Sinister sisters
MANILA, Philippines - There are three horror movie entries in the 2014 Metro Manila Film Festival. In fact, there’s always at least one scary flick in the annual MMFF list. What is it about Pinoys and our penchant for the macabre during, of all times, Christmas? Supreme would like to hazard a guess: It’s probably because a certain Mother Lily Monteverde, big boss of Regal Films, stealthily and successfully made three-in-one fright-fest Shake, Rattle, & Roll an undeniable Pinoy pop culture fixture. You scoff when you see the SRR 15 trailer before your Hollywood movie starts rolling (“Ano ba yan! Hanggang Shake, Rattle, & Roll 1,000 ba?!), but you’ll go see it anyway because, hello, Christmas tradition.
In an interview with the Philipppine Entertainment Portal, unstoppable Mother Lily said the 15th installment of SRR is possibly the most expensive movie she’s ever produced, so costly she can’t even bring herself to say the actual figure. (Here’s hoping she gets fantastic ROI.) But it’s money well-spent, judging from the full trailer. The stories are interesting (Hostage situation and demon baby in Flight 666, snake woman in Ahas, and seriously disgusting family meals in Ulam), the treatment glossy and modern, and the special effects more believable than previous installments. Here, lead stars and horror movie vets Lovi and Carla talk doomed plane rides and mystery meats, and why you should not miss this bang-for-your buck flick.
Lovi Poe Welcomes You To Flight 666
“Every time there’s a turbulence, I always think, ‘it’s over,’” admits visibly tired Lovi who just came from a fun run sponsored by a fast food company. She scoots over and knocks thrice on a nearby wooden cabinet, a defensive gesture to prevent her fatal statement from coming true. Lovi has always enjoyed watching airplane-situated movies such as Flight Plan starring Jodi Foster, so it was easy for her to say yes to this project. The irony: Lovi is actually deathly afraid of boarding all kinds of aircraft. “You have nowhere else to go,” she says with a shudder. And all this talk about being up in the air suddenly made her recall that, to this day, even aviation experts can’t explain what really happened to the missing Malaysian Airlines plane. “It’s terrifying to think about what the passengers went through,” she says, sadly.
For her third SRR movie, Lovi plays flight attendant Karen, one of the unlucky people aboard the doomed Flight 666. In the story, not only is there a bloody hostage-taking going on — a pregnant woman also gives birth to a roving baby maligno whose idea of “milk” is freshly gouged human guts. Niiice. (BRB, calling to ask if these things are covered by travel insurance.)
Should this happen in real life, and Lovi could only save three showbiz people, she says she’ll rescue the following: Heart Evangelista (“Because tried-and-tested, she’s a real friend.), Alessandra de Rossi (“Keeping secrets is very important sa kanya. That’s why I know mapagkakatiwalaan siya.”), and boyfriend.” Rocco Nacino (“He kind of saved me also. When he came along, I became myself again.”). Turning senti, she says of Rocco, “Whether he’s going to be a season, a reason, or a lifetime, it doesn’t matter to me. At least he turned me into this kind of person again. I’m running, I sleep early, sa bahay na lang ako. May motivation na ako ulit to become a better version of myself.”
What’s Your ‘Ulam,’ Carla Abellana?
”A plate full of food na nagapang gapangan na ng totoong lizards,” she answers, voice deadpan and hoarse from flu. “This is one of the most challenging things I had to do for a movie, in my whole career, my goodness,” she says, shaking her head. Trivia: Carla didn’t even read the script prior to agreeing. When she heard that Jerrold Tarrog (Does indie hit Sana Dati ring a bell?) co-wrote the story and will be directing her second SRR movie, she said yes, no questions asked. Their first time to work together, for the Punerarya episode of a previous SRR installment, gave Carla a Best Actress win, so we get the enthusiasm.
This time around, for the Ulam episode of SRR 15, there are no corpses to deal with. Just a vindictive household help who relishes putting all kinds of disgusting things on an unwitting family’s meals: Rats, lizards, worms, and, pet lovers, brace yourselves, family dog meat. It’s essentially a psychological thriller (You think your family’s dysfunctional? HA. Wait till you meet this clan.), with supernatural elements thrown into the mix. I.e., if this were a click-bait Facebook post, it would read: “This woman born in the Year of the Dragon accidentally eats lizard meat. What happens next will shock you.”
The star had to eat all kinds of, um, delicacies for the movie—chicken feet, frogs, the aforementioned lizard-trodden meals. But even Jerrold Tarrog, hell, not even Steven Spielberg can make her eat one thing: “Aso. The fact that they [production team] would have to kill a dog to put it on my plate, wag naman.” And for the first time since the start of the interview, we saw a flash of genuine fear in her brown eyes.
