KUALA LUMPUR, February 23 — Indonesian director Kimo Stamboel, known for his works in the horror genre, will be releasing his first horror series Teluh Darah (Blood Curse) on February 25.
Also one half acclaimed directorial duo The Mo Brothers, Stamboel will once again take the audience into the world of black magic, a theme similar to his last project Ratu Ilmu Hitam (The Queen of Black Magic), which was a hit among horror fans in Indonesia and Malaysia.
In an interview with Malay Mail, he admitted that he was initially reluctant to take on another black magic themed project, but took an interest after the show’s producer, Sunil Samtani briefed him on the storyline.
“When the producer Pak Sunil, actually got into the stories and concept, it sort of grew on me and I actually wanted to develop this story.
“Good thing about it being a series, I can explore more about the characters and the story’s direction and even though we have the same topic of theme, it sort of challenges me to make it more real in a way.
“I think one in ten people that we know, in Indonesia, they always have that (black magic) story. There’s already a lot of movies about it and why not a series, so that sort of inspired me to make this series,” he said.
The 42-year-old director added that apart from sprinkling horror elements into every episode, the key drive for the show's audiences will be the mystery elements in store.
The 10-part series will follow Wulan (Mikha Tambayong) and Esa (Deva Mahenra), two young people from different families that cross paths after a black magic attack.
In an effort to protect their families, Wulan and Esa cooperate to find out who’s responsible for the attack and hold them to account.
Mikha describes Wulan as a modern city girl who comes from a warm home before dark things began to happen to her family one day.
She said the fact that the series centres around a modern family in the present, is also one of the reasons why it is unique as local audiences could relate with the show even more.
“I think one of the challenges of shooting the series is especially because we have a very limited time. We weren’t able to shoot the series chronologically, so it’s very challenging to us.
“Sometimes when we shoot a scene, we have to go back to all the other episodes just to know what happened to us along the way because it’s important for us to keep our emotions in line throughout the whole series,” she said.
Following the series premiere in Indonesia on February 21, Deva who plays one of the main characters in the series, shared that a member of the audience who saw the premiere had actually thanked him for the series.
“I got a mention from this guy and he said ‘thank you for bringing up this story, because it really happened to my family’.
“And that’s kind of amazing because there are already those who can feel it and they shared the same experience through the black magic thing and that makes us really excited to share this, to all of the audiences,” he said.
Teluh Darah is produced by Rapi Films and written by Agasyah Karim, Khalid Kashogi, and Bayu Kurnia Prasetya.
Other cast members in the series includes Lukman Sardi, Imelda Therinne, Justin Adiwinata, Maryam Supraba, Shenina Cinnamon, and Taskya Namya.
Teluh Darah will premiere exclusively on Disney+ Hotstar this February 25.
