You won’t believe the REAL-LIFE horror stories that these Malaysians faced in the cinema

It’s October already? That means it’s hantu season! Time for Halloween, trick-or-treats, ghouls and pumpkin spice latte. In fact some might even say hantu season started a bit earlier, with the Hungry Ghost Festival that happened between August and September. Now Halloween some more, better be extra careful when going out at night to avoid making new friends laa k.

But on top of that, October also means GSC’s Screens of Terror campaign! As such, we’ve teamed up with GSC to find out what are some of our readers’ super spooky experiences when in the cinema. Furthermore, GSC will be having various events throughout the spooky season, with candy giveaways at certain cinemas and special appearances from some of our, uh, ‘favourite’ silver screen monsters. There’ll also be roadshows during the month celebrating Halloween as well as Trick O’ Treat Pumpkin Booths where you can try to win treats and prizes.

As for our spooky silver screen stories that our readers submitted, how about we start with a classic horror movie cliche – mysterious faces in the reflection… except this time it’s not a movie :O

 

1. The face in the bathroom mirror

If you’re gonna watch a movie called ‘Hell Fest’ that has the slogan ‘Fun going in, hell getting out’, then, well, be prepared for the hell fest that might come after that laa k.

According to Soscili reader Giare, she went to watch the slasher/horror movie Hell Fest alone one fine night. During the movie suddenly she saw some guy sit at the end of the row. Like okay maybe someone late to the movie laa right? Nope, Giare took a glace at him… only to find no one there. Well, that’s just creepy by itself.

But later on, like most normal people, after the movie must go pee out all the soda, so Giare went to the toilet. While washing up tho she suddenly saw that guy’s face again…. in the mirror. She got so shocked by the extra face in the reflection that Giare ended up fainting.

“The man’s face was so ugly that when I saw him I fainted. Thankfully someone helped me. That cinema is really haunted, the management there even discourages people watching movies late night,” – Giare

Spooky-o-meter: 4/5. As scary as Mona Fandey’s face in Dukun, but not as scary as Mona Fandey’s real life face tho.

 

2. The suddenly empty cinema hall you couldn’t leave

If you haven’t realised that it’s probably a bad idea to watch a horror film late at night from the first entry, try watching a horror movie at night… in the midst of the Hungry Ghost Festival. Back when he was still in school, Randall and his dad found some time alone, since the mummy was out for a dinner function. One and a half men, what to do? Watch horror movie loh.

After deciding to watch The Maid, they enter the cinema dy and they found that it was surprisingly quite full. Luckily for them they got tickets for a place in the middle of the cinema. So you know how the exit doors only open near the end of the movie right? Well half way through, with no escape in sight….

“Midway through the movie, my dad nudged me and gestured to look ahead aaaaanddd, the front rows were now empty,” – Randall

They weren’t the only ones who got freaked out too, as according to Randall, a bunch of other movie-goers realised what was going on and they tried to leave the hall. The staff there was also trying to tell them that they can’t leave midway… for some reason… *tin-foil hat intensifies*

Spooky-o-meter: 3/5. Not overly scary, but still a pretty amusing story, like Alamak Toyol.

 

3. The ponytail pull

Sheela and her hubby had gone to watch the latest scare on the silver screen, The Conjuring 2. Half way thru the movie, Sheela’s hair – which was tied up in a ponytail – started being played with. Since it’s a gancheong scene going on, she tucked away her ponytail so no one can play with it. Beside, it was probably just her husband right… right?

“I tucked my head back so that the ponytail was pressed against the seat.I looked to the opposite side of me, and nobody was there. Thus, I was convinced it had to have been my husband. After the movie, I asked him whether he was the one who was playing with my hair but he sweared that he didn’t do it. I pretty much couldn’t sleep that night,” – Sheela

So this is also probably the worst time to mention that we asked some cinema people and we got told of how whenever a new cinema opens, they usually have a screening of a movie…. for an, um, empty hall. Or rather, for the ‘tenants’ that may be around.

You probably won’t find the same kinda spooky skeletons or ghouls like Sheela at GSC. They do however have free candy, so sounds like a much better deal if you ask us.

Spooky-o-meter: 4/5. Once you put both stories together, it’s some real Jangan Pandang Belakang horror right there.

 

4. The stranger that followed her home

Soscili reader Alana found herself watching The Nun at 10pm with a friend. Halfway thru, Alana had to pee, so she left for the toilet and when she got back she found someone strange sitting behind her and her friend.

Like okay, they were pretty sure the seat behind them was empty when the movie started, but maybe someone came in late right? But Alana and her friend instantly got the chills the moment they glanced back and couldn’t watch the movie in peace. And things just seemed to get worse for Alana and her friend even once the movie was done.

“Come back from movie dy my friend called saying got some long hair ‘thing’ following her,” – Alana

Yikes. Let’s hope nun-thing happened to her.

Spooky-o-meter: 3/5. Only Hantu Kak Limah level horror, since we never saw the actual ‘thing’.

 

5. The cinema chair that wouldn’t stop shaking, and caused a fever

Okay so we have not one… but TWO stories that involve a violently shaking chair – and neither were in GSC’s 4DX (we checked). The first one happened to Ahmad Haziq, who just wanted to watch a nice Malay film after dinner. Haziq went with a friend, and the cinema was pretty empty, with no one around him.

Midway thru tho, his seat started shaking quite a bit. Every mildly amusing scene led to his seat going off like a terrible alarm clock. But who has never had a rowdy kid behind them kicking your seat right? Well… not Haziq anyway, as he took a glance and found no one there. His chair tho kept rocking back and forth and when he finally got annoyed he turned back again, only to find….

“I suddenly saw this dark shadowy figure behind. I was so shocked that I immediately asked my friend to leave the cinema. The next day, I fell ill and had a fever for a few days,” – Haziq

The second reader who told us about his cinema seat turning into a massage chair was Faizz Eihz. Faizz was watching the horror comedy movie ‘Keranda Tok Wan Terbang’ (Tok Wan’s Flying Coffin) at midnight, and the cinema was pretty empty cos it was a weekday plus so late at night some more. Seated in 12G with 5 empty seats behind him, he randomly got kicked in the back of his seat by no one.

“In the middle of a funny scene my chair suddenly got kicked. But when I look behind got no one, so of course I started overthinking it. From watching a horror comedy to experiencing just horror cos my chair was kicked by five empty seats behind me,” – Faizz

Spooky-o-meter: 5/5. Yeah one incident spooked us but two just gives us the hebie-jebies, like Haunted Hotel.

 

BONUS ENTRIES – the stories that made us scream… in laughter

Let’s be honest here, ghouls and ghosts may scare us a bit, but nothing freaks us out quite like an existential crisis.

You know the saying, ‘keep your friends close, and your enemies closer’ right?

Nothing says awkward quite like… forcing someone else to buy another box of popcorn…?

 

And there’s a combination of both screams and laughs leading up to Halloween

On top of all the events, candy and ‘spooky’ appearances that you can expect at GSC this October, you can also take part in the Spookiest Instagram Contest, where you can win some goodies by taking and posting some uber creative and spooky photos. Even the kids are in for a fright, with games based on the movie Goosebumps Haunted Halloween being held at selected cinemas. There’ll also be a bunch of horror flicks being aired throughout the month, such as:

If you wanna take part in all the spooky horror fun, you better hurry up yeah, GSC’s Screens of Terror ends 4th November. Until then, if your cinema seat starts shaking about…. get some panadol.