Photographed by Samantha Spence
Irene Villamor, Quark Henares, and Erik Matti share their favorite horror films.
Some like to celebrate the Halloween season by dressing up for parties or slowing down with spiritual practices, but for others, sitting down with a good horror film is enough. The Substance by Coralie Fargeat seems to be on everyone’s lips this month, along with Longlegs and Smile 2. However, if Cronenberg-style body horror, Nicolas Cage’s strange voice, or a franchise sequel doesn’t entice you, Filipino directors Irene Villamor, Quark Henares, and Erik Matti have their horror film recommendations for you.
Irene Villamor: Ring 0: Birthday (2000)
Irene Villamor has been known to dip into Filipino mythology in her film Ulan (2019), but for her horror movie pick, she chooses Ring 0: Birthday (2000) directed by Norio Tsuruta. A prequel to Ring (1998), the story follows Sadako Yamamura thirty years prior to the first film. “I really lost it when Sadako came off the TV screen, my heart was jumping out of my body,” Villamor says. “That was the reason I rarely watch horror films up to this day.”
See the trailer for Ring 0: Birthday here.
Quark Henares: Re-Animator (1985)
When asked for his horror movie recommendation, multi-awarded filmmaker Quark Henares chooses the sci-fi horror comedy film Re-Animator (1985). Directed by Stuart Gordon, the film is based on H.P. Lovecraft’s serial novelette Herbert West-Reanimator, following the story of a medical student who invents a reagent that can re-animate deceased bodies.
“Re-Animator, despite being fairly faithful to HP Lovecraft’s short story, has the complete opposite effect of the original, but in the same spectrum of awesome!” Henares shares. “It’s an over-the-top balls-to-the-wall horror comedy that I’m ashamed was a blind spot for the longest time.”
See the trailer for Re-Animator here.
Erik Matti: Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
Erik Matti found it quite difficult to pick just one horror film, but the director of Kwaresma (2019) and Seklusyon (2016) eventually chose Rosemary’s Baby (1968) by Roman Polanski. “This horror film hinged on paranoia with a central performance from the lead protagonist that is ironically both disturbing and mesmerizing from start to finish,” Matti says. “No ghouls. No creatures. No jump scares.”
The film is a psychological horror film based on Ira Levin’s 1967 novel of the same title. It follows the story of Rosemary Woodhouse and her husband Guy, who encounter eccentric neighbors Minnie and Roman Castevet. After mysteriously becoming pregnant after a strange dream, Rosemary suspects that their neighbors are members of a Satanic cult.
“It is always great to revisit the genre films made by auteurs early in their careers. One can see the kind of creative handling they do to what can just be another B-grade film that panders to its audience,” he says. “These kinds of characters don’t seem to be coming from a horror movie but they pulled it off. And such devices have been copied over and over again by so many other horror movies.”
See the trailer for Rosemary’s Baby here.
