Karla Jane Buenaflor

As a Filipino, we have many traditions and beliefs that are handed down to us from one
generation to another. One of the most famous and widely-known fictitious belief is the
existence of this so-called "Aswang", a creature that is human in form during daylight but
changes form during the night. It is described as having grotesque figure, with a body of a man
and a face of a beast. It has also animalistic behavior, attacking and feeding on human flesh and
blood. Their origin and whereabouts are unknown, but, majority are said to be residing in the
Visayan regions, and that they are breeding through salival infection.

There have been many films that showed and portrayed about how these creatures came to be
known and exist, such as Corazon: Ang Unang Aswang, Maria Labo, Tiktik: The Aswang
Chronicles, and many more. but the movie Yanggaw, which means "Affliction" in English, was the
one that I fondly remember. Yanggaw our very own version of an "Aswang" movie, directed
Richard Somes, who is also a Negrosanon. It was shot and filmed right here in Murcia, Negros
Occidental. The casts are also comprised of prominent actors who came from Visayas, such as
Ronnie Lazaro, Joel Torre, and Tetchie Agbayani, who did a remarkable job in their respective
roles and characters. I'd also like to commend the lead character, Amor, who were played by
Aleera Montalla, although not a professional actress, she showed tremendous talent and effort
just to give the viewers a good show.

As the film begins we see a healer go to a woman, Amor (Aleera Montalla), who is ill. She plays
with her neck and ear and asks where she lives. Her co-worker suggests that she has been
staying in Alegra. The healer is shocked, she wonders if Amor knew what sort of place that was
and says she must go home – her ailment is serious.

Junior (Ronnie Lazaro), who is Amor’s father, lives with his wife Inday (Tetchie Agbayani), his son
Toto (Gio Respall) and Toto's wife Erma (Monet Gaston). There are also two younger children
Leon (Leon Gaston) and Abner (Keith Cabañez) – it seemed one was Junior’s youngest son and
the baby was Toto and Erma’s child. We see them eat a family meal and go to play volleyball
against local headman Dulpo (Joel Torre). Through all this we get the impression that Junior is a
very proud man.

We also see Junior and Toto chase a man, at night, whom they accuse of being a thief. They beat
him and the next day Dulpo arrives with a couple of Barrio guards to ask about the beating – the
man may lose his sight. Dulpo worries about reprisals. After he leaves, Amor arrives home and
collapses. The family get a healer out who suggests pinning ginger on Amor’s clothes to keep bad
winds away and mentions keeping the kids safe as aswang might be abroad. Junior believes in
aswang and has a copper knife, as aswang fear such.

For a while the film follows the life of the family. It seems that Junior believes he was cheated
out of an election and left the barrio work. He scratches a living for his family. Amor has strong
and weak days but we see her at night and she moves strangely in her bed, her head shaking and
jerking. However, for the main the film languidly follows the family and this is were some of the
weakness comes in. The character depth is good but the dialogue sometimes meanders without
real purpose.

Amor seems to be getting worse and Junior wants to borrow money from Dulpo to take her to a
hospital – Dulpo is the woman’s Godfather. Unfortunately he has none. Amor is hearing noises at
night and has told Erma she is pregnant – she can smell the baby. Inday takes her to Lazarus (Erik
Matti), a faith healer, who says to watch her for three days and then bring her back – and not to
let anyone else treat her.

However, that night she absconds from the house. Junior finds her the next morning, a goat
ripped apart besides her and her mouth covered in blood. They take her to a nearby barrio, and
the hospital, but they only believe she has a stomach infection and prescribe antibiotics. That
night she vanishes again and the next day two barrio guards are found dead. Lazarus does see
her again but can do nothing for her.

She is aswang, she was infected through the ear and whilst she is herself during the day she is a
ravening beast at night, only caring about feeding her hunger. Actually, very much, she came
across as though possessed – moments from the Exorcist were invoked by Aleera Montalla’s
performance. At first they keep her chained up, preventing her from slaking her thirst for blood
(which is directly mentioned) but eventually Junior cannot stand it. She is still his daughter. He
unchains her asking that she promise not to take her own family.

Overall, I liked the storyline of the movie, how the characters developed, and how the movie
showed the importance of family in Filipino culture. One of the lines I cannot forget was the
confrontation of Amor and her father, Nyor, at ending of the movie when Nyor caught Amor
feeding over her nephew. The line from Nyor was, "Hinablos mo na! Hinablos mo na!" and Amor,
realizing her actions, answered back, "Tay, patya na lang ko tay!" These lines gave me the chills,
as I saw how Amor changed back to herself from a mindless beast, and seeing what she have
done, asked her father mercy and to free her and her family from all this shame and suffering by
ending her life. The film is good, but there could still be a lot of improvements, especially in the
production, so I guess it's a 6/10 :)

Kareen Claire Manaog

Yanggaw is a horror film written and directed by Richard Somes. It is a Filipino Indie film done in
Illongo or Hiligaynon dialect. The Illongo term yanggaw means infliction in English translation. It
is used to refer to people who were poisoned and bewitched into turning into an aswang. The
names, as well, of the characters are names of endearment by the Illongos such as Toto and
Inday.

