Two Indonesian ghost stories, a Cambodian haunting and Myanmar's first theatrical zombie film all landed within days of each other. Here's the region's horror slate.
Myanmar now has a theatrically released zombie film, and it arrived the same week as a Cambodian ghost story, two Indonesian hauntings and a fresh teaser from Thailand. Southeast Asian horror is having a busy November, so here is the map.
Indonesia: two haunted openings, one day
Both of Indonesia’s new horror films opened on November 5. Rambut Sewu: Satu Langkah Getih (roughly, “a thousand hairs: one bloody step”) comes from director Hanny R. Saputra. It centers on an old village house with a dark past tied to a former resident. A woman who works at a tea factory moves in with her mother. The factory owns the property. Strange things start happening. Meanwhile, a reporter who once lived in the village comes back to investigate as stories about the incidents spread on social media. A ghost story that goes viral feels very current.
The second opener, Putri, Jangan Gentayangan Lagi, has one of the better titles of the season. It translates to “Putri, stop roaming around,” and the roaming in question is haunting. Putri is a young woman who runs away from home, becomes pregnant and returns to her family a year later. She soon dies, and neighbors begin reporting encounters with her ghost.
Behind the camera is Rizal Mantovani, a prolific horror director whose credits include Sumala, The Train of Death and Jurnal Risa. The script is by Alim Sudio, who has written a number of Indonesian remakes of foreign horror films, among plenty of other projects. Both men keep very full calendars.
Thailand: a teaser, a sequel and a theme park
Thailand has three items in play. Dawn of Seonsang (สมิงที่เสิงสาง) released a new, longer teaser with English subtitles this week. It’s the latest horror film from the director of the first two Death Whisperer films. It’s set in the 1970s and shares some actors with those movies, but it isn’t part of the franchise.
Inherit opens in Thailand on November 19. It’s the latest from the director of Shutter and The Medium, and he has confirmed to Variety that a sequel is coming. Getting a follow-up announced before the first film opens is a decent show of confidence.
Then there’s Kijsada Paradise, which opened in Thailand earlier this year and arrives on Netflix on Wednesday in some countries. It was partly shot at an abandoned theme park. Horror Historian, the newsletter tracking all of this, describes it as looking like a cross between the Five Nights at Freddy’s and Re / Member films, with a young cast.
Malaysia, Cambodia and Myanmar
Lunar July opened in Malaysia on October 29, adding to the pile of horror built around the Chinese hungry ghost festival. It’s largely in Mandarin and mostly shot in Penang. Director JeRR PS Rion, who made the Chinese-language horror White last year, uses the genre to look at a generational split among ethnic Chinese Malaysians. A young rock band disrespects the festival’s traditions and pays for it.
In Cambodia, The Last Diary (កំណត់ហេតុចុងក្រោយ) opened on November 6. A woman loses her fiancé in a devastating nightclub fire and then experiences a run of supernatural events, with flashbacks that reveal the truth behind the blaze. As the encounters intensify, a restless spirit makes an unsettling demand by possessing her friend. It’s the third horror film from director Hov Nhanh. The trailer is on YouTube, where you can turn on auto-generated English subtitles through the CC button.
Myanmar’s entry is the most unusual. Zombies Plaza (ဇွန်ဘီပလာဇာ) also opened on November 6, and it is billed as the first theatrically released zombie film from the country. There’s a trailer, plus a behind-the-scenes look at the makeup and effects, which is where a first-of-its-kind creature feature tends to show its craft.
Farther afield
Elsewhere in Asia, Godzilla Minus Zero opened in dozens of countries starting November 3, Godzilla Day in Japan. It continues the story of Godzilla Minus One, screens in IMAX in some territories and is doing huge box office. Taiwan’s school swimming-team curse film Suffocation (晚窒息) now has a November 27 release date and a new subtitled trailer. In South Korea, Train to Busan is getting another physical media release in the U.S. in 4K for its ten-year anniversary. The second Kathmandu Horror Film Festival in Nepal wrapped up last weekend.
Halloween has a side story too. A hospital in Thailand held a blood drive tied to the holiday, and the BBC covered it. Halloween keeps growing across much of Asia, and Japan came up with a quieter version called Jimi Halloween. Instead of going as something scary or sexy, participants dress up as ordinary people doing regular, dull things.
Via Horror Historian
