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The horror genre in Malaysia has been deeply influenced by folklore and traditional beliefs. The evolution of the genre is also a story of censorship, government intervention, the cyclical relationship of creation and consumption in a capitalist society. Syamsul Yusof’sMunafik premiered in 2016 and became the most profitable horror movie in Malaysia. The film thus stands as an important cultural product and a look into what audiences find terrifying.
The research is split in two parts, the first being a discussion of the process of Islamisation, the growth of the Malay-Muslim middle class, and the influences of state-sponsored censorship and how disparate factors come together to impact Malaysian cultural production and cinema. The second is an analysis on Munafik (2016) which explores the state-sanctioned messages and ideologies presented in the text, and how this relates to overarching ideas on gender, audiences, and national cinema. The questions presented in the study are “Who is this film made for?”, “What are the ideologies which are presented inMunafik?” and finally, “How is gender represented in Munafik?” The discussion will touch on the broader context of Malay-Muslim hegemony in Malaysian national cinema and the role ofthe state in film production. Ultimately, Munafik is a film driven by the demands of a population that wants to consume content that is aligned with their faith and steeped in iconography and ideologies that reflect the dominant cultural order.
