is a cellist who, after the sudden death of her husband, finds work teaching at and moves to the small town of Rock Springs, Wyoming to build a new life. With her Chinese mother-in-law Nai Nai (Fiona Fu) and her young daughter, the three settle into a ranch-style home painfully unaware of the cursed land they are planning to call home. Writer Director Vera Miao taps real-world history to create a modern-day horror film that works for the most part. While the resolution is as simple as the issues are complicated, a good story is told and a lesson is learned.
Filled with sadness, Emily, her daughter, and Nai Nai find a new normal in their sprawling ranch-style home. As they move in the silent, judgy Nai Nai scans the interior of mostly finished wood and mutters in Chinese, “Why is everything so brown?” Emily begins practicing cello almost compulsively. Her daughter becomes silent and starts exploring the woods that surround the home. Nai Nai, (We love her by the way,) sets up an alter in the dining room to memorialize her son and to assist him on his journey to the afterlife. Yet something is very, very off. A haunting force lingers in the dense forest just beyond the property, watching.
Exploring the local neighborhood, Emily visits a yard sale run by well-meaning Donna Washington (Tanja Dixon-Warren). Upon sizing up Emily’s Asian descent, Donna cheerfully explains that there is a great Chinese restaurant in town. Emily, for the record, is Vietnamese, though her husband and mother-in-law are Chinese. Meanwhile Emily’s daughter steals a small doll from the trinkets and, again, disappears for a moment.
It isn’t until Emily’s daughter disappears that the mystery begins to unfold. Combing the woods, Emily and the scant amount of police that care begin looking for the lost girl. It is here that writer-director Vera Miao fills us in on the true, horrific history of Chinese immigrants in Rock Springs, Wyoming. Using real events as a springboard for horror, Miao recounts the true bloody history of racism among coalminers that contaminates the ground on which Emily’s family lives. This sequence is effective, harrowing, and downright heartbreaking to watch. Yet it explains the physical monster that has now manifested in the modern-day story.
Tran does a wonderful job as the one left in the driver’s seat, made to guide her mourning family with practicality. Too, Fu balances a stern nature with a longing for the comfort of tradition after the loss of her son. With a compelling set up, and noteworthy performances from all mentioned including Benedict Wong in the flashback scenes, Miao has a great setup that is grounded in a magical reality. Here spirits are very real and very angry. That’s why is frustrating when the story would rather become a conventional tale of redemption. Happy endings are not a bad thing, but when exploring things like genocide and generational racism, you would hope for more of a nuanced resolution.
Rock Springs is a competently made ghost story that features a collection of solid performances, an elegant look, and an important message. It is, at times, difficult to watch as it explains that understanding and acceptance are stronger, more effective tools than brute force. Miao delivers that important message well. I just wish that, mankind’s knack for evil and why it is bad could have been addressed with a less simplistic resolution.
