2019 | 106 minutes | English | Indonesia

Directed by: Joko Anwar

Featuring: Tara Basro, Ario Bayu, Marissa Anita, Christine Hakim, Asmara Abigail

Contains blood, gore and mature subject matter. Halaloween Horror Rating 5/5 - Gory, suspenseful female-centered folk horror set in a remote Indonesian village

Down on her luck, Maya learns that she may inherit a house in her ancestral village. But when Maya returns to the village with her loyal best-friend, Dini, she’s unaware that the community has been trying to kill her to remove the curse that's plagued them for years. As she unravels the complicated truth of her past, Maya finds herself in a fight for her life. A SHUDDER ORIGINAL.

Love Horror Films? Shudder streams the best in new independent and international horror, including Jayro Bustamante’s 2021 Peabody Award-winner La Llorona. Try Shudder free for 14 days with promo code HALALOWEEN when you sign up at Shudder.com.

Join us Thursday, October 28 4-6 PM ET fo a live panel discussion as we wrap up Halaloween with a discussion on Muslim horror, the use (and misuse) of Islam and the Quran in the horror genre, feminist politics in horror, and how each region differs in its creation of horror films. This panel will feature experts and scholars: Dr. Karla Mallette, Dr. Kristian Petersen, Sena Duran, Dr. Alireza Doostdar, and Dr. Alicia Izharuddin. RSVP here: bit.ly/halaltalks

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Thank you for joining our annual Halaloween: A Muslim Film Festival presented by the Global Islamic Studies Center (GISC) at the University of Michigan.

What's Halaloween? In 2019 during the month of October, we launched the first ever Muslim Horror Film Festival: Halaloween. Halaloween screens horror films from across the globe that were made by, for, or about Muslims with the hopes of understanding ‘What scares Muslim audiences? Are horror movies halal?’.  The previous Halaloween Festivals featured A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night, Dachra, Siccin 4 and more.

This year we are hosting the festival online and screening one film a week for the month of October. We're giving you the remote and allowing viewers to watch on their own time: each film will be available for a whole week. We're also inclusive of everyone's film needs: from new horror fans who close their eyes through most of the films, to those who love the gore - we've got films for everyone! Check the Halaloween Horror Rating in the description of each film for a better sense on how scary each film will be.

The festival remains free, and will come to you wherever you are (though some films may not be available in certain countries). Films will be unlocked online each week of October, and viewers will have the week to watch each film. We'll wrap up the month of October with a live panel discussion on Muslim Horror, the use of Islam and the Quran, and how each region differs in its creation of horror films (sign up to our newsletter below to stay updated on this event, or check our social media).

The 2021 Halaloween Lineup:

October 1 - 122 | 2019 | Egypt

October 8 - KL24: Zombies | 2017 | Malaysia

October 15 - Kandisha | 2008 | Morocco

October 22 - Madayen | 2016 | Saudi Arabia

October 29 - Impetigore | 2019 | Indonesia

Halaloween: A Muslim Horror Film Festival is brought to you by the Global Islamic Studies Center at the University of Michigan and cosponsored by the Middle East Studies Department, the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies, the African Studies Center, American Culture, Arab and Muslim American Studies, the Center for South Asian Studies, the Digital Islamic Studies Center, Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, the International Institute, the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies, the Department of Film, Television, and Media, the Institute for Research on Women & Gender, and the University of Michigan Library.

Love Horror Films? Shudder streams the best in new independent and international horror, including Jayro Bustamante’s 2021 Peabody Award-winner La Llorona. Try Shudder free for 14 days with promo code HALALOWEEN when you sign up at Shudder.com.

Want to hear about similar events from U-M Islamic Studies? Sign up for the GISC Newsletter here! We send out a monthly newsletter in collaboration with the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies, and the Digital Islamic Studies Curriculum.

Stay tuned on our upcoming events by following our socials here: 

Facebook: UmichGISC

Twitter: @umichgisc