The pontianak (in Malaysian folklore a sort of female vampire associated with death in childbirth) was the protagonist of a popular Malay-speaking horror series from 1957 to 1964, produced by Cathay-Keris of Singapore, directed by veteran Indian filmmaker B. Narayan Rao, or sometimes by Ramon Estela. Maria Menado starred in the series on four occasions.
Already conjured up by Djinn in 2001 (Return to Pontianak, a cross between local legend and The Blair Witch Project), the pontianak now returns in this sentimental horror, written and directed by the Malaysian filmmaker Shuhaimi Baba. The film is set in a dilated and dreamy dimension, with frequent repetitions and powerful ellipsis (to an extent that there is an archaistic use of captions to summarize). Shuhaimi Baba’s vengeful pontianak drifts between reality and hallucination; the distinction between the objective and the subjective becomes blurred.
After a gloomy opening scene introduces the pontianak of the legend, a monstrous creature that flies from tree to tree (but can be transformed into a normal woman again by planting a nail in the back of her neck), we see the famous dancer Meriam spurn the advances of the wealthy Marsani - the year is 1949. Meriam is murdered by Marsani, but gives birth to a child as she is dying - and she returns as a pontianak, persecuting Marsani’s family in particular. Fast-forward to 2003, and Marsani, who has remained relatively youthful through "scientific" treatments, lives with a sense of guilt and terror of the pontianak. He believes he recognises the pontianak in the young woman Maria, who in fact has a mark on her neck. Between nightmares and spectral apparitions, the characters of Meriam and Maria are muddled....
In a difficult triple role, Maya Karin is convincing as the plain girl Maria, the refined dancer Meriam, and the furious pontianak - often slipping from one identity to another, aided only by a change in lighting or mere expressiveness.
Azri Iskandar is more individual in the second part as the deranged man tormented by remorse, compared to the sneering villain in the first part. In the secondary role of Sitam, Meriam’s disabled servant, Ida Nerina (who played a remarkable supporting role in Yasmin Ahmad’s Sepet of the same year) adds a fresh tone, entertaining and warm. Interestingly, the same actress plays the pontianak of the legend at the beginning of the film. In a later scene, Sitam frightens some children in the dark, thus raising the question - does Sitam also have a mark on her neck?