From Monster To Romantic Heroine

ONE OF THE most enduring entertainment icons of Singapore is the pontianak. A popular horror figure in Southeast Asian folklore, the female vampire has been the subject of countless books, movies and TV shows for decades. That, however, hasn't stopped film director Glen Goei from turning his lens on her. The twist is that he wants to tell the story from her point of view, instead of the "heroic" men who hunt her down.

Goei, famous for films such as The Blue Mansion (2009) and Forever Fever (1998), grew up watching pontianak films on TV. "I'd watch these Malay horror classics such as Sumpah Pontianak (Pontianak's Curse, 1958) and Serangan Orang Minyak (The Attack Of The Oily Man, 1958), and they really scared me back then," says the 56-year-old.

"But as I grew older, I stopped being scared. Instead, I became fascinated with who they really were. I began to wonder why they were seen as evil or frightening. In some instances, the pontianak was taking revenge for something awful inflicted on her earlier. In essence, she still had deeply human qualities such as hurt, anger and sadness - she was, after all, a human being before she transformed into this monster."