YAM LARANAS

Make Me Blush: Blush! - 2011's Best Pictures

2012-01-03T15:29:00.000-08:00

Make Me Blush: Blush! - 2011's Best Pictures: I like the immersive atmosphere of a cool dark cinema, with flickering images set before me. The ruminative nature of film allows me to be...

Make Me Blush: Yam Laranas' The Road - Spinning Scary Yarns

2011-12-31T23:02:00.000-08:00

Make Me Blush: Yam Laranas' The Road - Spinning Scary Yarns: It’s the detours that lead to the untrodden path. When Brian and Janine ( Derick Monasterio and Lexi Fernandez ) invite Ella ( Barbie Fort...

Todd’s Top 10 Movies You May Have Missed In 2011

2011-12-28T07:22:00.000-08:00

(excerpt)

The Devil’s Double
While some people are quick to label stuff like “The Human Centipede II” as the most disturbing movie they’ve seen this year, I’m of the belief that director Lee Tamahori’s “The Devil’s Double” takes that honor. Even if a quarter of the brutally unsettling events portrayed in this visually stunning motion picture are true, it’s still beyond frightening. Dominic Cooper astounds as both Uday Hussein and his double Latif Yahia, the latter of whom went on to write a book about his life with the Saddam’s unbalanced offspring. Simply outstanding.

Absentia
Don’t let Phase 4 Films’ awful DVD artwork fool you — writer/director Mike Flanagan’s drama isn’t an over-the-top supernatural thriller. In fact, “Absentia” is one of the few flicks this year that caused this seasoned review to shed a tear or two over the course of the feature. The story of a woman’s obsession with finding her missing husband is both eerie and emotional, a balance that is carefully managed by Flanagan’s intelligent script and steady direction. It’s movies like “Absentia” that make me glad that I write for a website like this.

The Skin I Live In
Writer/director Pedro Almodóvar’s insanely abnormal melodrama seriously freaked me out. The film is oddly humorous, strangely erotic, and incredibly disturbing, often at the same time. At its core, the story is about obsession and its effect on the human psyche, and, for the most part, it works. Performances from Antonio Banderas and Elena Anaya are razor sharp, and Almodóvar’s direction is suitably cold and detached. If you’re looking for something truly uncomfortable, “The Skin I Live In” is the ride to take.

The Road
A few people have claimed that my recent review for “The Echo” director Yam Laranas’ outstanding ghost story was completely insincere, a fluff piece specifically designed to generate hype for a mediocre motion picture. That’s simply not the case. “The Road” is a genuinely scary, thoroughly enjoyable cinematic experience, and I’m not ashamed to share my excitement for the flick. As stale and redundant as the genre is at the moment, Laranas’ spooky endeavor arrived like a breath of fresh air. Do not let this one pass you by.

THE ROAD IN TOP 10

2011-12-27T21:02:00.000-08:00

Dread Central's Best and Worst of 2011

Uncle Creepy's Picks

2011 was an odd year for movies, but not because there were many head-scratchers out there. The simple truth is this past year saw more good flicks than bad, and that in and of itself is quite the achievement. Still, several flicks rose above the crowd as both winners and stinkers, and I'm ready to give my take on the state of cinema for ya, right here right now, along with a few honorable and dishonorable mentions sprinkled in for flavor. In no particular order …

Super 8 - For me this flick was nothing short of pure magic and spectacle. It's a true love letter to everyone who grew up loving monsters and monster movies. Yes, it had that sickeningly sweet Spielbergian ending, but for my money the movie is just impossible not to love.

The Road - Though the film hasn't come out officially yet here in the States, this shriek-fest from director Yam Laranas ranks up there with not only some of the best films of this year, but quite possibly of the last several as well. It's beautifully shot and frightfully scary and intelligent; you guys need to do whatever you can to see this flick ASAP!

Stake Land - Who says vampires lack bite? Never mind the sparkling drama queens who rake in the dough at the box office, this is what the vampire sub-genre should be revered for. Thanks to over-exposure to legions of teenage girls and cougars alike, vampire projects have been universally defanged. If you need a reminder of just how terrifying these beasts can be, look no further.

Attack the Block - Every time the hyperbole wheels starts rolling for a foreign film that we've yet to see here Stateside, it becomes easy to be disappointed. Attack the Block is one of the few films I've ever seen that not only lives up to the hype, but it completely transcends it. It's really too bad that Sony didn't trust this one enough to give it a proper release. If you haven't seen this one yet or have been on the fence, go ahead. Blind buy it. You'll be thanking me right after your first of many viewings.

