PHOTOGENIC beauty Deanna Yusoff is back on the silver screen, having played a “goodie” lawyer in Beto Kusyairy’s comedy CEO three years ago.
Aku Haus Darahmu (I long for your blood), as its title suggests, features the gorgeous star as a 100-year-old vampire feasting on the blood of victims who inadvertently visit her mansion.
Deanna plays the vamp, Cempaka, whose family from Western Java’s Sunda, Indonesia was cursed to become bloodthirsty creatures.
Banished from their homeland by a warlord expanding his empire, she ends up becoming a ‘permanent resident’ in Malaysia.
Deanna assumes the challenging role of Cempaka, a dancer and choreographer by day, and come nightfall, she turns into a sensually hypnotic dance performer who traps victims against their will.
To mark her 25 years in industry, Deanna bravely steps out of her comfort zone to learn a combination of traditional Sundanese, Mak Yong and classical Indian dances.
Under the watchful gaze of award-winning dancer and choreographer, Suhaili Micheline Ahmad Kamil, she trained intensively for a month.
It was time well spent as Deanna’s perfectionism and perseverance showed in her naturally fluid and graceful movements onscreen.
Cempaka is not Deanna’s first villainous role though. That honour goes to Mastura, the malevolent spirit trapped in an antique mirror in the 2007 movie Chermin.
While Mastura was a vile presence inside the mirror, Cempaka is a full-bodied and dangerous villain, armed with spears and swords.
She lives alone with her creepy maidservant Kenanga (Amalia of pop group Phlowtron) in a rustically splendid bungalow in a seaside town.
One morning, three young dance students, Alia (Nad), Ezza (Farhanna) and Arin (Zoey), pay her a visit, with the intention to interview Cempaka about a rare traditional Sundanese dance.
No surprises on what happens as the movie progresses.
If viewers found Deanna’s Mastura terrifying, she is even more so as Cempaka, although her moments of monstrosity are found towards the end.
It is Amalia’s Kenanga who provides more scares with her frequent transformations into a decaying zombie with unkempt, long hair and icy facial expressions.
Nad, who plays Alia, is convincing as a naive student who goes all out to interview Cempaka and is ignorant of her university mates’ suggestions that the dance instructor may be trouble for all of them.
Farhanna’s character Ezza is Alia’s best friend and tries to put the brakes on the team leader’s determination to interview Cempaka.
The one-time children’s programme host looks more mature here, but in terms of acting, still has a long way to go.
The same can be said for Zoey who plays Arin. The only male in the story, he is the king of doubts, providing comic relief.
His craziest and creepiest scene is one of which Kenanga serves him extra rice for dinner. Of course he throws it up later in the form of maggots and worms.
Director Aidilfitri Mohd Yunos lives up to his reputation as a scare monger. His last movie, the thriller Klip 3GP, gave audiences the chills.
He delivers on the horror aspect with Aku Haus Darahmu, although the film would have been much better with more solid back stories and for the characters.
While “going retro” may serve its purpose in certain movies, the 1980s setting of Aku Haus Darahmu does nothing to add to the character development of its various players.
Besides, the spooky theme is timeless.
Unfortunately, Aku Haus Darahmu’s scare factor is no match for last year’s Munafik by Syamsul Yusof.
That said, it has a good plot twist at the end, and fans of Deanna and Nad will be entertained.
Aku Haus Darahmu is directed by Aidilfitri Mohd Yunos and stars Deanna Yusoff, Nad Zainal, Farhanna Qismina Supandi, Zoey Rahman and Amalia Syakirah.