Many may not be familiar with the young director Muzzamer Rahman, but he's a talented filmmaker whose short films have garnered numerous accolades. Known as an 'artistic' director, Muzzamer refuses to be 'tied down' to just one specific genre. He instead wants to try his hand at directing movies of various genres. This dream was recently realised through his feature directorial effort, "Takut Ke Tak". The Jazzy Pictures film revolves around a group of university students who, when tasked with making a movie as their final assignment, decide to produce a documentary about a supposedly haunted house. When they arrive at the house for their shooting, creepy incidents begin happening one by one to them. Worse, their attempt to leave the house continuously fails. Cinema Online had a chance to talk to Muzzamer during the premiere of "Takut Ke Tak" at GSC Mid Valley, Kuala Lumpur, where the director shared his experience filming the movie. Read on below for our exclusive interview with Muzzamer!
Cinema Online: Did the idea to make this movie come from you or the producers? Muzzamer: The idea to produce the movie didn't come from me, it's from the producers. I was contacted by them to direct "Takut Ke Tak" and I didn't take long to agree, because I wanted to try helming a horror comedy film. Did you fully follow the producers' script as it was? No. When the producers gave me the script, I studied it and discussed with them before deciding on making some changes. If I'm not mistaken, only about 30 or 40 percent of the script was changed because I think that the story is something that fits the movie taste of current audiences. Strange happenings often occur during horror movie productions, especially in remote or abandoned filming locations. Did your team experience any spooky incidents during filming? Alhamdulillah, throughout the filming, the cast, crew and I didn't face anything spooky. Everything went smoothly. In fact, we didn't even face any challenges while filming. Instead, the challenge I faced was during post-production because I needed to make sure that every scene will be impactful. Is "Takut Ke Tak" your first movie? No, this is my second feature film but it is my first to be screened in cinemas. My first feature film is "Prebet Sapu", which is currently still in post-production. The movie was directed and produced by me, hence why it's taking a little long to complete. The movie, however, stars amazing actors such as Amerul Affendi, Namron, Bront Palarae, Beto Kusyairy and many more. I plan to release the movie next year. Aside from that, what's your latest project? After this, my production company has a short film project, whereby we will be giving grants to young filmmakers to produce their short films. However, there are no further details on this yet. InsyaAllah, I will announce it when we have any new update.