Troll Hunter - I know, I know. A third foreign flick on my best of list. What can I say? What's good is good, andTroll Hunter is simply great. In a sea of failed cinema verite movies, this flick gets everything right. There are moments in which you just won't believe your eyes. You'll be sitting there, mouth agape, in a state of awe. If that alone is not enough to be included here, then I don't know what is.

Honorable Mentions:
Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, Insidious, Paranormal Activity 3, Final Destination 5, Rise of the Planet of the Apes

The Rite - Any movie featuring the great Sir Anthony Hopkins playing a priest who is possessed by demonic forces should be a no brainer of a home run; yet, the makers of this atrocity still managed to find a way to make the film's events fall flatter than the sunny state of Florida. Horrid demon CGI, hammy performances, and the completely unusual usage of frogs for dramatic effect were enough to make The Rite the first film of 2011 to scrape the very bottom of the barrel.

The Roommate / The Resident - It's true we're only supposed to list five movies here, but damnit, even if you combine the similarities of these two shitfests (awful acting, no suspense, ridiculous events leading nowhere), they still don't amount to at least one halfway decent movie. If you're a true glutton for punishment, I wholeheartedly recommend setting up a double feature here. Just don't forget to sign your suicide note. You will be missed.

Rubber - Though critically acclaimed by nearly everyone and their grandmother, I fuckin' hated this movie. It's not high art, and it's nowhere near as smart as it likes to think it is. A story featuring a sentient tire with the uncanny ability to make people's heads explode should have been no less than a rip roaring good time. The filmmakers, however, had other plans. Instead of the mayhem-laden hilarity that should have permeated the screen, the fourth wall is broken to bits and a pretentious experiment in arthouse filmmaking rolls on a seemingly endless path to boredom. What anyone sees in this flick is completely beyond me.

Red Riding Hood - Holy shit. The word "rancid" comes to mind along with "putrid". When you have big name actors up on the screen delivering performances worthy of a school play, you know there's a problem. Here's your classic example of a flick that cares far more about how pretty it is than it does about delivering anything that even remotely resembles substance. Shallow, empty, and stupid, not even the biggest of metallic elephant torture devices could make this shell of a movie even slightly interesting.

Creature - For my money this could be one of the worst damned movies of all time. Here's the thing … you have a cool looking practical swamp monster out in the wild killing people. You have actors known to deliver quality performances. The only thing you have to do is roll the camera and let the mayhem begin. Not here. No way. There's no fun to be had, no events that take place which even remotely make sense, and little to no interaction between the guy in a friggin' suit and the actors of the movie. This is the biggest fuck up of a simple formula I think I've ever seen. It's astounding in its relentless pursuit of being as awful as possible and not in a good way. It's simply wretched.

Dishonorable Mentions:
Fright Night 2011, Zombie Diaries 2, Hellraiser: Revelations, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, The Howling Reborn

FROM FIZZLE TO SIZZLE

2011-12-16T09:08:00.000-08:00

Laranas goes from fizzle to sizzle
By: Rito P. Asilo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
December 17, 2011 | 12:22 am

VILLAROEL (WITH VALERIO, LEFT). Most chillingly effective portrayal.
A director is only as good – or as bad – as his last film. Take Yam Laranas, whose “Patient X” we couldn’t make heads and tails out of. But, with the release of “The Road,” he goes from fizzle to sizzle – and gets his filmmaking moxie back!
Laranas’ latest cautionary chiller is a mosaic of unbridled horror that runs its course over a 20-year period. Three seemingly unconnected crime stories lead hardworking police investigator, Luis Medina (TJ Trinidad), to dead-ends and clues that initially draw red herrings. But, his persistence soon unveils secrets that bear potentially devastating repercussions for his promising career as a crime-buster!
The three-pronged mystery begins to unravel when three teenagers, Ella, Brian and Janine (Barbie Forteza, Derick Monasterio and Lexi Fernandez), encounter a driverless vehicle on a dirt road in the middle of the night. But, mirth turns to mayhem when strange apparitions start appearing – and following them wherever they go!

