A ministry official said "Ghost Game", which opens in Thailand on Thursday, hurts the country's reputation by exploiting its tortured past and any copies found in Cambodia would be seized.

The film tells the story of 10 reality television gameshow contestants who agree to stay in a haunted prison, where they must confront the atrocities that occurred there in order to win an enormous cash prize.

The detention centre, called Security Prison 11, closely resembles the Khmer Rouge's Tuol Sleng prison, or S-21, where some 16,000 men, women and children were tortured before being executed.

"It looks like they are treating Tuol Sleng as a place for games," Kan Tara, director of the ministry's cinema department, told AFP Wednesday.

He said he was asking the minister to ban the film. He asked the filmmakers to change the script before shooting started but was refused.

Movie producer Tifa Co. had sought the ministry's permission to shoot in Cambodia last June, Kan Tara added.

"In their first scenario they did not say clearly it was S-21, but they called their prison S-22. They did not specify it was Tuol Sleng ... but it was no different from the reality so I did not allow it," he said.

The film was instead shot in Thailand. Tifa Co. officials said Tuesday  "Ghost Game" has nothing to do with the Khmer Rouge or Tuol Sleng.

"The movie is not based on the true story of S-21 and the Khmer Rouge," said Tifa Co. general manager Pimolthip Yeesontes, adding though that some viewers might see parallels.

Up to two million people died of starvation, execution or overwork in one of the worst genocides of the 20th century as the communist Khmer Rouge tried to turn Cambodia into a vast collective farm in the late 1970s.

"The film unavoidably caused people to think of a Cambodian jail. In particular for those who know some references to Cambodian history, our production might draw an emotional reaction if they imagine a bit too much," Pimolthip said.

A photo from the film's website shows the cast of young attractive Thais dressed in the same black pajamas made infamous by thousands of mugshots of Tuol Sleng inmates, complete with identification numbers pinned to their chests.

Pimolthip said the company knew from the start that the story tapped into sensitive issues that could lead to controversy.

The script was presented to both Cambodian and Thai authorities for consideration, but officials at the Cambodian embassy in Bangkok and officials in Phnom Penh did not propose any changes, she said.

"We will defend the story. It has nothing to do with real places or persons in Cambodia," she told AFP.

Agence France Presse