The movie begins with Junior (played by Ronnie Lazaro), who is a patriarch of a family living in a
remote community of a province. One day, his daughter, Amor (played by Aleera Montalla),
comes home with a mysterious illness. She spends her day in bed, weak. Everymorning she is
found to have dirty feet and blooded hands and lips. Junior consults a doctor and a healer. Later
he finds out that she has been inflicted by venom which is slowly turning her into an aswang, a
monster. Initially, she goes out every night to hunt for animals but her hunger later evolves into a
desire to drink human blood and eat human flesh (internal organs). There has been mysterious
cases of deaths in their area and the townspeople especially Dolpo (played by Joel Torre),
Junior’s best friend, were starting to make suspicions. The situation worsens when his family
starts to break up because of his decisions which were unacceptable for the rest of hisfamily.
With the local authorities getting closer to the truth, Junior strives to save his daughter from this
curse at all costs. His family even leaves him behind but then realizes they are all one and returns
to Junior.

This film is truly one of a kind. It is so unique that it has certain factors that are totally different
from common Filipino horror movies. In fact, the way the movie was made is amazing: it was
able to combine traditional elements of a horror movie and family melodrama, thus creating a
picture that is so bizarre. The story revolved around the challenges faced byJunior while
simultaneously trying to save his daughter, Amor, and the unity of his family. Although it was
Amor who caused the deaths in their place, his father never lost hope that she can still escape
from that curse be reunited with her family. It was so ironic that a monster that is threatening a
lot of people was being protected. It is another twist of the story: despite of its horror nature, it
was able to portray what is a Filipino Family.

Taking to account the making of the film, it is actually very simple yet the story was well laid. The
story used the conventional or linear form of writing making it easy to comprehend. There were
no big twists, only big revelations from time to time. One only needs to sit and be prepared for
the next surprising scene. In the beginning of the movie, no one would actually think that it is a
horror film for the reason that the first scene had a happy atmosphere. Junior and Dolpo,
together with their friends and colleagues, were playing volleyball and other people were
enjoying watching the game. Thinking that it is strange for a horror film to have a scene like this,
one can say that it was totally irrelevant with the story. However, things always have reasons,
that is why there is logic. By the end of that entertaining scene, one will have learned about the
relationship of Junior and Dolpo – they were best of friends. This particular scene was in fact
effective in showing how grave the effect of Amor being turned to Aswang was. Junior reached
to the point the he had to kill his best friend only to save his daughter who was then a monster.
Behind that particular scene in the opening of the movie lay a story that balances horror with
rich familial themes. This rare horror film would make people realize that horror works much
better when there is a personal dimension to it and when there are emotions to hold on to and
the characters to careabout.

The characters were well-written particularly Junior, whose choices and decisions were deeply
flawed but painfully understandable. Junior was just a father and everything he thinking of was
her daughter. Even the casting was great with Ronnie Lazaro and Joel Torre, who are both good
actors. And it was clear that they were really at their best in this film most probably because
they are more comfortable with their native tongues. They were so at ease with their mother
tongue and one can even feel that some if not most of the line were adlibs. The supporting
actors and actresses were so good .

Simple as it may seem but Yanggaw is not ordinary. With obvious low cost production, Yanggaw
was able to give an atmosphere that is quite creepy and they were still on the right track.
Moreover, the film did not have many special effects. Even the actors and actresses used very
minimal or no hideous make-up at all. These helped them make their acting more realistic.They
did not overact and as a matter of fact, they were very natural. The lack of special effects and
scary make-ups did were not hindrances from creating a scary movie; instead they facilitated in
making the movie more realistic and depict a real situation. Of course a movie cannot succeed
without special techniques and these were what the director used: As mentioned, they had no
special make-up; they used typical costume of a rural place as props; lighting was given special
attention. Shadows were used as instrument in creating atmosphere. There was an impressive
sequence wherein Amor appears from her room with her body partially illuminated while her
face is completely unseen. It was quite simple but paired with effective camera techniques, it
was effective in creating in creating an awkward and eerie feeling throughout; Finally, the sound
was cleverly laid. The ambient noise and the long stretched deadening sound very efficiently
created a feeling of fear and made the emotion and tension felt by the viewers. Unlike horror
movies of this time, where graphical effects are too much even to the extent of turning the
movie intocomedy, Yanggaw and its simple structure had an effective set-up for the ensuing
thrilling events.