Stranger

In the second episode, sisters Lara (Rhian Ramos) and Joy (Louise delos Reyes) are forced to fight for their lives after they’re abducted by the baby-faced stranger (Alden Richards) whose help they seek out after their car breaks down.
As the investigator digs deeper, however, his sleuthing takes him another decade back – to the disturbing tale of a soft-spoken preacher-father (Marvin Agustin), his abusive, adulterous wife (Carmina Villaroel), and their petrified young son (Renz Valerio).
Despite its share of flaws and some lapses in “practical logic” (Rhian runs in the middle of the road as her abductor gives chase, etc.), the film has a riveting fictional framework whose gripping sections can stand on their own, each with distinctive hues and color palettes that help establish the required mood and atmosphere.
But, there’s more to the episodes than their visual flourishes and technical polish – their narratives flow gracefully as they convey a persistent and stomach-churning sense of disquiet!
Laranas executes each twist with subtlety and confidence – and there are quite a number of them to jolt viewers out of their seats.
But, his bigger accomplishment lies in the fact that he’s turned the annoying leads of “Tween Academy” into attractive stars and credible actors – most notably Valerio and Richards, who are ready for bigger and better roles.
Trinidad, Ramos, Agustin and the lovely Ynna Asistio also come off well – but, the most effective portrayal is turned in by Carmina Villaroel, who is scarier than any contravida (villain) we’ve seen in years! How can anyone so lovely be so terrifying?

WHIRLWIND

2011-12-11T18:02:00.001-08:00

The Road is now starting to take baby steps. Slowly. It was a wild ride from start of production all the way to post and it's release in the Philippines.

I'm taking a break. No twitter. No Facebook - indefinitely. Peace and quiet. Focus on The Road and on the path it will travel to.

I can't wait for 2012.

GOING OUT ON THE ROAD

2011-12-07T03:09:00.000-08:00

GOING OUT

Nobody leaves The Road

Text by Tessa De Guzman

Three teenagers out on an illicit joyride; two young women indulging in some sisterly bonding; a promising police investigator determined to prove himself. What do they have in common? Traversing Yam Laranas' timeless, bucolic The Road, they all discover that, once here, "Nobody leaves".

The first episode begins closest to our present time. Police investigator Luis (TJ Trinidad) is awarded a medal of valor. A grieving mother (Jacklyn Jose) approaches him to probe deeper into her children's 12-year disappearance. He is puzzled that his fellow investigators dismiss her. Why?

Still in this timeline: harmless teenage hijinks spiral out of control when Janine (Lexi Fernandez) and her boyfriend Brian (Derick Montaserio) steal Janine's worse-for-wear family car for a nighttime spin. Wary of Brian and protective of Janine, younger Ella (Barbie Forteza) chaperones; though they are not sisters, Ella seems to enjoy a favored ward-like status in their house and is brought along as a useful "shield" should the teens run into trouble. Though it's not what they anticipated, trouble promptly ensues—the moment they make a turn to a lonely country road surrounded by endless black.

The next episode, ten years earlier, revolves around a young man (Alden Richards), a troubled relationship with an old house, and a sudden encounter with two sisters (Rhian Ramos and Louise delos Reyes).

The final episode takes us to the very beginning ofThe Road's journey: a simpler time in a small town, where it's perfectly run-of-the-mill to go out para manood ng mga paru-paro (to watch butterflies) and a young boy to have a surreal, isolated upbringing filled alternately with magic and madness.

I won't say any more about the movie here except to give my own thoughts. The Road rests comfortably in the genres of light Asian horror and heavy drama. I say light because—I won't deny it—I'm a horror film lightweight, and yet I managed to watch most of this film not through my hands, hair, or the filtering fibers of my sweater. As for the heavy drama—I keep thinking about the familial/interpersonal dynamics that really, more than anything else, propelled this film surely and steadily to its strange conclusion.

Many of the seasoned actors deftly hurdled their own star-hood to deliver memorable, resonant performances. Newcomers held their own, particularly the chillingly still Alden Richards. The best moments occurred with minimal or no dialogue, when feelings and meanings were imparted through looks and nuanced gestures. There is also an unforgettable scene when two female protagonists realize they are in danger. Here, the film shines in a detached portrayal of horror, unique to my eyes.

It's a great piece of episodic storytelling. The opening credits were refreshingly graphic and very interesting to watch. The film's soundscape, most crucial to this genre, is masterfully executed with the right levels of silence and ambient noise to recreate this unsettling sensation of being alone yet not alone. Punctuated by sudden, orchestral assaults which are expected but effective nonetheless—delivered with brio by Johan Söderqvist of Let The Right One In.

