South Asian Culture in Hollywood Horror

Spooky Stories to Correct in the Dark? 

SPOILERS AHEAD! Continue if you dare :)

Spooky Season is here! The temperature drops, the fog rises up, and for just one month, it feels like the boundary between story and sanity is blurred. Some say that’s because we are inviting the spookiness into our homes through one direct portal – our television. We all watch Halloween movies during this time, whether they’re scary or not, right? Hocus Pocus, Scream, maybe something more hardcore like The Conjuring? Well, in the 1980s with the rise of scary movies, many believed that it was a direct door for the devil to enter. Is there truth to this claim? I’ll leave that for you to speculate.

I, for one, am a big fan of the films in this genre; that is until the film calls for a wide misrepresentation of South Asian culture. Oftentimes, scriptwriters may not even realize the appropriation or offense they might be adding into a script, however, these films were for the public, and the public tends to absorb and analyze. So let’s do just that! Let’s find out if the inclusion of South Asian culture is appreciated or appropriated in the films of the horror genre.

We’re gonna begin in 2018, just a season before our frightfully filled fall – summer. The sun is shining, the day is warm, and my friends and I head over to the movie theater (remember those!) to check out the latest scare factor - Hereditary. Before watching horror films, I tend to go in blind. The only knowledge I had gathered about the film going in was that many said it was the most frightening film they had ever seen. I was ready for the scares, but for me, Hereditary didn’t do it. What it did do, though, was make me question why I saw a book filled with a South Asian script in the middle of the film. Up until that moment in the film, there was not a mention of anything relating to South Asia (and there weren’t many people of color in the film either), and as the film came to the end, there was nothing else that mentioned or gave a hint to South Asian cultures at all. This stuck with me, more so than the rest of the film did.

After some quick research, it turns out the script is gibberish written in Devanagari and is unrelated to the images that are on the same page. Not only that, but the book with these writings is found in a box with other items that are related to a cult and on the cover of the book is a symbol for a demon-king, named Paimon. This symbol is shown often throughout the film, usually when something bone-chilling is discovered or a terrifying incident takes place. Why did the filmmakers include this particular language in the film? Upon reading the script, there was nothing specific about the language the extra props needed to be in. According to the script, the book was part of the  “couple other hardbacks”.

So, why did this film –– which is now critically acclaimed in the world of horror –– include this particular script? Could it be because some sources refer to Paimon as a djinn which is a supernatural creature derived from ancient Arabic mythology and the filmmakers were confused? Or could it simply be because they needed a “foreign-looking” language to convey that they’re dealing with something scary and unimaginable? Devanagari is the same script which languages such as Hindi, Marathi, even Sanskrit utilizes. And now, people who may not have come across these intricate and ornate languages before, might relate them to devil worshipping due to this film.

Hereditary isn’t the only horror film which borrows South Asian culture as a prop to advance its narrative. In 2009’s Drag Me to Hell, we’re introduced to Rham Jas. He’s your typical, fortune teller/psychic/medium with an Indian accent, whose office is adorned with Kantha quilts while tabla music plays in the background. Throughout the film he is a translator of the mystical unknown for the main character, Christine, informing her (and the audience) that she was cursed by a demon and helps her each step of the way. In 1994, Om Puri starred in Wolf, as Dr. Vijav Alezais. This movie is about how Jack Nickelson gets bitten by a werewolf and must control his urges –– made possible by the help of Dr. Vijav and a magical amulet. In both of these instances, South Asian characters were subjected to siding characters whose cultures were reduced to magical elements, and knowledge of dark ideas was used to help the main characters in their unfortunate (and spooky) situations. So far, it seems that South Asians are just helpful aides when times get tough. That can’t be all, right?

Well, not quite. Pushing the time even farther back takes us to a 1947 film that is globally renowned, based on a book that is just as awarded. Black Narcissus is a psychological drama that revolves around a small convent of nuns who have been invited by the Rajput ruler to start a school and hospital in the Himalayas. Throughout the palace, evil and impure spirits apparently lurking in the air - represented by the ancient Indian erotic paintings hung on the walls. This causes the nuns to lose their sanity. Out of the three main South Asian characters in this film, only one was played by a South Asian actor while the other two were in brownface and dawn pitiful Indian accents.

I acknowledge this film is a product of its time but was there a reason for the remake released last year which is of the same name and based on this same story. The remake did cast actual South Asian actors for the South Asian roles, and included more diversity, but did we need a story of westerners traveling to India, and being scared by people and ideas different from theirs, so much so that it’s considered a psychological thriller? Surely if a production is going to create a story that takes place and centers around South Asian culture, artwork, and heritage, the main storyline could at least be about a South Asian character, and maybe be genuine while we’re at it?

Fear not (or fearful), there is hope. Last year Blumhouse worked with Priyanka Chopra Jonas to release the movie Evil Eye on Amazon. A story about a mother who is convinced her daughter’s boyfriend is the reincarnation of a man who tried to kill her thirty years before. Sadly it only received a 44% on Rotten Tomatoes and not the greatest reviews. However, a film starring South Asians at the forefront of horror, employing tales and traditions from our own culture is exciting and long-awaited. It’s only going to get better from here because this is only the beginning. As we see more South Asians in the creative industry, it can only mean we will get to experience more and more authentic stories which reflect our actual nuanced identity, not as the all-knowing aides or mystical (and stereotypical) fortune-tellers, but as the main characters dealing with our own spooky misfortunes.