Dendam Pontianak remains a sensation on Nur Fazura’s Twitter account in October
“I wanted to pay homage to that classical horror but give it a contemporary spin,” said Singaporean director Glen Goei who co-directed the horror flick Dendam Pontianak (Revenge of the Pontianak).
The horror film which he co-directed with Gavin Yap is a Malaysia-Singapore joint production.
Dendam Pontianak takes audiences back to the 1960’s about a newly-married couple whom unexpectedly experience troubles in their marriage when a Pontianak arrived at their home.
The female spirit – played by Malaysian actress Nur Fazura – ironically manifest itself as a beautiful woman clad in a red baju kebaya, seeking revenge against her ex-lover (played by Remy Ishak) who didn’t keep his promise.
In October, it is observed that Dendam Pontianak was heavily linked with Nur Fazura on Twitter, despite the film being released more than a month ago in Malaysia, on September 12.
Based on data collected, #nowscreaming is the most popular hashtag for the actress following the announcement that the horror flick will be available globally through Netflix, with its release date set on October 24.
Besides #nowscreaming, hashtags #dendampontianak, #netflix, and #revengeofthepontianak were also heavily used on Nur Fazura’s Twitter account.
Additionally, Fazura was also frequently mentioned alongside her co-star Remy Ishak (@remy_ishak) within the same timeframe.
The second most mentioned account with Fazura is the official local Twitter account of popular streaming service Netflix, @NetflixMY.
However, if we look at Fazura’s top issues on Twitter in October, the biggest portion is not about Dendam Pontianak, instead it refers to Fazura’s heartfelt message dedicated to local film director Mohd Firdaus Mohd Hanif (Pitt Hanif) who recently passed away in a boating accident.
On Instagram, Fazura shared that she is thankful to be given the opportunity to work with the late Pitt Hanif, whom was also the son of local veteran actress Fauziah Nawi. She said “He (Pitt Hanif) was one of the best people to work with in the Malaysian entertainment industry”.
Fazura linked her Instagram post to her Twitter account, which later becomes her most retweeted tweet in October, as highlighted in the “luluh mendengar pemergian” cluster.
On the other hand, Dendam Pontianak took up the second and third clusters, “papa jahat” and “Pontianak starring” respectively.
The film was first released in Singapore on August 29. Its box office sales in the country grossed over S$256,000 during its opening weekend, surpassing other Malay language horror films such as Dukun and Hantu Kak Limah.