As we go further and further back a decade at a time, Yam Laranas' moody cinematography colludes with time-neutral production design and costuming to make this all feel somehow like a lost memory. This being Yam Laranas' third horror film in a row, I would be very interested to see him explore and lend his perspective on the human drama to other genres.

Perhaps the most frightening thing about The Road is how familiar it all is, because we've been there: on our way somewhere else, at an ungodly hour, we found ourselves down a bumpy road illuminated only by the arcs of our headlamps, our fears thriving in the overwhelming darkness beyond; any second now, we might chance upon a woman walking by herself, or a creepy house half-hidden by a garden wild with neglect; the car might stop, there's no signal, and you don't dare look in the rearview mirror.

The Road is produced by GMA Films and is now showing in theaters nationwide.

THE ROAD SCORES A WIN

2011-12-05T18:57:00.000-08:00

Yam Laranas scores a win in ‘The Road’

by Isah V. Red

Several years ago, Yam Laranas was the loudest buzz in the local movie industry after his film Sigaw had been acquired by Hollywood producers for adaptation. Add to that was the fact that he was also tapped to direct the American version of the film. The result was The Echo, though not given a wide release, became a cult film among horror movies aficionados, going around festivals dedicated to the gothic genre and winning accolades from critics.

Three years later, Laranas is back in harness and making audiences scream in terror with his new opus simply titled The Road.
If Sigaw and Echo were about a haunted apartment, what is The Road all about?
Laranas explores the idea of terror in this sleek horror-thriller. No, there are no supernatural creatures that terrorize the other characters in the story, there is just a crime that for many years has not been solved, and the perpetrator is still on the loose.
The police is baffled. So is the father of the character played by Tween star Barbie Forteza after receiving a call from her in the middle of the night asking for help.
Even the audience is confounded as Forteza disappears from the screen after nearly 25 them endlessly. She is with Derrick Monasterio and Lexie Fernandez who spirited the car without permission for a good time.
When Derrick and Lexie die in terror, the action shifts to Rhian Ramos and Louise de los Reyes in car that breaks down in the middle of the road. This is in a different era and Laranas wants us to take a closer look as this can provide us a clue on what happened to Monasterio, Fernandez, and Forteza.
The sisters see a man walking and ask him if he could help them with their car. Without saying much, he leads them to a house. As soon as the two girls are in the house, they are subjected to a mind-boggling and terrifying torture. Richards seem to be a docile man, but inwardly he is sick and wanted to inflict pain on his victims.
Again, this baffles us because there seems to be no direct connection to the previous scenes with the three younger actors.
Yet, we suspect something, this could be the ghosts that haunt the road, but why?
Laranas takes us to an even earlier time, at home, with a strange family. A kid, played by Renz Valerio, wonders why her mother, Carmina Villarroel, forbids her to talk to strangers, even to the laundrywoman, Yna Asistio. As punishment for even trying to connect to her, she is locked in a closet. Valerios’s father, Marvin Agustin, tries to talk to Villarroel about not being to hard on their son, but to no avail. What happens after adds even more to the baffling issue of how are this connected to the three.
When finally, Laranas takes us back to the present, we are able to breathe in relief. Forteza finally finds herself again, and the police wonder how she was able to be in the place,
Oh, there’s one character we failed to mention, that of TJ Trinidad, a policeman helping in the investigation of the crime. What he does to his fellow policeman at the end of the movie answered the question. No, Laranas isn’t interested in a police story, he is interested in how people behave in terror.
World-class feature
The Road is perhaps the first local movie I’ve seen in years that I didn’t feel the urge to go out of the theater after the first 15 minutes. I would have if I wanted to, but something was telling me to stay so I can find out what the terror was all about. Is it a ghost, a creature, or is it all in the mind of Forteza, Fernandez, and Monasterio. But Fernandez and Monasterio have died, so it leaves Forteza to tell the story, but can she?
Forteza surprises us with an honest performance. No, she’s not the tween star we see on TV, but more of the young actress that delivers the kind of performance serious critics should notice. She reminds us of Dakota Fanning in her younger years starring in terrifying thriller Hide and Seek with Robert DeNiro.
While the role is not lengthy enough to show more of what Forteza can do, I think it’s enough that directors like Laranas is able to see beyond the ‘tween stars sweet-young girl image.
Alden Richards is in my opinion the biggest revelation in the movie. With nary a dialogue, he is able to imprint his character on the audience’s memory bits as the disturbed murderous teen who tortures to death Rhian Ramos and Louise de los Reyes.
Richards, in creating this character, makes a prototype for other actors who are dreaming of portraying a significantly different character.
Yet, the actor that makes a big mark for us is the young boy played by Renz Valerio. Physically abused by his mother (Villarroel) and unable to be protected by his preacher-father (Agustin) we empathize with the young boy’s confusion and inability to discern love from punishment. He is also unable to tell his father of his mother’s infidelity lest he upsets her. And even after her death, he can still see her unaware of what his father did to her.
It seems Laranas wrote the policeman role for TJ Trinidad. And he delivers exactly the kind of performance that I like in movies. With no frills but more substance, Trinidad’s menacing character is hooded by his good looks and we are left with no inkling of what he is really made of and what he can do until the last minutes of the film.
Laranas, apparently has picked up many things about filmmaking while making The Echo. He is now able to tell a story without too much bending to the whims of producers who want movies to be really so damn sophomoric you’d want to puke at th end. Here’s a film that explores the gothic and thriller genres, fusing them to make a really terrifying experience for the audience. This is way too ahead not by just a mile but by millions of miles of other local films shown in theaters.
Why? I don’t want to give a lecture on films, it will just spoil your enthusiasm for The Road. Watch it, and take note of how Laranas dressed up his sets, how he photographed and edited it, Add to that the music that adds to the atmosphere of the film…And you probably will say…no... this isn’t a Tagalog movie.

