Filipino Horror Movie Marathon Review 1

From October 31 to November 4, I spent almost all of my time doing a horror movie marathon in my house where I  tried to consume all the horror films I can find on Netfix and YouTube.

I would like to share with you what I think of some of the old Tagalog horror flicks I've watched.  I chose not to include full plots so I would not spoil your trip in case you wanted to check on them, too.

The following are the films I liked and would recommend you to watch if ever you'd want to do a horror marathon in the comfort of your home as well:

PATAYIN SA SINDAK SI BARBARA

A beautiful classic that shows the story of a good woman who had to fight the selfish will of her deceased sister who was her rival in love.

BANAL

This one's surprisingly good. 5 friends went on an adventure to a holy mountain. Unaware that it is a haven of shamans that control the fate of the climbers with the use of their craft while taking high quality women to serve as their sacrifice to their goddess. As the friends died one by one, they soon realized that their decision to go up the mountain which was thought to be sacred is very wrong.

SUKOB

Sandy experienced a series of bad luck after her wedding day which led her to discover a secret her father has been keeping from her for a long time. She has a step sister whom her dad abandoned a long, long time ago who got married a few days before she did. That brought both of them a horrible curse that took the lives of their loved ones one after another.

AURORA

I like this film as it is another living testimony that there is beauty in simplicity. A ship got wrecked because of an anomalous operation where the operators of the shipping line continued to accept passengers in spite of the fact that it's already very much overloaded. The coast guard refused to help  with the investigation to cover the truth.  The dead bodies of the passengers went on their own to the only house on the shore so they can be recovered by their loved ones as they know the authorities have already abandoned the rescue operation.

HUWAG KANG LILINGON

It may not be a great movie  but at least it did not waste my time. It's got a fair plot which evolved around a successful nurse who's been experiencing haunting. Eventually, it turned  out that she is psychologically disturbed because she hasn't recovered from her childhood trauma where she witnessed how her sister and mother were killed in front of her.

MAG-INGAT KA SA KULAM

Mira came back from a car accident with amnesia. Scary events slowly revealed secrets about her dark past and about a twin sister that she's had hidden from her family who later became the reason for her demise.

ILAWOD

It's not that scary but the plot was very well thought of. An elemental takes souls of people. It used to bother families in the province but it started to disturb a family in Manila when it followed a journalist on his way back home.

EERIE

Nice and suspenseful but there seems to be a missing ingredient in it that I'm not sure which. I just find it lacking substance. A guidance counselor of a prominent Catholic School got herself deeply involved in the investigation of 2 murder cases that took place in it by communicating with the ghosts of the murder victims.

On the other hand, here are some of those I didn't like and I feel only wasted my time:

MAGANDANG HATINGGABI

Not sure what this film is trying to achieve. If it's trying to be cute, funny or scary. However, none of the 3 was achieved. The film is lousy in everything. Even the plot sucks. It's nothing but a trying hard horror flick with a lot of noises. I feel like I've wasted 1 hour and 42 minutes of my life on it. It is about a bunch of teenagers who got lost on their way to wherever they are going. They were welcomed by a fat storekeeper who served them free meals to entice them to stay on while telling them some scary stories. It was later revealed that the storekeeper is an entity that waits for souls to pass by so he can take them for his amusement.

HIWAGA SA BALETE DRIVE

I find it very boring. The first part of the film is about a couple that encountered the ghost of a beautiful lady that haunts a house in Balete Drive. The second part of the film is about a boy who witnessed a crime using his psychic ability.

KWARESMA

It's a bit scary but I was not that impressed with the plot. It's about a family whose lives started to become disturbed by an evil spirit when they transferred to a house with a history of murder. The twists and turns that were shown on the film, I think, were not able to help the film escape from being a trying hard Amityville Horror

HIDE AND SEEK

The plot is quite similar to Kwaresma but is much more boring and shallow.

Aside from these, I've also watched some SHAKE, RATTLE AND ROLL sequels much to my disappointment. The first of the SRR sequels are pretty good like  Manananggal and Aswang but after the golden years of SRR the next sequels were mostly done in bad taste and shape...giving Filipino horror films a bad name.

After this horror film marathon, I wished that more quality Filipino horror films will be produced here in our country.