Waruga: Kutukan Ilmu Hitam
The burial techniques of the Minahasa people from Indonesia, who believe in burying a dead body in a ‘waruga’ (a tomb or burial place), have inspired D’Ayu Pictures to make a horror movie “Waruga: Kutukan Ilmu Hitam”.
According to their belief system, if the departed is buried with both knees close to the chest like that of a fetus in the womb, then they will be reborn one day.
Director Azaromi Ghozali said that this film was born out of writer Gawar Sawba’yah’s story telling about an ancient belief. “At the same time, I had an idea for a horror story that is related to black magic and the worship of dead bodies. This is indirectly related to the beliefs of the Mihanasa people, so I combined these two ideas and the end result is the film “Waruga: Kutukan Ilmu Hitam.”
“This film tells about black magic and cults reviving deads. I chose waruga as title which symbolizes and inspires rebirth ceremony according to Minahasa belief,” he explained during last night’s meeting at GSC The Starling Mall, Petaling Jaya Gala Night and premiere where executive producer Datuk Rosmar Ayu Mokhtar and cast were present.
Azaromi ensured that some scenes shown in this movie are not too ‘extreme’ so as per Film Censorship Board (LPF)’s guidelines can be followed. “In dialogue we changed name of Minahasa tribe with Mihanasa because sensitivity must be maintained besides script also first sent Indonesia itself. This ancient belief has been too long ago and now no longer understood superstition ‘waruga’ therefore there is no problem.”
“Only in Malaysia I must be careful because got LPF can so this movie classified 13. So I didn’t show much scene ritual cult or bring back dead’s only use crow as symbol. Spells that were used in film dialogues are also purely fictional and have no element of worship. We use a lot of sound effects to create horror in the scenes. I was also scared to use real spells.”
“On this movie, I used ‘open ending’ concept for audience to imagine what happen next. I hope audience can see from positive angle about message delivered,” said the director who shared that he has already planned for a sequel.
Meanwhile, Rosmar Ayu hopes that the film will be well received by viewers especially horror film enthusiasts. “Currently I have been approached by three distribution companies from Indonesia for simultaneous screenings there but due to some constraints we had to cancel the screening there”.
She added,”However after release of this film 3 more distribution companies approached us to show in other Asean countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Philippines besides Turkey and Azerbaijan”.
Starring Datin Elvina Mohamad, Zahiril Adzim, Eriza Allya, Sahronizam Noor and Ruminah Sidek among others, “Waruga: Kutukan Ilmu Hitam” will start haunting cinemas all over the country on 15 February 2024.
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