Rahsia is a reboot of a 1987 film directed by Othman Hafsham, which was the first horror movie to win the Best Film award at the 7th Malaysia Film Festival (FFM7).
The update is directed by Othman’s son, Shamyl Othman (Kami Histeria), and written by Alfie Palermo (One Cent Thief).
According to Alfie, the reboot deviates from the original quite a a fair bit – only about 30% was retained.
Some of the scenes that do pay homage to the original film include a toy car moving on its own, a piano being played by invisible hands, dolls coming alive, and the imposing house itself.
“The pressure to remake or reboot Rahsia was definitely there because it’s such an iconic film. I don’t think you can actually match the original film. And that’s the thing ... you can’t do that,” Alfie said.
“So, instead, what happened was, we thought let’s try and find a way to make a film that has the DNA of the original, retain the themes of the original, and yet make it fresh and different for a new generation of viewers,” Alfie added.
Shamyl concurred, saying: “I knew that if we wanted to remake Rahsia, it can’t be a carbon coby.”
Calling his version a “re-imagination, to borrow the term from Tim Burton”, Shamyl said the chance to direct the only horror film that his father has ever helmed – Othman is known for his comedy fare – was a rare opportunity.
“I have always wanted to remake my dad’s film. When I told my dad that there’s going to be a reboot of Rahsia and that I wanted to do it, he said, ‘OK, good.’
“I had my own ideas that I wanted to bring to the reboot, such as explore the theme of family more.”
Shamyl added that his father watched the film for the first time during the gala premiere. When the end credits rolled, he turned to Shamyl and congratulated him with a “well done”.
“He’s always been that sort of mentor to me. Perhaps he doesn’t want me to be in his shadow, so he never interferes with what I am doing,” the director said, when asked if Othman had ever asked to see the film during its editing phase.
Besides Othman’s fingerprint in the reboot, Alfie and Shamyl said that they were influenced by films from Hollywood as well.
Alfie added: “The influences include James Wan’s films in terms of the structure and the horror sequences, such as the early Insidious film and The Conjuring. Another one is Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby in terms of the disintegration of (the female) character.
“Another reference for me when I was writing the script was Stephen King’s novels, which I love because they have heart. There is always an emotional takeaway from a Stephen King story. And that is what we were going for with Rahsia too.”
Rahsia is out at cinemas nationwide since August 10.
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