Teluh Darah – a shocking new Indonesian horror series on Disney+ Hotstar

THIS weekend saw the premiere of ‘Teluh Darah’ on Disney+ Hotstar, a scary and at times grotesque horror series from Indonesia from director Kimo Stamboel. 

Refreshingly, the show doesn’t feed us everything when it starts, we have to pay attention to all the clues and details as the seemingly perfect life of main character Wulan (Mikha Tambayong) and her family very quickly unravel. We learn that she recently called off a wedding, which is an emotional weight she and her family are still processing. 

Meanwhile, in another part of the city, Esa (Deva Mahenra) has no answers for his father’s inexplicable and painful illness. Doctors don’t have any answers as he writhes in agony.

For both these plotlines, there’s something wrong that just can’t be explained away and the first episode does a good job of gradually raising the temperature.There is definitely a deep and dark secret that is tying everything together. 

But don’t go in expecting a psychological thriller, because while there is plenty of eerie atmosphere, the show isn’t afraid to get bloody and gross. There are plenty of creepy crawlies, be they maggots and all manner of skin-crawling insects that are employed very effectively. Teluh Darah also isn’t above the occasional jump scare. 

Comprised of 10 episodes of 45 minutes each, the horror affecting these two families is sure to escalate as they find out that black magic is very much real. 

Earlier in the week, Kimo and Mikha shared some of their time during an online press junket organised by Disney+ Hotstar. 

The Vibes: What keeps drawing you back to horror as a genre?

Kimo Stamboel: Even though in my career I’ve always made horror films, in every project there is always been a challenge to make it more good or more excellent or more amazing. And this one particularly, we don’t have any supernatural ghost-like event in this story, that’s also a challenge for me to make people scared of these things in a entertaining way. 

The topic of it, black magic, even though I already touched it in my previous film Ratu Ilmu Hitam (The Queen of Black Magic), but this one is different, the setting is different, the family is different and the character itself is different, so definitely it’s a kind of challenge that makes me want to do this genre. 

TV: What is the biggest difference between making a movie and making a series? 

KS: Firstly, it’s the length and the journey of the story. Because we have 10 episodes, each episode is 40 minutes, so that alone has a big challenge. I’m used to making movies that are only 90 minutes to 110, or 120 minutes long. 

Having a story and dividing it into a 10 episode stretch, we do have to maintain the emotion of the actors, the pacing of the story. Technically, it’s a challenge to me and also the length of the shoot became really really challenging even though we already know it’s gonna be like that. 

TV: What drew you to the story and character?

Mikha Tambayong: There are a lot of horror stories, as you probably know Indonesia is very well known for making horror stories because of the culture that we have, because of all the stories that we’ve heard since we were little kids.

I felt that’s where the challenge is for us, how to make something different, how to make something fresh and I feel that Teluh Darah is very fresh, it offers thrilling stories still using the background we’ve known.

We tried to present it in a different way and that’s where we as actors have been challenged as well to portray our characters in a very different way, that’s why we have a lot of time to prepare and I love reading the script together with the other actors, Kimo, and our acting coaches. 

In that process we started finding something that made this series different from the other previous ones that we have watched before and I guess that’s what drew me to this project because I wanted to challenge myself, I want to push myself more than I have done before and I felt this series did that for me. 

TV: There are a lot of scary and shocking scenes, how do you get into that mindset?

MK: Our shooting days were actually very fun, it’s the opposite of what you see on screen actually. That’s why we spent a lot of time on set preparing because we don’t have to stress that much I guess. 

When we prepared before shooting, those were the stressful moments, those were the moments when we brainstorm, where we find ideas, where we rehearse our scenes so when we’re on set it doesn’t feel as stressful as before. 

It’s very fun actually being on set, there’s no one being possessed, there’s no scary moments happening on set, it was just fun moments. It was physically challenging but I feel it was not as mentally challenging. It’s all just fun and games on set honestly. – The Vibes, February 27, 2023