THE ROAD TO FILMCRITIC.COM

2011-12-04T16:01:00.000-08:00

"This dichotomy, this strategy of placing the gorgeous next to the grotesque is what makes The Road worth a look."

The Road (2011)

Reviewed by Bill Gibron on Dec 1 2011

Bill Gibron

Bill Gibron is a veteran film critic from Tampa, Florida.

full bio of Bill Gibron

A troubled man with an unspoken history returns a decorated police hero. A group of typical teenagers go joy riding...and run into a sinister supernatural situation. Spirits rise and secrets are revealed. It all collides along an abandoned stretch of tarmac which has an unsettling legacy involving a decades old missing persons case. Thus we have the set-up for Philippine writer/director Yam Laranas' gloomy ghost story The Road. Reminiscent of the better J-horror efforts from the '90s, this sectional spook show has mood and atmosphere to spare. While the story doesn't always live up to the filmmaking, the overall effect is stark and suspenseful.

When a car full of kids go missing in a notorious section of street off the metropolitan beaten path, newly promoted policeman Luis (TJ Trinidad) is put in charge of discovering what happened. He has also been given a notorious cold case from 12 year before that follows a similar fact pattern. Suddenly, we shift back in time to the original crime. A clearly disturbed young man lures a pair of sisters into his rundown family home and proceeds to torture and torment them. We then move even further back into the past to learn how this casual psychopath became so unhinged. The truth, and its connection to the current crimes will link heritage with horror in a way no one can anticipate.

At first, The Road plays like a dozen other Asian fright films. It offers bloody spirits, paranormal peculiarities, spooky visions, and a real sense of superstition and family fear. As we move from the present to the past, we learn of horrific abuse, unnatural acts, and a linage of lies that lets one man slip through the system. Though the narrative is never as clear cut as to explain things outright, the results do speak for themselves. Over the course of 109 minutes, Laranas leads the viewer through a maze of unsettling questions and even more disturbing insinuated answers. Again, nothing is spelled out specifically ala the standard Hollywood genre film. Instead, Laranas believes in the power of his visuals to disturb and delight - and for the most part, they do.

Where the movie bogs down a bit is in the middle act. Here, we learn of the 12 year old cold case that more or less defines everything and it's a bit overwrought and unfocused. Perhaps Laranas wanted to make us feel as uneasy and frightened as the kidnapped girls. Maybe, when put in a situation where a killer plays cat and mouse with his victims, he realized he didn't have much to work with. If there is a point where The Road could lose a few minutes to more easily conform to our typical ideas of terror, it is here. Instead, Laranas indulges his desire to work within dark, disturbing areas and the movie is really no better for it.

Luckily, the bookend sections are sensational - well managed and manipulated for maximum viewer reaction. The trio of teens play their parts perfectly, offering a nice combination of disorientation and naive determination. Similarly, the origins of our situation are handled in an unusual combination of brightness and the bizarre. One minute, a little boy is watching an attractive relative, surrounded by butterflies, as she washes clothes. The next, he is being scolded and stuck in a cupboard by his clearly deranged mother. This dichotomy, this strategy of placing the gorgeous next to the grotesque is what makes The Road worth a look. It might not be traveling down any new horror highways, but at least in this case, the path taken is polished enough to work...and work well.

