Fun Fact Friday #1: Malaysia's First Ever Blockbuster Horror Film That You Will Never Get To See
Fun Fact Friday is a series of posts that aim to expand your knowledge and blow your mind with the most interesting, sometimes bizarre, rarely boring facts all over the world. This series will be updated every Friday!
BY FARHIRA FARUDIN
What makes a good horror film? I'll let you guys figure out the answer while I tell you mine: It's when the film leaves you speechless, your heart beats faster than ever, you take a peek at the screen in between your fingers and you tell yourself that you are sure you won't be sleeping tonight. And this will happen all at once. Okay, so answer this: When was the last time a local horror film made you feel such way? For me, it's been a while.
Now let me tell you a horror film made in 1957 titled Pontianak. As all classic pontianak movies go, the film is about a woman who died from childbirth and turns into a blood-sucking ghost. It's a classic adaptation of our famous Malay folklore. Pontianak was apparently our own version of The Exorcist. Not for its story or style, but for the audience's reaction towards it. When Pontianak was released in the theatres, it reportedly caused people to faint due to how terrifying it was. The film also went on to win several international awards and two more sequels were released. It was both a cult classic and a blockbuster hit. Everybody was crazy about it.
Of course with the massive audience reception and how easily it became a cult classic, we can only wonder, "If it was such a big hit, then how come we don't see it on TV ever?" My black and white local movies experience feel strictly reserved for P. Ramlee movies and I'd like to expand the horizon starting from this film itself. So where is it?
Apparently, the Cathay Keris producer and owner Ah Loke Ho had to clean his house for storage, and so he went on to throw away some film prints produced by the studio into the mining pool.
The shocking part? One of the films dumped was Pontianak.
Filmgoers over the decades tried to find at least a copy of the film to be preserved, and for the curious Malaysians like you and I to finally able to experience the movie. The movie was dubbed in Cantonese and English, for Hong Kong and US viewers respectively but no one knew if anyone kept a copy of it.
And so it's gone. Presumedly forever. No one has a copy of it. The only people who could confirm its existence are the people who have seen it in theatres. Nothing left for the newer generations to appreciate the movie.
And literally, that's it. That is the story of how our first local horror blockbuster got lost forever. Due to one silly mistake, the movie that left a huge impact on our local film history can no longer be seen again. It's so frustrating, but it's also a good reminder for the rest of us to always keep a backup, especially for our most remarkable works. *sigh*

BY FARHIRA FARUDIN
What makes a good horror film? I'll let you guys figure out the answer while I tell you mine: It's when the film leaves you speechless, your heart beats faster than ever, you take a peek at the screen in between your fingers and you tell yourself that you are sure you won't be sleeping tonight. And this will happen all at once. Okay, so answer this: When was the last time a local horror film made you feel such way? For me, it's been a while.
Now let me tell you a horror film made in 1957 titled Pontianak. As all classic pontianak movies go, the film is about a woman who died from childbirth and turns into a blood-sucking ghost. It's a classic adaptation of our famous Malay folklore. Pontianak was apparently our own version of The Exorcist. Not for its story or style, but for the audience's reaction towards it. When Pontianak was released in the theatres, it reportedly caused people to faint due to how terrifying it was. The film also went on to win several international awards and two more sequels were released. It was both a cult classic and a blockbuster hit. Everybody was crazy about it.

Of course with the massive audience reception and how easily it became a cult classic, we can only wonder, "If it was such a big hit, then how come we don't see it on TV ever?" My black and white local movies experience feel strictly reserved for P. Ramlee movies and I'd like to expand the horizon starting from this film itself. So where is it?
Apparently, the Cathay Keris producer and owner Ah Loke Ho had to clean his house for storage, and so he went on to throw away some film prints produced by the studio into the mining pool.
The shocking part? One of the films dumped was Pontianak.
Filmgoers over the decades tried to find at least a copy of the film to be preserved, and for the curious Malaysians like you and I to finally able to experience the movie. The movie was dubbed in Cantonese and English, for Hong Kong and US viewers respectively but no one knew if anyone kept a copy of it.
And so it's gone. Presumedly forever. No one has a copy of it. The only people who could confirm its existence are the people who have seen it in theatres. Nothing left for the newer generations to appreciate the movie.
And literally, that's it. That is the story of how our first local horror blockbuster got lost forever. Due to one silly mistake, the movie that left a huge impact on our local film history can no longer be seen again. It's so frustrating, but it's also a good reminder for the rest of us to always keep a backup, especially for our most remarkable works. *sigh*
Comments
Post a Comment