“The Best Aid For Supplication Is Humility.”

A lawyer woke up in the hospital after surgery

He asked, “Why are all the blinds drawn in here?” The nurse answered, “There’s a fire across the street and we didn’t want you to think the operation had been a failure.”

Encounter 

by Felix Riano

Feeling rather ouija-bored myself these days...

The Nashville Tennessean, Nashville, Tennessee, April 7, 1920

Beware All Who Enter

Here lies the passage to the dead. Or living. On undecided. Honestly, no pressure except the one you put on yourselves.

Hello, my name is Fisher (pseudonym, obviously!) and this is my personal blog. I'll mostly write or reblog about:

Horror stuff such as book reviews and movie or tv suggestions but mostly book reviews.

Paranormal shit from your haunted hollows to curious cryptids and demonic denizens

Beetles and cats cause these two are my favorite animals

Art pieces here and there. Links will be given. If I forgot to credit, please let me know.

Generally anything green. Aesthetics, fashion, nature photos, you name it. If it's green, it's in.

There will be a number of posts on Malaysian culture (Guess where I'm from?) and Islamic anecdotes sprinkled in as well.

Contents are generally posted on Thursdays after 7pm. Please keep any and all messages civil. Notice how I only use one profanity in this post. That's all. Explore safely and happy hauntings.

Pengabdi Setan (2017)

Pengabdi Setan, also known as Satan's Slave, is an Indonesian horror movie written and directed by Joko Anwar who also worked on other Indonesian horror films such as Perempuan Tanah Jahanam (Woman of the Damned Land aka Impetigore, 2019) and Ratu Ilmu Hitam (The Queen of Black Magic, 2019).

In the film, the matriarch who fell ill more than 3 years ago passed away under mysterious circumstances, setting a chain of horrific motions haunting her children Rini (Tara Basro), Tony (Endy Arfian), Bondi (Nasar Anuz), and Ian (Muhammad Adhiyat). Set in the early 1980s, Joko Anwar sets the mood with dim lighting and plot twists, evoking a building sense of suspense that climaxes into a horrific peak involving fertility cults and zombified pocongs.

Aside from the riveting storyline and awesome cast and crew, one thing that stuck with me is the soundtrack. Throughout the entire movie, snippets of Kelam Malam, performed by The Spouse and introduced as the matriarch's hit song early in the film, further set the mood playing throughout the movie with its haunting melody and suggestive lyrics.

The easter egg ending features Darminah who, for those who don't know, appeared in the 1980 version of Pengabdi Setan making this movie a remake, though some suggest it is also a prequel given that the 2017 setting was 1981 while the 1980 setting was 1982. Regardless, the seductive ending scene set against Diwajahmu Kulihat Bulan by Sam Saimun also set the mood for the sequel which we will see soon this year in 2022.

Happy Hauntings!

Night Traffic

Le Manoir du Diable (1896)

Considered the earliest horror film ever made, Le Manoir du Diable, French for House of the Devil, is an 1896 silent film by George Méliès about two wandering cavaliers and how the Devil played tricks on them.

Far from being terror-inducing, the entire 3-minute short film (quite ambitious at the time) was actually a comic sketch meant to evoke laughter and amusement from its audience, rather than fear. It was presumed lost until the late 1980s when a copy was found again and restored by the New Zealand Film Archives.

Book Review: Strange and Paranormal Tales of Malacca by Dennis de Witt

Title: Strange and Paranormal Tales from Malacca

Author: Dennis de Witt

ISBN: 9789671668610

For locals and interested international readers, De Witt's compilation offers a unique insight into the type of magical fantasy and monstrous wonders that exists in Malacca and its surrounding areas. From rock-throwing poltergeists to sea monsters and even mystical old men with the power to stop vehicles from working, De Witt weaves short tales around each subject, enough to inspire awe and curiosity in the readers. The entire book is broken down into three categories:

1421 - 1824 (Malacca Malay Sultanate and the Portuguese and Dutch Colonization Era)

1825 - 1956 (British Colonization Era)

1957 - 2019 (Post-Independent Malacca and the Modern Era)

I will admit that some entries looked much too short and a question kept nagging at the back of my mind: Where's the rest?! Fortunately, as a historian, De Witt keeps a meticulous record of his findings and supplicates each entry with a list of references for further reading. Most of it is newspaper clippings but a few of them are interesting for future reads like Malay Magic by Walter Skeat and The Were-Tiger by Sir Hugh Cliffords.

Overall, this book is a good stepping stone into the world of Malay folklore, particularly Malaccan folktales. Some stories are strange, others have a dash of the paranormal, and some just make you want to find out more.

Happy Hauntings!

Oh Allah ﷻ protect me from being attached to something that will not benefit me in my akhirah. آمين