Selaphobia: Ritual of Human Sacrifice and the Regimes of Image in Thai and Indonesian Folk Horror Screens

Abstract

        This research paper investigates Southeast Asian folk horrors in Thai television drama The Seer and Indonesian film Impetigore by comparing their portrayals of spiritualism through the ritual of human sacrifice. The paper thereby observes similar socio-political thought in the two countries’ horror stories. The analysis demonstrates how the two texts combine their writers’ imagination and personal memory to re-imagine the folk horrors as prosthetic memory with a potential to be carried on. Additionally, the analysis employing the “regime of image” conception reveals three analogous concepts reflected in the two texts: (1) The existence of ghost and spirit in the modern world on the condition that they are placed in designate public/private spaces; while the “good” ghost can be visible publicly, the “bad” ghost are eliminated or hidden; (2) The careful political critique preventing criticisms with specific targets; and (3) The use of investigative plot revealing the knowledge and memory gaps between different generations, As the research demonstrates, the comparison between Thai and Indonesian folk horrors can be the starting point for conceiving the relationship between screen culture and social-political changes in a transnational/regional context.