• Can we do more? 

Horror is one of the world’s more popular independent subgenres. Horror and independent cinema have been deeply intertwined throughout their history, with many of the genre’s successes often existing outside of the traditional studio system. 

These indie films rely heavily on a spooky environment and the element of surprise; they allow for a script that does not need to be flawless and can be produced with little to no funding. Despite the lack of funding, well-made independent horror films don’t lag too far behind professional horror films. In fact, films such as ‘The Blair Witch Project,’ ‘Paranormal Activity,’ and others have had a significant impact on the film industry and have reached a wide audience.

Despite this, Sri Lankan cinema is yet to pick up the subgenre or view it as an avenue of opportunity. However, while mainstream feature films do not often opt for horror as a genre, there are some examples of independent and student films that have attempted the horror genre, including the recent semi-feature film titled ‘The Wacky’. 

‘The Wacky’ premiered on 15 July at PVR Cinemas in One Galle Face. Directed by Sri Lankan film director Samurdhi Mudushreen Ranasinghe and produced by National Institute of Business Management (NIBM) Director General Dr. D.M.A. Kulasooriya, the film starred a largely amateur cast of NIBM students, supported by Sarath Karunarathne, Kaushi Siriwardane, and Esha Ushneesha Jayasinghe, all of whom had a hand in the concept development and script of the film. ‘The Wacky’ is set to have its wide release later this month and will be available in theatres. 

Making of ‘The Wacky’ 

Director Samurdhi Ranasinghe shared that ‘The Wacky’ had chosen to adopt the zombie subgenre since the zombie film was growing in popularity amongst the youth. 

“In Sri Lanka, we tend to see more drama and love stories. Today’s youth, with their streaming services and access to global media, have started to reject these traditional concepts,” he said, adding: “Originally, this was set to be an entirely NIBM production, as was the wish of Dr. Kulasooriya. However, as the production gained a life of its own, we brought in a few leading industry professionals to really supplement the concept and to further flesh out the end result.”

In this, he referred to the film’s cinematographer Dimithu Kalinga Dahanayake and production manager Palitha Thennakoon. 

Ranasinghe shared that there had been a focus on the project being visually appealing, noting that they had opted for a “Gen Z colour palette” with neon colours being used for the film. He added that they had been able to produce a satisfactory end result due to everyone involved having been extremely flexible in their contributions. 

Horror and indie films 

The release of the ‘The Wacky’ got us musing about the Lankan independent horror film scene. Accordingly, The Sunday Morning Brunch reached out to Sri Lankan filmmaker Akash Sunethkumara, who is no stranger to the subgenre, having directed two short horror films titled ‘The Summoning’ and ‘The Friend’ via his internationally-acclaimed production team, the High School Junkies. 

Sunethkumara shared his thoughts on the nature of horror films in Sri Lanka and how they were overlooked for a number of reasons. “Horror has not been a genre that Sri Lankans have tackled all that much to great success, within film. Horror is nevertheless deeply ingrained within Sri Lankans because we have legends such as Mohini, Mahasona, Kalu Kumaraya, which have existed in our culture for quite a while. 

“As far as I know, some of it predates the arrival of Buddhism; it is in our blood,” he said, noting that despite how ingrained horror was in our literature and culture, it had been criminally underutilised in film. 

“Horror is not considered a lucrative genre, from what I have noticed. For instance, we did two short films and while they didn’t necessarily have any local legends, they are the two projects with the least number of views within Sri Lanka, for us at least. Everything else has been a lot more successful. Of course, there are possibly other factors involved, because they were done in English and released at a time when we hadn’t had much exposure as well,” Sunethkumara said.  

Sunethkumara shared that High School Junkies was currently working on another mystery thriller, which would have some element of horror in that Sri Lankan folklore would be incorporated into the storyline. “Perhaps the results for that may be different,” he said. 

Speaking from a filmmaker’s perspective, Sunethkumara said: “Personally, it is a very interesting genre to tackle for filmmakers. You don’t have to have to show much in order to build scares. Even if you consider the return on investment, the leading film is, I believe, ‘Paranormal Activity,’ which had a budget of $ 15,000 and made $ 194 million in revenue.” He added: “It is a very good genre for filmmakers to cut their teeth on. I think there is a lot to be experimented on, especially in Sri Lanka, with all of the folklore we can pull from.” 

Sunethkumara further noted: “It is up to the filmmaker’s creativity, but it is a good genre to try your hand at and you can do a lot with less. That is why the debut projects of people like Sam Raimi, Oren Peli [director of ‘Paranormal Activity’], and many such filmmakers have been horror, because it is a very feasible genre to get into the film business.”

He also addressed the zombie genre and how it was experiencing a resurgence, not just locally but internationally as well. “There are trends; at one point in the late 2000s, we had the vampire craze, with ‘Twilight’ and ‘The Vampire Diaries’. Now it seems that zombies are having a bit of a resurgence. 

“Considering that we just came out of a pandemic, it serves as social commentary as well, since most of the time, zombieism is a virus-driven thing, so it is part of the zeitgeist. It was huge in the ’60s with George Romero and ‘Dawn of the Dead’ and then in the ’80s with ‘Evil Dead’. It comes and goes,” Sunethkumara said, noting that even in Sri Lanka, we could either pull from our folklore or do zombie films, as long as we made it our own. 

“While the zombie genre was popularised in the West, we are now seeing Korea take it on. Korea puts its own cultural element into it, at least their values, and they bring something authentically Korean, thereby bringing something new into the genre.”

Sri Lankan cinema culture 

Brunch also spoke to veteran filmmaker Donald Jayantha, who arguably has had the most hits under the horror genre in Sri Lanka with his films ‘Maya,’ ‘Gindari’ and its two sequels, ‘Bandhanaya,’ and others. 

Sharing his thoughts, Jayantha noted that when it came to making horror films in Sri Lanka, things were somewhat complicated. “We have a specific viewing culture and before making a film for the theatres, you have to understand this. Sri Lankans do not go to the cinema to watch arthouse films with lines upon lines of dialogue, nor do they go to the cinema to be truly terrified out of their wits. They go to the cinema to be entertained and often it is a family affair,” he said. 

“The reason why my horror films have been successful is because I commercialised them and localised them. If you consider ‘Maya,’ it is about a disturbed spirit, but I bring to screen the element of pirith, with the temple being sacred ground. All this is ingrained in the Sri Lankan DNA and most of all, I incorporated comedy into this genre. ‘Maya,’ despite being a horror flick, is also a comedy. This is the same with my other films. You cannot screen a film in Sri Lanka if all family members cannot sit and enjoy it at the same time; you can’t expect such a film to be successful,” he opined. 

Offering food for thought when it comes to Sri Lankan horror and the Lankan audience, Jayantha mused that while it was unfortunate that the more artistic alternative films did not have many opportunities for success, this could be attributed to Sri Lanka’s social system and the lack of disposable income. The moviegoing experience is somewhat of a luxury, so it is difficult to expect the majority to take a chance on an experimental film when they could instead go for a film which is guaranteed to give them a good laugh and an overall fun experience.