Stamboel and Tjahjanto then directed, produced, and wrote the horror-thriller Killers which premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. Stamboel and Tjahjanto appeared among the patrons of Herosase in Joko Anwar's The Forbidden Door. The film received praise during its run at several film festivals and launched the two into mainstream recognition. Well received by the public, they decided to develop a feature film based on the short and released Macabre in 2009 with Julie Estelle and Shareefa Daanish in the lead roles. The short was later included in the 2008 anthology film Takut: Faces of Fear.
Working together as co-directors for the first time, Tjahjanto and Stamboel released the 2007 short film Dara. Timo Tjahjanto, who would later become his partner as The Mo Brothers, worked on the film as a freelance cameraman. Filming took place over the course of 20 as the crew and cast were only available during the weekends. The shooting took place in Sydney, Australia, where he was studying at the time. In 2004, Stamboel released his feature film debut Bunian based on a screenplay he co-wrote with Virra I.