Film challenges truth behind Paul the Octopus

Shortly after the passing of the world's beloved soccer soothsayer, a Chinese film, "Kill Octopus Paul", is challenging the truth behind the oracle octopus that predicted the winners during the World Cup.

The fictional thriller followed a group of Chinese soccer enthusiasts who travelled to South Africa to uncover an international betting cartel conspiracy.

The plot twists and turns as audiences uncover that the legend of the visionary octopus was fabricated and manipulated to aid a match-fixing scheme and help an international betting ring.

The film was shown to a small group of media audience in Beijing on Thursday.

Director Xiao Jiang, is using the appeal of the World Cup and its prophetic octopus to draw in the audience, and hopes to use the film as a platform to explore the underground world of soccer betting.

"I really like soccer and I love the World Cup. But I know that the World Cup had a lot of people betting on soccer, and there was some match-fixing activity. So when I started to think about making this movie, I wanted to film about people who because of betting encountered some sticky situations," she said.

English-born Paul made headlines across the globe after he correctly forecast how Germany would fare in seven matches, before his psychic powers were tested again for the final.