When You're Feeling Dead Inside, Watch a Scary Movie Part 2
- Graziella Sigaya
- Oct 29, 2020
- 8 min read
Updated: Aug 21, 2021
Thai Horror & Pinoy Horror
Here’s a fun thought: At their most basic level, horror movies are not pleasant. Period. Nor are they comfortable. Pay kun tingbun ang tanan nga components, they transform into a genre we love. Does that say more about us or about horror movies themselves?
"Monsters are our children... they ask us to re-evauate our cultural assumptions about race, gender, sexuality, our perception of difference, our tolerance towards its expression. They ask us why we have created them." - Japanese Cinema: Texts and Contexts edited by Alastair Philips and Julian Stringer
Thai Horror
Kun Asian horror na gid lang ang estoryahan, indi man magpa urihi ang Thai cinema. Although Thai horror has always had a significant cult following, Thai films are now being internationally recognized for their culture-driven, unique take on tales from beyond the grave.
International horror fans, dara run ako, especially love the infusion of Thai Buddhist beliefs. Ang nanami-an ko pa gid sa anda brand of horror is the way they are able to balance comedy or romance or both with horror. Kun paralantaw ikaw ka lakorn, makita mo dya ang blending nanda ka horror elements sa anda melodrama.
Shutter (2004)
Released back in 2004, dungan sa J-horror boom, the film earned enough international recognition to get an English-language remake under the same title in 2008. Following a hit-and-run, the couple responsible for a woman's death begins to see images of her in their personal photographs.
Ang nalantawan ko nga version is dubbed in Tagalog, so abi ko anay J-horror dya nga film, but there is no mistaking the Thai-ness of the "wai" greetings. One way to appreciate this film even better is to watch it with the lens of Buddhist philosophy on karma and the concept of naraka (hell realm).
Pee Mak (2013)
It is currently Thailand's highest-grossing movie of all time. Pee Mak is actually a horror-comedy film and a very entertaining one at that. When Mak comes back from the war and invites his comrades to meet his wife and son, his comrades start to realize that something is very off about Mak's family.
Amo lang dya nga horror nga pwede mo masulit-sulit lantaw bisan talawit ikaw. Suspenseful yet highly enjoyable. The story is based on the well-known folklore, Mae Nak Prakanong or ‘The Mother Nak of Prakanong District', kag amo dya ang estorya...
Legend has it that about 100 years ago, there was a beautiful young woman named Nak who lived on the bank of the Prakanong River. She married Maak but during the war, he was drafted, leaving pregnant Mae Nak at home alone. She died in childbirth but her spirit refused to leave the house and waited for her husband's return. Maak finally returned home not knowing about the death of his wife and child. The couple went on living together for some time as if everything was normal until Maak discovered that she was just a ghost. He fled and Mae Nak was furious. She began terrorizing people in the village and the whole community was terrified. A reverent mor pii (ghost doctor) heard of Mae Nak's rampage, came to the village and defeated her by cutting a piece of her forehead bone to make a buckle and capturing her spirit in a bottle.
Krasue: Inhuman Kiss (2019)
Another example ka abilidad kang Thai cinema of blending genres. The film is a horror romance that merges folklore with young love, sweet love. In 1940s Thailand, a krasue (a type of nocturnal female spirit from folklore) lives a normal life by day, but at night her detached head seeks out flesh and blood.
Kun pure horror and carnage ang napangita mo, bukon dya para kanimo. Ang nanami-an ko giya is how the krasue shares a lot of characteristics with our manananggal. Both usually manifest as female, often young and beautiful, pareho man sanda gakonsumo raw flesh kag dugo and also prey on pregnant women. What I find most interesting is that ang krasue may "sort of" male counterpart nga krahang (manifests itself as a shirtless man, wearing a traditional loincloth, who flies in the night). Thus these two spirits are often mentioned or represented together... mayad pa ang krasue, may krahang... Ka naton gi, aswang lang sanda tanan.
And more Thai-horror recommendations for you:
Alone (2007) - Pin, who moved to Korea to escape the guilt of being the only survivor following a separation surgery with her conjoined twin sister, returns to Thailand to visit her dying mother, the angry spirit of her dead sister comes back to haunt her.
Coming Soon (2008) - revolves around a story of a haunted movie about a crazy old lady that tortures children. Soon after screening in theatres, strange events started to befall on the people who had seen the film.
4bia (2008) - also known as Phobia, is a four-part Thai horror anthology series. Each of the four horror tales has their own main character and theme: an accident victim, a bullied teenager, a ghost story and a deceased princess.
Meat Grinder (2009) - The story follows a mentally ill young woman who opens a noodle stall and uses human body parts as the main ingredient. And that's all we need to know.
Ladda Land (2011) - The film tells the story of a family that moves to a new neighbourhood called Laddaland. After moving in, the family starts to experience strange and supernatural incidents.
Long Weekend (2013) - A film about Thongsook, an outcast at school with only one friend, Nam, whom he follows around incessantly. Unbeknownst to Nam's other friends, Thongsook is a spirit medium who takes it personally when Nam's friends plan a vacation getaway without him.
The Promise (2017) - The film follows two teenagers who decide to commit suicide together after both of their families face financial ruin in the wake of the 1997 Asian financial crisis. In the end, only one girl follows through with the suicide pact and the survivor's past actions return to haunt her twenty years later.
Pinoy Horror
May tradition kami ka abyan ko (the babaylan in red lipstick) nga kada mag Pista ng Pelikulang Filipino (or MMFF - Metro Manila Film Fest) malantaw gid kami sa sinehan. Motto namon, "Tangkilikin ang sariling atin." Indi magnubo sa duha ka films ang ginalantaw namon.. hay kun pira man ang horror movie sa line-up kang MMFF, tinguhaan gid namon malantawan tanan. Next viewing dun ang nag best picture.
