Malice

In the dark and mysterious world of folk horror, few legends have captured the imagination of Chinese audiences as vividly as the ancient curse of the vengeful Nu Gui. This malevolent spirit, known in some regions as Malice, has been whispered to haunt the rural villages and ancient forests of rural China for generations. For Keo Sinn, a young and ambitious university student living in modern-day Beijing, the legend of Nu Gui is nothing more than an old wives' tale – a spooky bedtime story to terrify impressionable children into behaving. However, Keo is about to learn the hard way that some legends are rooted in truth. While on a weekend getaway to the countryside with her close-knit group of friends, Keo discovers that the eerie forest village they have chosen for their reunion holds a dark and sinister secret. The villagers are tight-lipped about the village's history, and an unnerving atmosphere of foreboding settles over the group like a shroud. As the group settles into their rural cabin, Keo starts to experience strange and inexplicable occurrences that seem to be connected to the local legend of Nu Gui. She discovers an ancient artifact hidden deep in the nearby woods – a grotesque effigy known as the Malice idol. Unbeknownst to Keo, this relic is actually a shrine dedicated to the vengeful spirit that has haunted the village for centuries. The first signs of Nu Gui's malevolent influence start to manifest themselves in eerie and unsettling ways. Keo begins to experience vivid and disturbing nightmares, and one by one, her friends start to vanish, leaving behind only whispers of their whereabouts. The villagers seem reluctant to talk about the disappearances, and a creeping sense of dread starts to descend over the group like a toxic mist. As the disappearances intensify, Keo is forced to confront the dark mysteries of her own past. Her family has a long history in the village, and a tragic event that occurred there may be connected to the vengeful spirit's wrath. Keo must navigate a labyrinth of family secrets, long-buried emotions, and ancient curses in order to unravel the tangled threads of reality and confront the malevolent force that's terrorizing her and her friends. In her desperate search for answers, Keo discovers that the connection between her family and Nu Gui goes far deeper than she initially suspected. Her ancestors, it turns out, were responsible for the vengeful spirit's descent into madness and vengefulness. The curse that has haunted the village for generations is not just a product of ancient superstition; it is, in fact, a consequence of their collective guilt and collective shame. As the night wears on, the group of friends is subjected to a nightmarish sequence of events that blur the boundaries of reality and plunge them into the heart of supernatural horror. Nu Gui, the vengeful spirit, manifests itself in ways both terrifying and inexplicable. The villagers start to reenact the ritual that initially unleashed Nu Gui's wrath, and the spirit unleashes its full fury upon the group. Keo, driven by a desperate need to uncover the truth behind the disappearances and the vengeful spirit's wrath, must rely on her wit, intuition, and resourcefulness to unravel the mystery of Malice. In the climactic final confrontation, she must face the darkest corners of her own psyche and confront the collective guilt of her family. This harrowing journey forces Keo to confront the darker aspects of human nature and re-examine the very foundations of her reality. As the curtain falls on this harrowing tale of supernatural revenge, Keo and her remaining friends emerge forever changed by their encounter with the vengeful Nu Gui. Though they manage to escape the clutches of the malignant spirit, they have caught a glimpse of something far more sinister lurking beneath the surface of their own reality. The vengeful spirit, far from being vanquished, seems to have been merely awakened, its malevolent presence a harbinger of darker events yet to come.