WARUGA' Inspirational Horror Story About Minahasa's Ancient Customs & Beliefs

January 30, 2024

WARUGA’ Inspirational Horror Story About Minahasa’s Ancient Customs & Beliefs

The word ‘Waruga’ may be quite foreign to Malaysians, but it means a burial place or tomb (grave) of the deceased for the Minahasa people who exist in Indonesia.

According to Minahasa beliefs, the body of a deceased person is buried in Waruga with both knees brought close to the chest like the position of a baby in the womb because it is believed that the body will be reborn in the future.

Looking at the uniqueness of this belief, it inspired D’Ayu Pictures to produce a film titled Waruga – The Curse of Black Magic.

Its director, Azaromi Ghozali or Romi, said the idea to produce the film began with a story by a writer named Gawar Sawba’yah about the ancient belief.

“At the same time, I also had an idea for a horror story related to black magic and the worship of corpses, indirectly related to the beliefs of the Mihanasa people. So I combined these two ideas and the film Waruga was created.”

“This film tells the story of black magic and the cult of resurrecting the bodies of the dead. I chose the title Waruga as symbolic and inspiring for the rebirth ceremony according to Minahasa beliefs.”

Romi said that several scenes shown in the film were not shown in an extreme way because they were bound by the guidelines set by the Film Censorship Board to protect the sensitivity of society.

However, he stated that it did not affect the storyline and the scenes that were deemed inappropriate were toned down to make them suitable for watching and the Waruga film managed to get a P13.

Set to be released in cinemas on 15 FEBRUARY 2024, Waruga features a line-up of popular actors such as Zahiril Adzim, Datin Elvina Mohamad, Eriza Allya, Sahronizam Noor, Ustaz Dinie, Along Eyzendy, Izzue Islam, Ruminah Sidek, Nizam Kama, Adik Putri Amirah Maisara and Adik Syed Irfan.

Meanwhile, when asked about the challenges during the making of the film Waruga, Romi revealed various things he had to go through, including several strange incidents that befell the cast and crew.

“It can be said that there were various incidents that we had to go through. Among them, one of the stuntmen fell from the ceiling to the floor of the room after being pushed by something, causing a fracture in the base of his thigh.

“The same thing happened to the two main actors, Zahiril and Elvina, who also saw a scary ‘thing’ right in front of their eyes. Regardless, I was relieved when filming could continue until it was finished,” he said.

Filming around Lembang Klang in March 2021 for 20 days, Romi stated that Waruga is not just a horror script.

He explained that the latest film he directed was different by creating many relationship conflicts that were further strengthened by horror elements.

“For this film, I used the ‘open ending’ concept so that the audience can imagine for themselves what happens next.”

“Whatever, I want those who watch this film to see the message conveyed from a positive angle, for example the few who are still deceived by the devil’s tricks and commit deviant acts and greetings in terms of religion,” he said.

Meanwhile, the producer of D’ Ayu Pictures, Dato Rosmarayu Mokhtar, said that his party was interested in producing horror films because the horror genre is one of the favorites of local audiences and often receives a good response.

He said that after first producing the horror film Harum Malam, he felt that Waruga, which cost RM1.8 million to produce, featured an interesting storyline inspired by an ancient belief.

“Of course, as a producer, I certainly hope that this film will receive a warm reception from the audience, especially from horror film fans. And for now, I have been approached by three distribution companies from Indonesia to hold simultaneous screenings there. The Waruga film will also be screened in other ASEAN countries such as Vietnam, Myanmar, Singapore, Brunei and the Philippines.”

“At least with the encouraging box office, maybe this film will have a sequel or I will continue to produce other horror films,” he said.

SYNOPSIS

Tells the story of a student of traditional medicine, Rewan, who cannot accept the death of his wife. Rewan began to appeal to Mbah Usu Lijah, his medical teacher, because he knew that Mbah Usu Lijah had the knowledge to resurrect a body without a soul through the book of the Mihanasa lineage. However, Mbah Usu Lijah did not allow it to happen because Rewan was not from that lineage and if he wanted to, he would have to go through several phases or periods of time. Rewan’s impatience was so great that he was willing to steal the book and kill Mbah Usu Lijah.

Before all these incidents happened, Rewan had ordered his only son Yamin to leave the village so that nothing bad would happen to Yamin because of his behavior. After 10 years, Yamin married a girl named Ardila and lived peacefully with her. However, Yamin kept his family secret by stating that his father and mother had died a long time ago.