29 Jan – Waan Hafiz, director of "Puaka Balai Gombak, revealed that he had to scout over ten scary locations that are popular in the Klang Valley area before starting the shooting process for the movie. According to Waan, the main problem he faced was most of the places he scouted did not meet his expectations and were not interesting enough to be a filming location. "We did research and scouted more than ten locations deemed as the scariest in Malaysia. However, most of them were not suitable for filming or were just not interesting." "For example, the long-abandoned Gombak police station which is shrouded by trees, even the moonlight does not stream through them during the night," said Waan, who was present at the premiere of "Puaka Balai Gombak" at TGV Cinemas recently. The director added that it was not easy to do the location scouting as they were not allowed into some of the places, unless they were to obtain permission from the owner or the residents first.
"Some locations are private properties that allow no access while some are occupied by residents who would not let us enter." He explained, "They were unwilling to cooperate with us and would not give us permission to do any filming there for fear that the place would turn into an attraction." After looking at several more locations, the production team finally selected three locations that would be suitable for the filming, which are Apartment Riviera II, a bungalow in Shah Alam and the Gombak police station. Waan also mentioned that there were many challenges faced during the filming period and it was not easy to direct such a film. "When we were there, we saw the entities but they do not show on camera. That was frustrating. They do exist, the camera never stopped rolling but we were not able to capture them on film," said the director. "Puaka Balai Gombak" opens in cinemas today, 29 January.