`Kakaiba itong horror film' says Direk Gil Portes. Indeed, the story veers away from the usual screamfest characteristic of Pinoy horror films. It is a horror love story, spanning generations. Watch `HUKLUBAN' during the regular screenings of the FDCP Sineng Pambansa Horror Plus Film Festival on Halloween Week (Oct. 29 to Nov. 4)!!
Director Gil Portes |
A shocked Kiko Matos |
Kiko Matos' character discovers a cave with a deep dark secret |
The Sineng Pambansa Horror Plus Film Festival will unfold on Halloween week, from October 29 to November 4, at SM Cinema theaters nationwide. But the four entries will each have a gala premiere the week before.
Organizer Film Development Council of the Philippines, in partnership with SM Cinema, has released the following schedules of the premieres:
“Bacao” – October 20 (Monday) 7PM, SM Megamall Cinema 7
“Hukluban” October 21 (Tuesday) 7PM, SM North Edsa Cinema 1 7PM
“T’yanak” October 22 (Wednesday) 7PM, SM Megamall / Cinema 7
“Sigaw sa Hatinggabi”, October 23 (Thursday) 7PM, SM North Edsa Cinema 1
These gala premieres will be attended by the films’ directors, as well as members of the cast and crew. They will be open to the public for free on a first-come-first-served basis due to limited seating capacity.
Following Sineng Pambansa’s basic mission to support and produce quality films made by Filipino filmmakers to bring to the wider Filipino public, the Horror Plus Film Festival will highlight four films directed by master Filipino directors that feature Filipino folklore as well as a unique mix of various film genres with traditional horror.
Directed by Edgardo “Boy” Vinarao, “Bacao” is a drama thriller about a woman whose fertility is mysteriously linked to her village’s corn harvest. It stars Michelle Madrigal and Arnold Reyes.
Director Gil Portes presents “Hukluban”, a gothic romance about a woman cursed to roam the night as a young and beautiful lady and to live forever as a decrepit hag during daytime. Kiko Matos and Krista Miller lead the cast.
From the directorial tandem of Peque Gallaga and Lore Reyes comes “T’yanak”, an update of their 1988 horror classic “Tiyanak”. Judy Ann Santos stars as the adoptive mother of a baby who turns into a monster and terrorizes a small town. Tom Rodriguez and Solenn Heussaff also star.
“Sigaw sa Hatinggabi” is the latest work of director Romy Suzara. Set in a haunted house occupied by a team of “spirit questors”, it features Regine Angeles, Richard Quan, Vangie Labalan, Chanel Latorre, and Paloma.
While the gala premieres will be free to the public, regular admission prices will apply during the festival’s regular commercial run at SM Cinema theaters.
Krista Miller and Kiko Matos wave to fans |
Reporter Mario of ABS-CBN interviews Krista Miller and Kiko Matos before the screening |
Interview with ABS-CBN. The boyband Men of Manila are seated behind. |
Lead actors of `Hukluban', Krista Miller, Kiko Matos, and Minda Flores |
Direk Gil Portes delivers the Opening Speech |
Crew and Supporting Cast of `Hukluban' |
Cast and Crew of `Hukluban' |
My movie dates Nicole, Hana, and Hana's cousin |
Krista and Kiko at `The Wall' |
Krista Miller and Kiko Matos after the packed screening of `Hukluban' |
Horror Couple of the Night - Krista Miller and Kiko Matos |
The newest screen loveteam - KRISKO (or KITA?) =) |
`Hukluban' lead stars pose for the press |
`Hukluban' lead stars with Kiko's Talent Manager Mell Navarro |
With Production Crew of `Hukluban' |
`Hukluban' cast with Direk Gil Portes |
With members of the Gilas Team |
Fellow Westonite acting workshopper Kiko Matos makes it big by landing the lead role in `Hukluban' |
Kiko Matos with blogger/actor/friend |
From www.philstar.com
Hukluban brings enchantment to FDCP horror fest
MANILA, Philippines - Horror and enchantment intertwine in Hukluban, director Gil Portes’ entry to the upcoming Sineng Pambansa Horror Plus Film Festival 2014 organized by the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP).
A gothic horror romance that joins three other works from veteran filmmakers, the film is the 39th feature film in the long and distinguished career of the award-winning independent filmmaker known for such memorable films as Miss X, Merika, Mulanay, Saranggola and Mga Munting Tinig.
Although its premise is loosely based on his 1983 drama thriller Gabi Kung Sumikat Ang Araw, Hukluban is direk Gil’s first foray into the horror genre. However, that distinction needs clarification in the same way that the FDCP explained why the festival itself is called Horror Plus.
“All the films feature Filipino folklore as well as a unique mix of various film genres with traditional horror,” the FDCP said in an article on its website.
In Tagalog folklore, Hukluban is the metamorphic goddess of death. Her name is the Tagalog word for “crone,” a withered witchlike old woman. Curiously, its root word “huklob” means enchantment.
This was the concept behind Gabi Kung Sumikat Ang Araw, a drama thriller written by Ricky Lee, in which Gina Alajar played a nubile nightclub singer who enchants men at night and leaves them before dawn lest they discover her secret-daylight turns her into a crone.
Hukluban expands and expounds on this same intriguing premise. This time, the story transpires in three eras across six generations and features the crone in ill-starred love affairs with three different men.
“This love is an unfulfilled love, an unrequited love, because of her condition. How do you marry a girl who is beautiful and young in the night time, but the moment the sun rises, she becomes an old woman, a crone? This is the story,” direk Gil said in the FDCP website.
Hukluban stars controversial sexy star Krista Miller as the cursed enchantress who roams at night in search of love and disappears before sunrise.
Intriguingly, her three lovers — a boxer crushed by depression and tuberculosis in 1948, a communist rebel harboring a dangerous secret in 1975 and an adventurous mountain climber in search of Maria Makiling in 2014 — are played by the same actor, rising indie star Kiko Matos (Babagwa and Mumbai Love).
Krista and Kiko, both uninhibited performers, bare body and soul in torrid love scenes throughout the film.
Known for molding newcomers (recently, Xian Lim in Two Funerals and Ellen Adarna in Ang Tag-Araw ni Twinkle) into solid thespians, direk Gil is pleased with the work of his two lead actors in Hukluban.
“I am very confident that Kiko and Krista will go very far in their careers after this movie,” he said.
Direk Gil is also proud of the make-up and prosthetics and the visual effects used to bring the crone to life. “I didn’t have these things in 1983 when I made Gabi Kung Sumikat Ang Araw. I’m happy to say that my vision of the crone has been fulfilled in this film,” he said.
Produced by the FDCP and Teamwork Productions, Hukluban will be screened along with three other films in SM Cinema theaters nationwide as part of the FDCP Sineng Pambansa Horror Plus Film Festival during Halloween Week (Oct. 29 to Nov. 4).
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