Showbiz: A Malaysian take on demonic possession
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Loading... - Asmara Lubis
- 08 Feb 2023
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Many fans of horror movies would be well acquainted with the demonic possession genre, as seen in a slew of mostly Hollywood films over the decades.
From The Exorcist and The Evil Dead to The Conjuring and Hereditary, the list is terrifyingly long.
But local filmmaker Dain Said is giving the genre an indelible twist with his new chilling offering, Harum Malam.
Set to scare its way into cinemas tomorrow, the award-winning director, who is no stranger to unique supernatural stories after Interchange (2016) and Dukun (2018), says that the audience will experience a world within the movie that is close to Malaysian culture.
"I began working on an idea with my producer and writer for a ghost story that is connected to a family setting.
"We initially thought about Stranger Things and The Conjuring 2. The challenge was to work in a setting with kids and young people, which I thought would be quite interesting to do."
Harum Malam focuses on a 16-year-old apprentice faith healer and exorcist named Iqbal, who is tormented by visions of the dead and spirits from other dimensions.
When a vicious spirit begins to threaten his family and friends, the teen must face his fears to save his loved ones.
"Things then start happening in one apartment block. For this film, we worked within the context of our culture. The world we built for this film is one that's close to nature and the spirits come from nature. Read More…
