The Wheel and Axle

Archive for November, 2012

Aswangan, Part 5: The Final Fearsome Five

by on Nov.19, 2012, under Film & TV, Travel & Culture

Continued From:

Aswangan, Part 4: The Good, The Bad, and The Unseen

You gotta lick it.

5. Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles (2012). I’ve ranted enough about this, so see my thoughts here and here.

4. Manananggal, SRR (1984).

One of the true classics on this list, this is probably one of the scariest features in Pinoy cinema. Peque Gallaga directed this third segment of the seminal Shake, Rattle, & Roll film, which gave us two of the most famous local horror stories (this piece along with Pridyider). Showing early mastery of the genre, Gallaga would later follow through with many more aswang tales in both individual flicks as well as SRR features. This would set the standard for the aswang genre for generations to come, and its influence in future movies of the same theme would become apparent as time went by.

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Aswangan, Part 4: The Good, The Bad, and The Unseen

by on Nov.12, 2012, under Film & TV, Travel & Culture

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Aswangan, Part 3: Don’t Tick Off The Tiktiks!

The release of Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles, along with a review by Jessica Zafra, made me think what my favorite (and not-so-favorite) aswang movies are. Being a horror fanatic, I’ve always enjoyed aswang cinema and had not realized I’d watched so many across the years.

In these lists, I included the manananggal because, although I think them slightly distinct if not altogether different, many consider them under the “aswang” category. Besides, I’m not sure I could come up with enough manananggal movies separate from aswang movies, hee.

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Aswangan, Part 3: Don’t Tick Off The Tiktiks!

by on Nov.05, 2012, under Film & TV, Travel & Culture

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Aswangan, Part 2: Tiktik-TAC, Tik-TAC

*** There Be Spoilers ***

At the heart of it, Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles is, rather than horror, really more of an action movie with some dark humor spread throughout in appropriate places. Its posters show an action hero battling the ferocious creatures of the night, and even its very tagline (“Ang pelikulang may puso… bituka, atay, at iba pang lamang-loob“) betrays the macabre humor waiting in the wings for those who expect straight-out horror. Its trailer also echoes more of an action-adventure movie, the type that is adapted from super-hero comic books.

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Aswangan, Part 2: Tiktik-TAC, Tik-TAC

by on Nov.04, 2012, under Film & TV, Travel & Culture

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Aswangan, Part 1: The As-wunk Phenomenon

*** There Be Spoilers ***

No, not THAT “Tiktik.”

This year, the aswang makes an explosive comeback in media with the recent release of Erik Matti’s Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles. Which, upon realization, can be abbreviated “Tiktik: TAC.” It is an innovative movie that sets a new standard in local filmmaking and focuses on one of the most famous aswang types, the tiktik.

The tiktik, it is said, is an aswang that makes a bird-like sound (hence, its name) – with the sound being loud when the aswang is distant and growing faint as it approaches, confusing potential victims. Others claim the tiktik is not the aswang itself but the aswang’s familiar – a bird that basically heralds the coming of an aswang. Regardless, it usually perches at night upon rooftops, looking for a hole through which its long proboscis-like tongue can slither down to reach the belly of sleeping pregnant women.

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Aswangan, Part 1: The As-wunk Phenomenon

by on Nov.02, 2012, under Film & TV, Travel & Culture

It’s Halloween season again, and all the ghouls and goblins are out and about asking for candies and coins. Although Westernized trick-or-treat Halloween has been a relatively recent local activity, mostly in affluent areas and/or malls, the season has always been a big deal here due to the Filipino counterpart, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day a.k.a. Undas. Hordes of people flock to the cemeteries to commemorate their loved ones, making a fiesta out of the whole thing – complete with food, drinks, and even gambling beside the nitso.

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