Over the years, nag evolve gid man ang horror films ka Pinoy ah. Kauna anay, maghambal kaw Pinoy horror movies, we associate them with lots of blood and bad CGI. Tulad, raku dun ang mga nagmi lantawon, kumod-kumod kaw lang gamay pay masadya man anda pang hadlok-hadlok kag pangibot. And here are my favorites:
Yanggaw (2008)
Based on an Ilonggo myth about aswangs, the film tells the story of Amor who catches an unknown disease that turns her monstrous. Amor’s family desperately wants to keep her away from people for everyone’s sake, but each of them struggles to do so since she is still family.
By far my favorite aswang story (liked it a lot, wrote a paper on it) Horrifying and heartbreaking at the same time... kapin pa ang pakitluoy ni Amor kay tatay na kag ang sabat ni Nyor nga, "Piyunga lang mata mo..."
Feng Shui (2004)
The film centers on a cursed Bagua mirror where a person gets killed if they stare at the mirror, with their death relating at any way to their Chinese zodiac. Unaware of the curse and believing it to bring good luck, Joy places it in her home. Soon enough the people who are closest to her who have stared at the mirror one by one die catastrophic deaths and they haunt Joy.
Waay ako una mag-expect nga manami-an ako sa movie nga dya, but there's just something about Kris Aquino being haunted, tortured, driven to the edge, that is appealing to Pinoy audience. I like how creative it gets in killing off its characters nga gin pasanto sa anda animal signs. In a way, the film is paying homage to our Chinese influences.
Seklusyon (2016)
A group of deacons undergoing a seven-day seclusion have their faith tested when a young girl who seeks refuge in their convent draws out the deacon’s worst tendencies.
Hay, basta yawa gani... timeless. Ang kaurugot pa, it could corrupt anything. But this film is an entertaining watch. Bast kun maglantaw ikaw nga isahanon, sa aga ukon hapon mo lang lantawon kun indi mo gusto magpulaw imaw sa panulay.
Shake, Rattle & Roll
Amo dya ang horror film series with the most film installments, dating back to 1984 asta 2014. Subjects and themes used in Shake, Rattle & Roll include Filipino supernatural beings, superstitions, urban legends, cults and demonic possessions. Cult classic dun dya para sa mga Pinoy horror fans, ralantawon kada mag Pista Minatay. Some of my favorites are from the early films... amo lang dya natutukan ko lantaw mo, pira man ginhawa ta mag marathon ka 15 installments 😵🥴🤢:
Shake, Rattle & Roll (1984)
“Baso” - three teenagers who got possessed after performing a spirit of the glass in an abandoned house.
“Pridyider” - a refrigerator that eats humans. Ang ref ni Janice!
“Manananggal” - a teenager who fell in love with a young woman who happened to be a manananggal.
Shake, Rattle & Roll 2 (1990)
“Multo” - newlyweds who spent their honeymoon in a haunted house.
“Kulam” - a jealous doctor who was actually a witch.
“Aswang” - a young woman who went to a friend’s barrio to attend a fiesta only to find out that everyone in that barrio are aswang and she was lured by her friend there to be that year’s sacrifice for the annual fiesta celebration.
Shake, Rattle & Roll 3 (1991)
"Yaya" - a young couple hires a mysterious nanny for their baby
"Ate" - a woman discovers that her dead sister was brought back to life as a zombie-turned corpse by a cult leader who worships the devil.
"Nanay" - a student unwittingly brings home from a beach field trip the egg of a horrible monster undin.
And more Pinoy horror recommendations for you:
Patayin sa Sindak si Barbara - This is a classic horror movie about family and love triangle. This 1975 psychological horror spawn a remake in 1995 and a tv series adaptation in 2008.
Kisapmata (1981) - a controlling patriarch loses it over his daughter's marriage and her attempts to escape from their incestuous household.
Sukob (2006) - A couple working overseas return to their hometown to get married; however, a deadly curse follows them, based on the Filipino superstition that marriage should not take place within a year of the death/marriage of an immediate relative.
Numbalikdiwa (2006) - the film is about numbalikdiwa, an ancient practice that involves feeding a diseased person’s meat and bones to someone else in order to let that dead person live again in the eater’s body, and this time, to live for good.
‘Wag Kang Lilingon (2006) - the story is about an orphan who became a nurse but while she was working in a hospital strange things happened.
The Road (2011) - weaves together through a three-chapter narrative a 12-year-old case of two missing women, a new disappearance case involving three teenagers and the two-decade history of the abandoned road where the disappearances took place—a history rife with abduction and cold-blooded murders.
Eerie (2018) - the unexpected and gruesome death of a student threatens the existence of an old Catholic school for girls.
So what's your favorite scary movie?
"It is women who love horror. Gloat over it. Feed on it. Are nourished by it. Shudder and cling and cry out -- and come back for more." - Bela Lugosi
References:
Baw huod gid... kapin pa ang mga yawa-yawa kang Pinoy... bisan bad CGI pay mapaminsaran mo gid bisan indi mo gusto
Wara ko kita Wag kang lilingon, lantawun ta sanglit aga pa...
Amo mn ang thai, afraidy aguilar
Nahadluk gd ko ka pinoy, kay ang images too familiar and too near 😬 esp mga murto2 and aswang2
Huo gid! Nahidlaw ko magtan-aw sa sinehan upod sa imo kada December.