Somtow Sucharitkul’s new film The Maestro: Symphony of Terror is now in post-production.

Somtow and filmmaker Paul Spurrier, director of award-winning films like The Forest, having endured the pandemic shutting off their usual creative avenues for months, decided to break out of the box together.

Somtow had a young orchestra and a lot of postponed concerts. Known in Thailand as a conductor, composer, and opera impresario, Somtow previously dabbled in film when working in Hollywood, directing two low budget films including Ill Met by Moonlight. He also has written several significant horror novels, plus a novella that won the World Fantasy Award, and still has a following outside the realms in which he is known today.

Spurrier had an entire fllmmaking crew living in his home; he is himself an accomplished director of photography, his wife works in sound, and his sister-in-law is a veteran camera assistant. His recent films Pi and The Forest have completed their Netflix stint and are now on Amazon along with Eullenia, his most recent miniseries, starring Alec Newman (Paul Atreides from Children of Dune Sci Fi Channel) as a serial killer.

When Somtow said, “Can you think of some low-budget film we can just ‘dash off’ so that we can all do something, my youth orchestra can have an interesting and educational project,” Paul Spurrier said, “I want to do a film about a mad maestro who kidnaps a youth orchestra to try to play his masterpiece, and then things start going wrong … only you have to play the mad maestro yourself.”

This was the genesis of The Maestro: A Symphony of Terror but when Somtow put on his S.P. Somtow, the writer, persona, and started working on the script, the project began to become more complicated and soon it was no longer a quick 12-day project. “Having worked for Roger Corman in the 1990s,” Somtow said, “I had an idea of how to write big for small resources.”

The Maestro tells the story of a misunderstood genius with profound psychological problems. Rejected by the European musical establishment, he returns to his native Thailand and gets a job teaching music in a youth program. Stalked by an obsessed opera singer, ridiculed by his public, his big premiere preempted by a world-renowned conducting mediocrity, he begins a descent into madness. Accompanied by street busking violinist and a prodigy pianist from a dysfunctional family, he sets out to build a musical utopia in the wilderness to bring his transcendent vision to life … only, inevitably, it all goes horribly wrong.

One of the features of this film is the music. The Siam Sinfonietta under the baton of Trisdee na Patalung performs a soundtrack which was composed by Somtow but which portrays the music of the fictional Dr. Arun. Some of Thailand’s young musicians perform the virtuoso solo piano and violin roles. The music, which like the film itself, looks back to the “golden age” of Hollywood horror, is as much a character in the film as the actors.

Principal shooting is largely complete except for a few pick-up shots. They have already recorded most of the soundtrack with the Siam Sinfonietta. The film is now in the throes of post-production. When finished, The Maestro: Symphony of Terror is expected to debut on the international festival circuit.

Here is a clip:

Somtow spoke about The Maestro on Thai PBS

[Based on a press release.]