Witches with Flying Heads
Films featuring the krasue, penanggalan or leyak, transformed witches from SE Asian folklore, they can fall into the general aswang category but very specifically the head comes off and flies around.
Other films not currently listed here, include My Mother is Arb (1980) and Burn the Witch (aka Plerng Ches Arb) (2004).
Further reading: Leaks, Penanggalans and Krasues, Oh My!, a good overview of this sub-sub-genre, and there is an attempt to compile a full list here (which I've tried to draw on to expand this list).
Availability: Usually pretty poor in the West, Mystics in Bali has a nice release from Mondo Marcabo but some of the classics like Witch With Flying Head haven't got an English-language release, not even through less than legal sources.
See also: The Eternal Evils of Asia, a broader list on SE Asian occult horror.
Other films not currently listed here, include My Mother is Arb (1980) and Burn the Witch (aka Plerng Ches Arb) (2004).
Further reading: Leaks, Penanggalans and Krasues, Oh My!, a good overview of this sub-sub-genre, and there is an attempt to compile a full list here (which I've tried to draw on to expand this list).
Availability: Usually pretty poor in the West, Mystics in Bali has a nice release from Mondo Marcabo but some of the classics like Witch With Flying Head haven't got an English-language release, not even through less than legal sources.
See also: The Eternal Evils of Asia, a broader list on SE Asian occult horror.
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19 titles
- DirectorH. Tjut DjalilStarsIlona Agathe BastianYos SantoSofia W.D.A woman researches a book that takes her to the black magic cult of Leák in Bali. She meets an evil witch who promises to train her dark arts. But she is tricked and turned into a flying vampire with internal organs hanging from her neck.Here for the thumbnail
- DirectorJose NepomucenoStarsMary Walteraka Witches
Going by the name it features the related creature, the manananggal, differing from the krasue in that it comes apart at the waist. However, it is close enough to count for the purposes of this list.
The early date is also impressive. - DirectorConsuelo P. OsorioStarsPugoLopitoPatsy
- DirectorZhigang FengStarsAn BanriNu FenghuangJiasheng LinJust going by the name.
- DirectorZhigang FengStarsAn BanriNu FenghuangJiasheng Lin
- DirectorH. Tjut DjalilStarsIlona Agathe BastianYos SantoSofia W.D.A woman researches a book that takes her to the black magic cult of Leák in Bali. She meets an evil witch who promises to train her dark arts. But she is tricked and turned into a flying vampire with internal organs hanging from her neck.aka Mystics in Bali
- DirectorSisworo Gautama PutraStarsBarry PrimaW.D. MochtarDana ChristinaJaka Sembung is the leader of the rebel and a famous fighter that inspires people to fight the Dutch Colonial Government. The Dutch representative in Java offers a reward for his death and employs another mighty warrior to go after him.About a magical warrior who can detach his head to fight his opponent.
- DirectorJen-Chieh ChangStarsHsiu-Chen ChenShang-Chien LiuChang MaA woman who has been cursed by a witch must rip off her head every night so it can fly around, attack people and drink their blood, which keeps her alive.aka Witch With Flying Head
After which the list is named. It also has the best poster. - DirectorChih-Hung KueiStarsPhillip KoShao-Yen LinKar-Man WaiWhile in Thailand to avenge his brother who was crippled in a fight with a corrupt Thai boxer, a man gets caught up in a web of fate, Buddhism and black magic.aka Boxer's Omen
This film has every strange thing they could think of thrown in and someone being attacked by a magical flying head is far from the strangest thing in the movie. - DirectorLu-Po TuStarsChi-Mei ChinKwok-Kuen ChanYung Chan"Devil Sorcery" directed by Do Gong-Yue is an entertaining HK black magic film about a wizard who performs many hideous magic rituals.The student of a good wizard decides to get it on with his master's wife and all hell breaks loose after tragic death of his master.The ghastly events involve flying heads and graphic centipede puking.
- DirectorJeffrey LauStarsSandra Kwan Yue NgSharla CheungAnn BridgewaterA police sting takes place in a haunted apartment building. The sting goes bad when a female ghost crashes the party. Lots of chase scenes involving floating heads and headless bodies.. and, oh yes.... toy helicopters. And then it gets weird...A band of Chinese elves save the day (one of them plays a mandolin).
- DirectorMario O'HaraStarsTonton GutierrezAlma ConcepcionIce SeguerraAn English-speaking manananggal (a malevolent, blood sucking monster) spreads terror in Manila. The manananggal is a Philippines mythical creature described as scary, often hideous, usually depicted as female, and always capable of severing its upper torso and sprouting huge bat-like wings to fly into the night in search of its victims. Philippines Filipino Tagalog movie.
- DirectorBin BunlueritStarsAkekaphan BunlueritNatthorn SomkanaeNak-rob TraipoeIn this ghastly revenge tale from the ancient past, Arawati, a Khmer princess, is forced to marry the conquering tyrant of the new Thai regime, but is in love with one of his soldiers. After being sentenced to death after being caught in a hidden love affair with the young soldier, she is burnt alive, yet not before she has magical incantations spoken over by a Khmer priestess. Although she is burned at the stake, this Khmer magic enables her soul to remain unharmed in her head and bowels, which escape the scene as she is transformed into the Southeast Asian Horror, the Krasue (a.k.a. P'Graseau, or Penanggalan in Chinese), a witch with a flying head. At the same time in another village, another young woman named Dao, who just happend to be her identical twin, dies by black magic because of rejecting the advances of the son of the village sorcerer. Arawati's soul occupies Dao's corpse in order to stay alive on earth, and at night, her head and entrails leave Dao's occupied body to drift in the air looking for prey. The local villagers are confused about why Dao has resurrected, and why she can't remember some of their names, but they fail to suspect her as the local will-o-wisp that begins by disembowling animals and then moves on to bigger and better victims, blaming instead a local dishevelled old woman on the outskirts of town. Will they find out before it's too late? Watch the film!
- DirectorKam ChantyStarsSovan MakarDan Monikaaka Lady Vampire
- DirectorYuthlert SippapakStarsPloy JindachoteViyada UmarinKowit WattanakulA beautiful nurse started a new job in an old hospital. She is well-liked by her colleagues because of her graceful personality and sharp mind. The hospital janitor for the hospital falls for the nurse at first sight. The first rose he gives to the nurse leads to a surprising kind of true love. Surprisingly, the nurse discovers an old photo of a couple hiding in the hospital, which turns out to be the photo of her past life. When she goes to tell the janitor about this surprise, he has been in an accident; he cannot move his body, only blink his eyes. Meanwhile, the nurse finally realizes the horrible truth behind her mysterious illness, there's something abnormal and supernatural inside her body, something that she just doesn't want to accept.
- DirectorHerman YauStarsMark ChengMaggie SiuSuet LamA policeman travels to Thailand and has an affair. When he has to return to Hong Kong, he promises that he will return. He doesn't, that sends his life into a spiral thanks to the girl's connections in the black magic world.
- DirectorSitisiri MongkolsiriStarsPhantira PipityakornOabnithi WiwattanawarangSapol AssawamunkongIn a far-away village, lived an innocent teenage girl, "Sai" who later discovered herself inheriting the curse of "Krasue". At night, her head would detach from her body and hunts for flesh and blood. Villagers are terrified by the deaths of their livestocks and that is when the Krasue hunt begins. "Jerd" a friend joined the hunt with an unknown reason while "Noi", the childhood friend who had just came back to the village decided to stand beside Sai despite knowing the horrifying truth.aka Krasue: Inhuman Kiss