In 2007 the made-in-Malaysia movie Jangan Pandang Belakang (Don’t Look Back) made headlines all over Malaysia.
It was considered a masterpiece in the annals of movie making in Malaysia.
I tried to watch it but didn’t get the chance to.
I looked for a DVD but was told that they were all sold out.
I finally found one the other day at One Utama.
My family and I sat down to watch it the other night.
We had a good laugh.
A masterpiece?
Call us philistines, but honestly our youngest boy could have done better with his Panasonic SDR-S7.
We laughed till our tummies ached.
The movie received some unexpected publicity after the Malaysian government-run National Censorship Board insisted the movie’s posters and advertisements include a warning: “Not suitable for pregnant women and those with ailing hearts.”
Also, a stuntman died during the shooting of the movie, adding to the mystery.
It was also reported that a cameraman captured a mysterious entity on site. (That photo was being use as a teaser poster for the movie.)
All these incidents attracted people to the movie.
The movie raised eyebrows with a record-breaking collection of RM433, 589 on its opening day.
Unbelieveable huh?
It went on to collect millions at the box office. In fact it holds the record as the highest-grossing film in Malaysia, collecting RM6.33 million.
(The second-best selling movie in Malaysia is the 1994 drama Sembilu.)
Why did my family and I laughed till we got sick?
It is the worst movie anyone of us has ever watched in our lives.
Instead of being a horror movie, it turned out to be a comedy.
There’s nothing original about the movie, every scene is stolen from some other horror movies like Ringu, Ju-on, Shutter, etc.
The acting is also bad.
Moral of the story: Give a retard a videocam and he thinks he’s Steven Spielberg.
And idiots actually pay money to watch the crap he produces, including sequels.
That’s where the real horror is.