SINGAPORE: Is Indonesia the next breeding ground for Asian horror? Directors Kimo Stamboel and Timo Tjahjanto - collectively known as The Mo Brothers - want you to think so with their debut feature "Darah".

They try very hard to deliver creepy Asian folklore dressed as Western-friendly slasher fare. Deliberately slow and measured, unlike the usual slice 'em, dice 'em quickie, "Darah" tells the story of six friends who run into a strange girl, as well as her insane mother and brother, and proceed to get systematically tortured and killed. You know, your typical night out.

A pastiche of what you'd expect from B-movie Hollywood slashers - complete with themes, set-pieces and an overall treatment that recall "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "Saw" and "Hostel" - the directors also stir in healthy amounts of Asian shock and schlock.

Unfortunately, choppy editing with a dire lack of seamless storytelling leaves the audience detached and un-invested in any of the victims (after performances which weren't particularly memorable to begin with).

Thus, the weight of the film is carried solely by Shareefa Daanish's mother-of-all-evil titular character.

Her intimidating, monotonously-voiced performance is totally deserving of her recent Best Actress win at the recent Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival.

Overall, this M18 film - released under Infinite Frameworks' Mike Wiluan and Eric Khoo's recently formed genre label Gorylah Pictures - is a more than respectable first time horror outing from directors who have no qualms dishing out enough fake blood and gory violence to keep genre fans happy. - TODAY/sh