Joydell Arogante

Yanggaw is easily one of my favorite local films of all time, blending the joys of the aswang genre
with the structure of a family drama to create a thoroughly Filipino film. Though the lack of
budget does show at times, a strong script elevated by amazing performances make this film
more than worth your while.

Junior (Ronnie Lazaro) is a patriarch of a family living in a small farming community in some far-
flung province. One day his daughter comes home with a mysterious sickness. She spends all day
weak and bedridden, but is found every morning with dirt caked feet and bloodied hands. Junior
consults with the local healer and learns that his daughter has been infected by a malevolent
spirit, and that she is slowly turning into an aswang. With the local authorities getting closer to
the truth, Junior seeks to save his daughter from this curse, or failing that, to protect her at all
costs.
There is a scene early in Yanggaw that sums up its appeal for me. In it, Junior and Dulpo (played
by Joel Torre) play volleyball against each other. It is a pretty strange thing in a horror movie, I
know, but that one scene is a perfect storm of storytelling prowess, direction and acting talent,
and is a good prelude to all the quality that’s to follow in the film. It’s such a compact,
entertaining scene, and by the end of it, you’ve learned everything you really need to know
about Junior and his relationship to Dulpo. Beyond that one scene lies a story that balances
aswang horror with rich familial themes. This the rare horror film that realizes that horror works
much better when there’s a personal dimension to it, when there are emotions to hold on to and
characters to care about. These characters are fantastically well written, particularly Junior,
whose choices are all deeply flawed, yet painfully understandable.

Yanggaw also serves as proof that horror as a whole has not benefitted from computer imagery.
Director Richard Somes, on a much smaller budget than your average local horror film,
concentrates on building atmosphere and manages to create a much more haunting film all in
all. Every scene is tinged with a growing dread, building to a powerful emotional crescendo
that’s more affecting than your usual jumping-out-of-the-shadows senselessness that populates
other horror films. The limitations in production do still hurt at times. There’s a somewhat clunky
death scene near the end of the film that just never manages to be convincing, though they do
get the point across.

This is all held together by a ridiculously talented cast, led by two of the greatest actors our
country has ever known, Ronnie Lazaro and Joel Torre. You don’t need me to tell you how good
Ronnie Lazaro is, but it’s been too long since we’ve had him front and center like this. Lazaro
makes the inner struggle of his character easy to see, his face becoming a pure canvas of conflict.
Joel Torre plays foil to Lazaro’s Junior, and any scene that they’re in together is just cinematic
gold. Watch out as well for great supporting turns from Tetchie Agbayani and Erik Matti.

Yanggaw is exactly the kind of local movie I wish we were still making. Our horror films nowadays
owe more to The Ring than to anything from our rich history of cinema, and the disparity in
cultural norms has created empty films that tend to coast on style. Yanggaw is what our horror
ought to be, launching itself from our cinematic heritage and taking things further, producing a
film that has as much heart as it has scares. I would recommend this film to anybody.
Joydell Arogante

Baby do you ever wonder?

How we'd look together,
Either in sadness or laughter,
I believe we'd look cuter.

Tell me you'd like to stay.

Tell me you'll never go away.
Say that you'll be holding me.
Say that we're meant to be.

I'd shed thousand of tears

Knowing you'll never utter those words,
Baby this is what I fear...
That you'll get bored..
That you'll stay clear..

I dont know how to keep you

Im not even sure I can
But know that all I say is true
I'd always wait and never run.

Please come back

Please love me back
Please hug me once again
Please be mine again

I couldn't stop crying

I couldn't stop thinking
Thinking that you're happy
Even without me.

Maybe if I cry too much

You'd stop and watch
That Im not okay
And I'll never be.

As long as I have my heart

And as long as you're inside
I can never hide
the fact that I've fallen apart.

I want to let you go

I want to move on
I dont know
Maybe my life will go on...
Karla Jane Buenaflor

Farewell To A Friend

We started before as a nobody,

Day by day I discovered you wholey,

You shared your feelings and emotions freely,

And I never noticed that we're synchornized in a melody.

Our friendship grew stronger,

Our life, our words, our hearts became closer,

I hope this will go on forever,

But there's no such thing as happy ever after.

Problems and obstacles came,

I was so weak and lame,

Repeating always, as if stuck in a game,

Would our relationship ever be the same?

We argued and fought

Without giving it another thought.

Maybe this is why we're broken,

Because of all these words unspoken.

As time went by,

We never saw each other again,

You became another "goodbye",

One that added another pain.

If we're given a chance,

To make things right with you,

Believe I would,

Believe me it's true.

But for now I'll leave you alone,

To have a time on your own.

I pray this is not the end,

I hope this isn't farewell, my friend.