By Kristy Hesom

Among the guests were some of the leads from the movie, including Juanita de Villiers, Gerard Rudolf, and Jaco Muller, as well as world renowned, real-life detective, Piet Byleveld. Unfortunately, main actor Gys de Villiers could not attend the premiere.

The guest took their (very comfy) seats and were welcomed by Cenetta Wagner and Jana Erasmus from Ingenius Film Distribution and director Johnny Breedt. Open to the public on Friday, 26 February, Die Ontwaking will show across 25 screens, a record for a South African film in this genre. The filmmakers believe that in order to change the way people view Afrikaans films (the usual romcom, soapie type genre), then it is important that as many people as possible are involved in creating films of different, unexplored genres in the Afrikaans film space.

“I set out to make an Afrikaans film,” said Breedt, “but I didn’t want to make what everybody else was doing. I think that we are ready to start watching other genres.” Breedt spoke of the difficulties of making a film, especially in this genre and getting people to watch it. He believes their success is thanks to their publicity, with over 100 000 people viewing and sharing the trailer on social media, with the potential reach of one million people.

That being said, Breedt thanked the cast, the crew and his family as the lights dimmed for the movie to begin.

Based on Abel se Ontwaking, the first book of the ‘Abel’ trilogy by Chris Karstens, Die Ontwaking is a psychological thriller that follows the cat and mouse game between psychopathic serial killer, Abel Lots (Gys de Villiers), and Ella Nesser (Juanita de Villers) a young, pretty detective.

Abel is a deeply damaged man. Having suffered abuse by his father and older brother, and receiving extreme sympathy from his mother, it is evident that he has textbook psychopathic characteristics, a label that he detests.

After a passer-by finds the body of a woman on a rugby field with a section of skin surgically removed from her body, Ella is assigned the lead on the case (much to the disappointment of her colleague, veteran detective Fred Lange [Gerard Rudolf]). This case is the chance for her to prove herself.

Once a second body, with the same surgically removed section of skin shows up in a mall’s parking lot, Ella suspects a serial killer. But why is there no sexual abuse? What is the purpose of the missing skin? Ella battles with these questions as she searches for the killer before another woman is targeted. But she is too late, as a young girl fitting the killer’s victimology goes missing.

Not only that, Abel now has his eye on Ella herself. Stalking her at her home, leaving her threatening messages, and watching her every move. Not willing to let herself be a victim, Ella embarks on a ruthless journey to bring the killer to justice before he can strike again.

The first of three movies, Die Ontwaking will have South African viewers on the edge of their seats. This is a movie that is more relatable than your regular American horror story, with the familiar Cape setting, the SAPS uniforms we know all too well, and actors portraying people we interact with every day.

De Villiers’ portrayal of the disturbed Abel is outstanding, and Juanita’s strong female character is not disappointing. With a great supporting cast, and some epic South African music (including Van Coke Cartel and Jack Parow), Die Ontwaking is the first part of a trilogy that has the potential to change how we perceive South African film.

Personally, we cannot wait for the next one. Or maybe we’ll get our fix by reading the books in the meantime.

Click here to watch the trailer.

For more information, connect with the film on Facebook, Twitter or on Instagram using the #DieOntwaking hashtag.