Runtime: 124 minutes
Directed by: Ishmael Bernal/Emmanuel H. Boriaza/Peque Gallaga
Starring: Many different Filipino actors
From: Athena Productions
I may never know why a long-running Filipino horror anthology franchise named itself after a 50’s R&B song first made famous by Big Joe Turner and later covered by both Elvis and Bill Haley & the Comets… but it’s a film I’ve known of for years (how I did is lost to history) yet a copy w/ English subtitles was impossible to find, let alone any version that didn’t look terrible. At least, until recently stumbling upon a Facebook video upload, of all things. I downloaded it-but you didn’t hear that from me!-and I’m happy to discuss something successful that many in the West likely aren’t familiar with.
This copy was thankfully restored, although at times there was print damage they couldn’t fix and the final scene of the second segment (oh, what a segment it was) ends abruptly as that small segment of the print was completely wrecked & couldn’t be saved. That said, no complaints otherwise. The three segments in this anthology were at least different, compared to each other and the other anthologies I’ve viewed.
The first revolves around an Ouija board; even in the Philippines, those are bad news. Two dudes and a young woman take one of those boards to a spooky old house, where they contact a trio of spirits that were part of a doomed love triangle long ago. It’s not clear right away, but they are possessed by those spirits then we get a LONG flashback to this doomed romance. That backstory was needed, although boy was it lengthy and it was never scary until the end of the flashback. The spookiness continues in present time and while the ending was fine, this was clearly the weakest of the three.
The second… I’ve always known this and I’ve always been captivated. You see, there is no delicate way to phrase this, so I’ll be blunt concerning the villain. It is: A HAUNTED KILLER HORNY REFRIGERATOR. Mom, kids, a nephew, and a maid move into a new house for a surprisingly cheap price. Mom is of the tyrant variety, while both the daughter’s boyfriend and the nephew are horny themselves. The latter is a Peeping Tom who is randy for his “distant cousin” and he smokes a cigarette DURING sex w/ the maid. I laughed with and at the segment, played deliberately humorous. Unintentionally hilarious, I howled at the unauthorized usage of both Michael Jackson and The Eagles.
It's a shame then that the final scene wasn’t complete, even if it appeared to be solely exposition. It was the most entertaining segment; judging by other Letterboxd reviews, its director (Ishmael Bernal) has plenty of respect in the Pinoy film world and perhaps needs a deeper dive by me, or more ideally more attention shone on him by Western film buffs.
Anyhow, the final segment was undoubtedly the scariest; it used local folklore to present a wild creature in the woods. A manananggal is-at least here-a vampire creature disguised as a young attractive lady who goes after a young teenage boy, his two siblings, and his grandmother in a shack; religion is a key theme, and not just because this is set on Good Friday. Oh, and I almost forgot: this creature also detaches its top half from its bottom half as it sprouts wings. That effect was better than you might suspect. The most frightening moments are here.
It's a shame the movie can’t be tracked down much easier in the West, meaning restored & w/ English subtitles; after all, some of the sequels are available for streaming rental and the 17th (!) from 2023 (Shake, Rattle & Roll Extreme) is on Netflix--an 18th movie is coming out theatrically late this year. I was happy to spotlight a popular franchise that likely has little penetration in the West; those that do track this down, stick with it even if the first segment doesn't jive with you.
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