A horror film that doesn't have post-modern pretensions

Peque Gallaga and Lore Reyes' entry to last year's edition of Sineng Pambansa, "Sonata", was a misfire. What could've been a captivating character study, bolstered in no small way by Cherie Gil's marvelous performance as a world-weary has-been opera diva who strikes an unlikely friendship with a cheerful young boy, was ultimately bogged down by a meandering second half which was at a lost as to how to acquit itself, narrative-wise. The filmmaking duo's entry in this year's edition of the fest, "T'yanak", a remake of their 1988 blockbuster horror made under Regal Films, manages to put them back at the top of their game. Let me say outright though that the film isn't an entirely perfect horror film - it's even doubtful if it'll become an emblem of pop culture that its predecessor had achieved: "Ang anak ni Juday!" isn't really as catchy today as "Ang anak ni Janice!" was back then - but one can't question the earnestness of the craft on display. 

For one thing, Wanggo Gallaga's script eschews those elements that "plague" most of Filipino horror films today: the jump scares, the ghostly "Ringu"-derivative apparitions and the "post-modernist" twists and reveals. We already know right from the start the identity of the monster and the film's scares are mostly built around our knowledge of this fact and our anticipation of what the characters will do to confront the possibility and, eventually, reality of this fact. This rightfully serves the filmmakers' purpose of providing more dramatic edge to the story, which makes "T'yanak" one step higher than the original. It's because outside of the horror elements, the film is a strong family drama about parenthood and the importance of, or the lack of interest in, having a child. The intrusion of the child-monster appears almost incidental, or simply adds a level of gravity to the situation. It's quite close to the parental fears evoked in Roman Polanski's "Rosemary's Baby" and David Lynch's "Eraserhead". 

The film isn't without flaws, technical or otherwise. Like how some shots appear to be too obtrusive (the close-ups) or too jittery (the hand-held camera) that they unwittingly serve as distractions rather than enhancements - are Gallaga and Reyes channelling the energy of a Dogme '95 film? Or how Sid Lucero's performance as a husband who's on the verge of madness due to his pregnant wife's death at the hands of the titular monster looks like he's having a hang-over from his bravura turn in "Norte, Hangganan ng Kasaysayan" - it just feels awkward at times. Or how the supposedly pivotal scene wherein Judy Ann Santos' distraught mother asks the child what he really is appears to lack a prior scene that would justify such moment - is it an overlook on the editor's or the scriptwriter's part? Nevertheless, these "glitches" don't really do much to overwhelm the basic humanity at the core of the story, a humanity that threatens to fall off from the characters as they confront a seemingly unimaginable and unlikely supernatural threat. Integral to this are the commendable turns from Santos (as the adoptive mother) and Solenn Heusaff (as the sister-in-law who brings the child to the family) that hinge the film on an emotional pivot, in a properly-grounded rather than an overbearing way. Likewise, there are setpieces that are undoubtedly expertly staged (with some even paying homage to the 1988 film): the monster's first attack, the single-take family panic that follows after the death of the matriarch, the attack of the monster inside a moviehouse and at a hospital's nursery ward, the final confrontation with the child inside a cave that's Medea-like in its tragic reverberations. There are even surprise cameos that delightfully bring an air of nostalgia, especially for those of us who grew up on the original movie. 

If you're planning to watch just one film at the ongoing Sineng Pambansa (which only has two days left still), you might as well just go for "T'yanak" and ignore all the rest, which blatantly negate the very idea of this year's fest as being a "horror" and a "masters" edition, the common denominator of all of them being simply uninspired direction. (The FDCP should start re-thinking the kind of "masters" to whom they'll give a grant for next year's edition, if ever there'll be another still;otherwise, they should just probably re-format the event and provide grants to the more deserving hungry, young filmmakers out there.) While it doesn't have the makings of a classic, the film nevertheless provides just the right kind of horror as we've come to know it, with an added dramatic flare to boot. 

(The mother and child in Peque Gallaga and Lore Reyes' noteworthy horror remake "T'yanak".)