Lam's father, a professor, would show his daughter horror films that she cites as an influence for her work.
[2] After receiving a law degree from the University of British Columbia, Lam began working at BC Film.
A year later the horror revenge short Doll Parts (2011) was released and distributed, which Lam credits for paving the way for Stained to get viewership in the United States.
[5] Karen Lam wrote and directed Armageddon Road, a dark comedy that takes place in Las Vegas in 1976, where an ex-con is hired by a mob boss to drive his girlfriend around for an evening, only for her to die of a cocaine overdose and have her body taken over by one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
It stars Natalie Grace, Willie Aames, Brian McCaig, April Telek, and Landon Liboiron.