Susuk,women and abjection in contemporary malay horror films [Susuk,Wanita dan Abjection dalam Filem Seram Kontemporari Melayu]

Contemporary malay horror films often use susuk as a horror element. due to the popularity of susuk among the malay communities,the practice of susuk as a source of horror in contemporary malay horror films is inevitable. susuk is defined as impurities that are inserted into the body accompanied by magic spells. various studies have been carried out on women characters in horror films in malaysia. however,focuses on the relationship between women characters and susuk is largely ignored. thus,this article examines women characters and susuk,focusing on two contemporary malay horror films,namely susuk (2008) directed by amir muhammad and naeim ghalili and sumpahan kum kum (2012) directed by ismail bob hashim. by using julia kristeva’s abjection (1982) within the feminist psychoanalysis tradition as the key concept,textual analysis is performed to elucidate the meaning and ideology of the texts. the analysis focused on character and characterisation as well as filming technique. the analysis revealed that these two films were able to defy patriarchal ideology,which dictates that everything in this world is stable and should me made stable. the use of susuk is able to empower the women characters; hence challenging patriarchal ideology. susuk and women in these two films have proven that the dominant patriarchal ideology is not as stable as it purports to be. © 2017,universiti kebangsaan malaysia press. all rights reserved.