Pontianak (film)

Pontianak is a 1957 Malay horror film directed by Indian film director Balakrishna Narayana Rao, popularly known as B.N. Rao, and starring Maria Menado and M. Amin. Based on the Malay folktales of a blood-sucking ghost born from a woman who dies in childbirth, the smash hit premiered on 27 April 1957 and screened for almost three months at the local Cathay cinemas. Its success spawned two other sequels, Dendam Pontianak (Revenge of the Pontianak, 1957) and Sumpah Pontianak (Curse of the Pontianak, 1958). It is also said to have launched the Pontianak genre in Malaysia and Singapore, with rival Shaw producing its own Pontianak trilogy and several movies of the same genre were also produced in Malaysia.

The film is believed to be lost, along with its sequel, with multiple conflicting accounts regarding their disappearance. One version suggests that producer Ho Ah Loke deliberately discarded the film in a mining pool out of frustration. Another claims that his wife disposed of the reels due to her dissatisfaction with storing films in their home's air-conditioned room. A third account states that Ho discarded the films during a routine house clearing, also into a mining pool.