"Temurun", a Gen Z-style horror film

Through Sinemaku Pictures, Gen Z "filmmakers" are creative even though they haven't yet produced a new style of horror genre like their generation.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The film Temurun was done creatively with a typical generation Z approach aka Gen Z. This film is also the first horror genre film, both by the director and the production house,

This was explained by Inarah Syarafina, who was asked to direct her first horror film, at a press conference to launch the film trailer and poster, Wednesday (1/5/2024), in Jakarta. In a press conference, Inarah said that she felt very comfortable working with many talents of her generation and age.

With an environment like that, Inarah admits that she can work and collaborate more freely, as well as being flexible yet creative. In addition to working with the main actors, Brian Domani and Yasamine Jasem, Inarah also claims to be the same age as her producers, Prilly Latuconsina and Umay Shahab, as well as the scriptwriter, Vontian Suwandi.

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Prilly and Umay are the founders of Sinemaku Pictures since five years ago. They not only have a professional relationship, but Inarah also admitted to having a close relationship with Umay when answering questions from journalists.

"At Sinemaku Pictures, I am already very comfortable with everything. I no longer feel scared as a new director. With fellow actors who are also around the same age, our discussions seem limitless," said Inarah.

In fact, the first script reading stage (reading) was held at Inarah's house. Initially, when she invited Brian and Yasamine to gather at her house, Inarah was worried that she would be seen as unprofessional.

“It turns out they actually want to. Finally we were reading in my room, with my cats, while eating snacks. So it's really exciting. "From there throughout the project, I didn't hesitate to convey my thoughts and ideas to them," said Inarah, laughing.

Not only in the production phase, Prilly as the producer revealed that she also applied an unusual promotion method for her film. One of them is by organizing a Temu Fun Run event, which is inspired by the title of the horror film.

"The initial idea (Meeting Fun Run) emerged on the first day of shooting. When we, the producers, gathered at the location (shooting) we all discussed what the marketing and promotion would look like. When we read the title of the film, Umay and I thought about making an event run. Coincidentally, I also like sports. In the film there is also a running scene. Ha-ha-ha," said Prilly.

According to the plan, the running event will be held in two cities, namely Jakarta and Bali, on May 11th and 18th, 2024, during the evening. Prilly added that along the running route, participants will also encounter something creepy in accordance with the theme of the horror movie.

Try new horror

In a press conference, Umay claimed that the horror film they would present this time had a different approach to other horror films that had existed. Apart from combining drama elements, in Temurun, the party will not display certain religious or cultural elements as a background.

"So, it's a fictional, really fictional, and we want to try new ways. "If you say we want to join the hype, that's actually not true, considering that in the third film we just made a horror film," said Umay.

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Launch of the trailer for the horror film Temurun

However, despite claiming to have approached it differently and involving many peers, Inarah admitted that she did not dare to label her work as a horror genre film that is a representation or version of Gen Z. Umay expressed the same sentiment. She stated that even though they are known as a production house that is synonymous with Gen Z, they do not have the intention to showcase it in a specific work.

"We never try to be pretentious, try to find out, wow, what is it that is currently popular and viral on Tiktok. We will only talk according to what we are concerned about. Maybe we have concerns about horror films nowadays. That's all we're going to put into it. "We will look for other options than those currently available, such as now in Temurun," said Umay.

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Meanwhile, Prilly said that even if there is something new and identical to Gen Z, it is more in the context of conflicts between characters in more contemporary films. Apart from that, from several scary scenes in the film, Prilly said, a contemporary or new terminology emerged, curtain phobia.

"So, there is a scary scene that appears from behind the curtain which turns out to give rise to this new term. As for the film itself, creatively we only focused on the story and what it could offer. "Maybe from the way of packaging, very Gen Z terms appear," said Prilly.