The Director Of MANTRA Gets Back To The Gore With KERAMAT

Back in May of 2010 our eyes were caught by Mantra, a Malaysian horror picture whose director - the super prolific Azhari Mohd Zain - overcame the budget limits of the picture by piling on hyper energetic scares and gore. Zain's style seems based more in the pulpy exploitation films that came out of South East Asia in the 1980s than in anything more current from the region - a good thing in my books - and he clearly understands that when an audience pays to see a horror film they want shocks and energy delivered to scare, yes, but also with a sense of fun.

Zain has been busy since Mantra released, with two more directing efforts released - a horror picture and a romance - and another four lined up for 2012. And of those the one that jumps out the most is Keramat.

Zul Suphian is Habib, who is wrongly accused of raping Mustika (Diana Amir) that he was beaten by the villagers led by Mustika's own brother, Jabar (Alex Yanz). However, no one could have predicted that after the incident, Habib, who is not an ordinary youth, would begin to develop strange powers, where the veil that hides his disfigured face emits a ray that leads to the death of many villagers.

Just as was the case with Mantra the trailer for this embraces practical effects, loads of blood and fabulously over the top evil. A b-movie? Absolutely, but one that appears to be self-aware in all the right ways. Check the trailer below.