Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles,or Three More Reasons to Watch It
 |
| Origin8 Media via DCT |
*PISS OFF IF YOU HATE SPOILERS*
Erik Matti's much-awaited movie opens today, and Da Couch Tomato was lucky enough to be invited to the premiere showing last Monday.
 |
| Complete with hired goons. |
I already gave you three reasons to watch this flick, and now I'm giving you three more.
1. Great visual effects
If you've never heard of the companies PostManila and Mothership, then you should take note of their names now. If they keep up their great special effects work, as shown in this movie, then it will not be surprising to see their names in films to come. The whole green screen thing worked like a charm, and let's hope somebody does Ibong Adarna or Biag ni Lam-Ang using this technique.
 |
| That's flawless chroma keying right there. |
It's not Hollywood, mind you, so don't expect something on the same level as Industrial Light and Magic or Weta Digital. But we're getting there. Some of the aswang creature shots didn't blend too well with the interior shots, but to paraphrase the great spacewalker Neil Armstrong, "It's one small step for a Filipino movie, and one giant leap for Filipino special effects."
 |
| "What?" |
2. Great performances
Dingdong Dantes gives an impressive performance, but it becomes less impressive once you realize that the bad boy-Robin Padilla-type acting template is fairly easy to pull off, especially by bad boy-Robin Padilla-type actors. In other words, it would've been more impressive if Dingdong played a villain, just to shake things up a bit. But Dingdong Dantes is an executive producer in this flick, so go figure.
 |
| "Pak shet ka." |
This film has got a great supporting cast, particularly with the human cast, starting with funny man Ramon Bautista, who unfortunately dies. (If you hate spoilers, I already told you to piss off. See above.) There's also Janice De Belen, who gets her arm cut off. I'm not a fan of Janice, especially after growing fat and hosting that horrible talk show with her sister. But when she's in her element, which is horror flicks, she's actually pretty good. But the real scene stealer here is none other than Joey Marquez. He didn't just steal scenes; he stole the entire show, especially that part where he breaks down after his wife's death. It's enough to make you forget, even just for an instant, about all those overpriced brooms he bought for the city of Parañaque.
The other performances weren't so great, though. Lovi Poe's wouldn't be memorable if she didn't have a pretty face. Mike Gayoso's wasn't that great either. And Roi Vinzon's role was practically useless. The military man at the checkpoint was pretty good, and they should've shown more of him.
 |
| "Who's practically useless?" |
Also, despite having a pretty face, LJ Reyes has very skinny arms, which you can clearly see when Dingdong hacks them off.
3. True Pinoy blockbuster
A study conducted by movie theater owners showed that there was one common denominator among the ten highest-grossing films, both foreign and domestic, shown in this country. Aside from being Hollywood films, the biggest blockbusters were film franchises. Apparently, audiences flocked back to theaters to see the next installments of their favorite hits.
And that is director Erik Matti's intention for this movie – to create a film that will one day be a franchise. A film that would make children cry if their parents didn't take them to see it. A film that guys would take their girls to watch, which they would plan months in advance, fantasizing about all the hugs and hand-grabs they would get when the scary creatures come out. A film that families would flock to see on Sundays after having lunch at the mall. A film that friends would go see together, screaming their lungs out every time monsters come out or every time Dingdong shows his abs.
 |
| "Hindi ako nagpakita ng abs! Pak shet ka!" |
Well, from what I've seen so far, Mr. Matti is close to achieving his goals. Given the chance, I would definitely watch this on the big screen again. And I would buy this on Blu-Ray as well. Although if they wanted a franchise, it should've been titled The Aswang Chronicles: Tiktik, right, not the other way around? I mean, it's not The Two Towers: The Lord of the Rings now, innit?
Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles. Philippines. 2012.
Rating: Eight and a half out of ten.
Follow Sting Lacson on Twitter. But follow Da Couch Tomato first.
2 comments :
The actors really looked scary in this movie. The graphics is great and the story is interesting. I just wonder why there are more ghosts stories produced rather than aswang stories. I guess its time to produce more of aswang stories.
@pinoy aswang: From what I heard, The Aswang Chronicles will be a trilogy. Great to have a new aswang franchise for this generation of moviegoers.
Post a Comment