While the western peninsula bids adieu to Halloween, the South Asian region gears itself up for wintery story telling sessions in the midnight dew. Even though all quintessential Bengali horror-thrillers begin with a rainy night and the waning moon, winters in Bengal set a whole other eerie atmosphere for ghost stories to take place in the dark.

Horror is a prominent element in Bangla literature, but the same cannot be said for the silver screen. Only a handful of supernatural and cosmic horror/thriller films have been made in the Bengali language. With such a rich history of horror writers and cultural lore, one would expect more adaptations blooming in our cinema industry.

However, from what little representation horror has on the big screen, we do have some iconic movies to live by.

One of the very first thriller/paranormal movies to grace the Bengali movie screen was Monihara (1961), from legendary director Satyajit Ray. The only horror film he ever made, was a part of a Tagore anthology called "Teen Kannya". The story revolves around a young wife and her silent grief in coping with not having children in a very patriarchal society.

Her chosen method of to cope with the reality of her life, spirals into an obsession that continues well after her death. Although Ray had only explored this genre once on screen, he had always been an eccentric horror narrator, capturing the perfect juxtaposition of seamless metaphysical storytelling.

The very first Bangladeshi horror movie was written and directed by Kazi Hayat called "Rajbari", which was released in 1984. From the lack of information available about this film, one can easily presume the premise to be lost to the non-existent box office and flow of time.

Horror however, was brought into the mainstream by the celebrated writer Humayun Ahmed with his telefilm "Bonur Golpo", originally released in 1999. Ahmed, ever the lover of all things supernatural, wrote some of the most iconic Bangla horror along with his brother Muhammed Zafar Iqbal.

The latter's novel "Pret" was also adopted for the screen, as a drama series, starring Humayun Faridi, Ahmed Rubel and Richi Solaiman. The story follows the protagonist Rumi, who after falling prey to the forces of evil, becomes a satanic vessel—starting an unusual journey into dark arts.

In recent times, horror has had new life breathed into it, with the release of dramas like "Punorjonmo 3", "Moshari" and "Pett Kata Shaw". Inspiring new takes on the age-old elements of horror, Bangladeshi horror content has reached far and wide, giving spine tingling chills to even an international audience. Nuhash Humayun's "Foreigners only", a part of the Hulu anthology "Bite Size Halloween", has also been a welcome addition to the horror catalogues of Bangladesh.

A constant theme in Bangla horror is the perceived concept of the 'afterlife', which helps create a perfect portmanteau of nightmares. Over on this side of the world, ghosts are not only mean grotesque figures, who lust for blood, rather ones that truly haunt your psyche to its core—leaving an aftertaste that lingers like, well, a ghost on our shoulders.