Sineng Pambansa Horror plus Film Festival 2014 Official Entries

T’yanak is the story of Julie’s (Judy Ann Santos) adopted baby who transforms into a monster and terrorizes their quiet town of Putting Bato with a series of brutal murders, including the wife of townsman (Sid Lucero) who gets wrongly imprisoned for T’yanak’s crime.  Among T’yanak’s targets are Julie’s brother (Tom Rodriquez) and his fiancee (Solenn Heussaff).  Julie, who has suffered miscarriage after miscarriage in her efforts to have her own child, is unwilling to turn over her adopted baby to the authorities despite the many murders it has committed.

Sigaw sa Hatinggabi is about an investigation into possible murder of a battered wife whose husband is well known.  It is not clear whether the woman was   The film is told in a “Big Brother” style, as a documentary TV production crew records the efforts of a paranormal investigation group to find who killed the woman.  With the leadership of a celebrity medium, the group suspects that the murder was committed by the ghost of a serial killer who died more than two decades ago.  As the investigation continues, the celebrity medium keeps a secret that may endanger everyone trying to solve the mystery murder.  The cast includes Regine Angeles, Richard Quan, Lance Raymundo, Vangie Labalan, David Karell, Marga Yabes, Hero Bautista, Alvin Anson and China Roces.

Bacao is about the torment of a young wife, Mayet, struggling to become pregnant.  Mayet, played by Michelle Madrigal, is an enchanting and desired young woman from a remote village of Isabela who experiences a sexual awakening upon her marriage to Abel (Arnold Reyes).  As their village is in the midst of a corn bountiful harvest, their sensual partnership also flourishes, though it is paradoxically fruitless.  Mayet’s anxiety and paranoia grows as pregnancy evades her.  To what extent will Mayet go to fulfill her desire of having a child?  Marife Necesito and Alvin Anson also star in the film.

 Hukluban examines the plight of the cursed woman, Mira (played by Kritsa Miller), over the span of three eras over six generations and her search for true love and a man played by actor Kiko Matos. Hukluban is a “gothic horror romance. The story was inspired by his 1983 drama thriller “Gabi kung sumikat ang araw,” which features a cursed woman who is beautiful woman at night but transforms into a hukluban, an aging old woman, by sunrise.  Immortal, the woman can only hope for true love to break the curse. 

This year’s entries to the first ever Horror plus Film Festival stretch the limits of horror, just in time for Halloween weekend. The Sineng Pambansa HORROR plus Film Festival will run from October 29 - November 4 at SM Cinema branches nationwide.