The cast of Bloody Daisy pose for selfies with the audience at a pre-screening event on Sunday in Beijing. Photo: IC

Inspired by a true crime case, Chinese serial killer investigation movie Bloody Daisy is set to hit big screens across the country on Friday. 

Starring young actors Song Ningfeng, Wang Longzheng and Teng Zhe, the film, the maiden work of scriptwriter-turned-director Xu Xiangyun, follows two police detectives over nearly two decades as they try to track down a serial killer in a remote town. 

The film has many similarities to the true crime case of Gao Chengyong, who was executed in January after being convicted of murdering 11 women in several small towns in Northwest China between 1988 and 2002. 

Gao mutilated the corpses of his victims, leading to media giving him the nickname "the Chinese Jack the Ripper." The police spent 30 years hunting him down. 

According to the film's director Xu Xiangyun, the movie aims to pay tribute to the Chinese police who guard society by working day and night, leaving them little time to take care of their own families. 

Actor Song Ningfeng, who plays one of the detectives He Chen, said that his character in the movie has faith from the very beginning that he will be able to seek out the truth and hunt down the true murderer, even if it costs him his own life.