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Ilawod, Quantum Films’ new horror thriller to open nationwide today,Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
anchors itself on three great elements:
ACTING. The movie features two versatile actors, one of whom is Ian Veneracion, once a child actor and now a matinee idol. He has done the horror classics, among them Hiwaga sa Balete Drive, Anak ng Demonyo, Halik ng Bampira and Feng Shui 2. Ian is Dennis in Ilawod, a reporter who works for an online news publication that covers supernatural stories.
Then, there is Epy Quizon, a comedy royalty who has managed to transition into an award-winning actor. He acted as a hostage-taker in the satirical drama, Unlucky Plaza, which was filmed in Singapore, and won for acting at the 2015 International Film Festival Manhattan in New York City. He is photographer Carlo in Ilawod, who accompanies Dennis in his coverages.
Determining the adult roles were fairly easy as Veneracion, Iza Calzado and Quizon are competent actors able to deliver on the requirements of the script and director on demand.
Calzado entered the horror genre with flying colors in Yam Laranas’ Sigaw that was reprised as the English language film Echo, helmed by an American. As Dennis’ wife Kathy, Calzado’s great ethereal beauty and acting ability have booked for her a number of horror films that she jokingly refers to herself as the genre’s “queen.”
Acting as daughter Bea, 13, is former child star Xyriel Manabat, who is best known for Agua Bendita and 100 Days to Heaven. As son Ben, Harvey Bautista, 14, is the youngest son of Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista, who used to be in Goin’ Bulilit. In Ilawod, both play the role of normal students who live comfortable lives in a happy family.
Doing the role of Isla is Therese Malvar, 16, who won for the indie film Hamog three international awards in one year. She won the Outstanding Artistic Achievement Golden Goblet Award at the 2016 Shanghai International Festival; Screen International Rising Star at the 2015 New York Asian Films Festival and Best Actressin the Moscow International Filmfest. She plays Bea and Ben’s friend in school.
According to producer Joji Alonso, the crucial roles of the tweeners were hardest to cast as these require extraordinary abilities to make them work. So they called for audtions in which they picked Xyriel, Harvey and Therese in the short lists.
Multitalented actor Nico Antonio does a cameo role with Joel Saracho.
DIRECTION. Award-winning director Dan Villegas’ forays into the horror genre after five blockbuster romantic-comedy films (English Only, Please, The Breakup Playlist, #WalangForever, Always Be My Maybe, How To Be Yours) make a frightening shift!
From newbie to successful filmmaker, Villegas debuted as director in the indie film Mayohan that gave Lovi Poe a Cinemalaya best actress award. His subsequent mainstream films are all blockbuster hits and some also won awards for him as best director.
His actors were also trophy reapers like Jennylyn Mercado who won two best actress awards in a row, Derek Ramsay and Jericho Rosales.
Ilawod could have been one of the two finished film submissions at the 2016 Metro Manila Film Festival had nature not interfered. Villegas failed to complete it due to the intermittent rains. But it was meant to be as another Quantum Film, Ang Babae Sa Septic Tank 2: #Forever is not Enough, was selected as an official entry.
Lawyer Alonso has been producing films since 2004 with Minsan Pa. Kubrador holds the record of the highest Filipino full-length feature participation in 100 foreign film festivals all of them attended by her. In 2012, she helped produce six Cinemalaya films including the Vilma Santos starrer, Ekstra.
Largely unrecognized, Alonso is a staunch supporter of the indie film industry in the Philippines by striving how to make quality entertaining films so it can evolve as an audience-friendly and profitmaking venture.
NARRATIVE. The second monster film by Quantum in its 12-year history, the first being Lawrence Fajardo’s star-studded The Strangers, the genre is considered a breaker of the drama, action and romcom features that Quantum Films makes.
It is an extraordinary story written by Yvette Tan, the Palanca Awardee who authored the book Walking the Dead and Other Horror Stories. Her past projects were the water-themed films Sidhi, The Child Abandoned, Pasig River, The Bridge, San Juanico and Stars (set in Balicasag Island, Bohol).
“I have been writing such stuff since I was a girl, clueless of what I did until people labelled it as horror stories,” Tan related about how she got into Transrealism during Ilawod’s media launch.
Transrealism is a literary mode that mixes the techniques of incorporating fantastic elements used in science fiction with the techniques of describing immediate perceptions from naturalistic realism. That is what takes place when reality is stirred with fantasy, what we used to describe as horror stories.
As a Catholic who believes in good and evil, Tan believes in possession but vehemently denies she has been haunted. “I started calling my genre as Transrealism about two years ago so the term is fairly new, but it is an old term,” Tan shared.
Now she makes use of her favored element of water in Ilawod. About an elemental of water that flows downstream carrying its victims with it, “Ilawod” means deep things in different dialects.
In Tagalog, it means “downstream” (“ilaya” is the opposite of “upstream”). In Visayan, it means “the furthest part of a body of water.” In Bicolano, it means “far from shore.” It’s also been used to mean “far from the barrio.” The exact province of origin is unknown. By any source, it is endemic that causes pandemic terror.
Picture this: The story shows how the Ilawod messes up the family life of a peaceful couple, Dennis and Kathy. Dennis covers a story of possession in the mountains with Carlo.
Unknown to Dennis, he brings home the Ilawod that latched on to him during a provincial sortie. It then possesses Kathy, their Bea and Ben. Their family then has to fight the Ilawod to save not just their lives for survival, but more importantly, their souls.
What follows is an inevitable battle that risks not only the family’s lives, but also their souls. The demonic attack causes his family’s breakdown. What great risk will a mother take to fight the mystery enveloping her family?
No spoiler here. Who acts as the Ilawod? Encounter. Do not resist the scare!
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‘Ilawod,‘ take-home demon
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