Supernatural beliefs and customs from Māori, Pasifika and Asian cultures are the inspiration for the new six-part series starting tonight on TVNZ 2.

Horror has a long and spooky history on our television screens. Shows such as The Twilight Zone, The X Files and Goosebumps have all successfully made us afraid of the dark, sent shivers down our spines, or both. TVNZ’s new anthology series Beyond The Veil does exactly that – but with a uniquely Aotearoa twist, highlighting the diverse voices of Māori, Pasifika and Asian peoples along with the supernatural beings and beliefs that form part of their cultures.

The idea for the series came from a screen hui a few years back focused on the need to establish more pathways for tangata whenua and other ethnic groups to get onto prime time TV, says Nevak Rogers, TVNZ’s general manager of local content. 

“Being of both Māori and Tongan descent, I know we have a wealth of stories and I’m aware that other ethnicities have similar yet different stories that deserve to be celebrated,” says Rogers. “The goal is that these storytellers will be able to use this platform to go on to bigger projects.” Already there are plans for three of the stories in the series, Tim Worrall’s Tappy, Taratoa Stappard’s Taumanu and Michael Bennett’s Te Kohu – The Mist, to be expanded into feature films, in the hopes that they can make the leap to an international stage.

Beyond the Veil’s second episode, 26:29, is a Pasifika story directed by Danny Aumua and produced by Wilhelm Voigt and Ngaire Fuata. In it, a group of young vloggers break into an abandoned Sāmoan church; their found footage tells the story of what happens next. Aumua says he was inspired by YouTube channel Buzzfeed Unsolved, which features US vloggers exploring supposedly haunted places with both humour and respect for the history each place holds. “I wanted a New Zealand version of that channel,” says Aumua, who explains that the fresh-faced, largely unknown cast of young actors helped to add a layer of realism to the found footage genre.

Aumua, who is Sāmoan, says it was a challenge to create an exciting, scary story that remained respectful of his culture. “I grew up hearing the stories from my elders, but to write and direct it was a different experience. For some, the topics are taboo and the last thing we wanted to do was offend our community,” he says. Another issue was the use of  Sāmoan spirits, which tend to belong in the islands, and only in the islands. “We didn’t use a traditional spirit because they’re tied to villages and real families, so in consultation with our producer Wil [Voight], who is also like our Sāmoan adviser, we created our own spirit character.”

Many aspects of Sāmoan culture are embedded in 26:29. The most obvious is the setting: Sāmoa is a Christian nation, so it’s no coincidence that the haunted building for this episode is a church. For non-Sāmoan viewers, however, the significance of the date when the vloggers went missing – October 11 2019, according to a caption on the opening scene – may be less obvious.

In Sāmoa, the second Sunday of October is White Sunday, a religious holiday that celebrates the role of children in the church. Families wear their finest white clothes and young church members lead the service with scriptural recitations, skits and songs. The character Mel (Fay Tofilau), who shows the vloggers around her abandoned church, makes references to White Sunday – in one scene, she looks up at the church and, in an eerie tone of voice, says “the children are singing”, yet there are no children in sight. Towards the end of the episode, a young Sāmoan girl appears inside the church wearing a white dress – another reference to White Sunday.

The title of the episode references Leviticus 26:29, the bible passage that reads: “Ye shall eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.” There’s a scene where Mel sits in front of a mirror covered with a white lace cloth. She’s still, looking pale, frightened at what’s in front of her. This scene references a custom in Sāmoa. When the sun sets, many Sāmoans cover their mirrors, believing that the devil looks into the souls of those who look into the mirror at night. Neil (Max Grean) pulls the cloth off, revealing a cracked mirror underneath. Mel begins to weep, saying “this place is cursed”.

To ensure the story didn’t disrespect the Sāmoan culture, Aumua and his team not only conducted their own research, consulting with people such as Voigt who is deep in his Fa’a Sāmoa, but they also approached two church ministers from different denominations for guidance. Aumua was nervous about what they thought of his idea, so was relieved when one of the ministers not only gave his approval, but also suggested the names of children from the church who might be interested in taking part in the production. “There were a lot of keen kids who wanted to be a part of the show, so that same day we held auditions and that’s how we found Zoe-Monet Vainikolo who plays our young Sāmoan girl, and she ended up being very integral to the story,” Aumua says.

Beyond the Veil begins on March 7 on TVNZ 2, 9:30pm, with new stories each week thereafter. Episode two, 26:29, screens on March 14. All episodes will be also available to watch on TVNZ OnDemand.

This is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.