‘New kinds of monsters’: The rise of Southeast Asian horror films

Imbued with local folklore, Malaysian and Indonesian horror movies are breathing new life into a tired genre.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – The Netflix and Disney+ Hotstar premiere of Roh (Malay for “soul”), a supernatural demonic horror movie and the first feature-length film by Malaysian director Emir Ezwan, marks another international achievement for a new wave of low-budget horror works produced in Southeast Asia. Making its worldwide debut on June 1, Roh was shot in two weeks in the Dengkil forest to the south of Kuala Lumpur on a budget of RM360,000 ($88,500). It made a flash debut on Malaysian and Singaporean cinema screens in August 2020, just before a new wave of COVID-19 infections shut theatres down. Roh first got on the cinematic world’s radar after it was picked by the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS) as the unlikely choice to represent the strait-laced country in the International Feature Film category at the 93rd Academy Awards in April.