THE ROAD BEYOND HOLLYWOOD

2011-12-03T00:47:00.000-08:00

THE ROAD : Review

by Todd Rigney, BeyondHollywood.com

The thing that I loved the most about “The Echo” director Yam Laranas’ latest supernatural chiller “The Road” is that it’s quiet. Very quiet. Oh-so quiet, even. When the characters have nothing to say, they keep their mouths shut. No idiotic one-liners, no pointless pop culture references — just silence, plain and simple. And while that may sound more than a little silly to some, it’s actually quite refreshing. Sometimes it’s these eerie silences and the extended dialogue-free moments that add some weight to the atmosphere, particularly when the filmmakers are trying their best to generate a heaping helping of nail-chewing suspense. Not that Laranas and company have any problems causing the hairs on the back of your neck to stand straight up, mind you.

The story unfolds over three interlocking chapters, each of which draw you deeper into Laranas’ impossibly unnerving universe. After opening with what appears to be a suicide on stretch of land in the middle of nowhere, the film immediately jumps to a seemingly unrelated yarn involving three naive teenagers and their misguided adventure down a dark, dreary, an exceptionally haunted roadway. What begins as an innocent driving lesson soon spirals into an increasingly violent series of ghostly encounters. The trio are quickly overcome by the malevolent forces that call the road home, forcing the local police to launch an investigation spearheaded by the department’s highly decorated golden boy. Before too long, blood-soaked secrets are brought to light.

If you can, go into “The Road” knowing as little about the story as possible. I feel I may have revealed too much as it is. The mystery surrounding this foreboding bi-way is immensely engrossing, especially if you’re completely unaware of its destination. Laranas plays his hand in much the same way Takashi Shimizu did with “Ju-on”: each separate storyline is a piece of a much larger puzzle, one that builds to a heart-stopping, nerve-jangling climax. However, instead of saving the best stuff for the final act, Laranas and crew keep the scares flowing freely throughout. In fact, one of the picture’s scariest moments — a short bit involving a shadowy figure running towards our heroes at full speed — arrives fairly early in the film. It’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it kind of scene, and the entire movie is littered with them. The end result is nothing short of terrifying.

Naturally, the movie’s impact would have been lessened considerably had the filmmakers not filled their spooky little endeavor with an abundance of able-bodied actors. Thankfully, the entire cast is spot-on, and there’s not a single rotten egg in the entire bunch. The majority of the performers are fairly young, and, from what I can gather, have a very strong and extremely loyal fan base in their native country. The cast’s unwavering dedication to the picture’s numerous blood-soaked set pieces is certainly commendable, and should earn them even more adoring fans in the process. Instead of waiting impatiently for the kids to bite the proverbial dust, you want them to live, to escape the clutches of this sinister stretch of pavement. That, my friends, is a rarity in this day and age, especially in movies where teenagers are your central characters.

“The Road” is a fantastic horror film, a well-written, sharply directed ghost story that boldly assumes that its audience has a brain and knows how to use it. The film is dead serious in its presentation, which is precisely why it works so well. Yam Laranas knows how to get under the skin of even the most jaded of viewers, and he does so on a fairly consistent basis. The icing on the proverbial cake is the film’s cast, a savvy group of talented youngsters who effortlessly hit their marks, even during the picture’s more demanding scenarios. I honestly can’t recommend it enough, especially if you’re discerning fan who demands a bit of substance from the genre you love. If you have the chance to see “The Road”, do not let the opportunity pass you by.

GMA FILMS. Yam Laranas (director) / Yam Laranas & Aloy Adlawan (screenplay)

"CREEPY TO THE EXTREME"

2011-12-02T18:23:00.000-08:00

The Road – Review

Posted by Jason Bene on Dec 2, 2011 in Reviews, Theatrical | 0 comments

Part I: 2008 - Three teenagers get lost taking a joyride down an old desolate road, one that has been boarded up in hopes of keeping a three decades old murder a distant memory. Their short cut down takes them into the unknown, a pitch black stretch that is only illuminated by the headlights on their car, that is until another vehicle passes them by, sans a driver – a ghost car. The evil machine sidles up next to them revealing a figure with a bag over its head, with blood splattered inside. Getting frustrated by not finding a way out, they try by foot, and run smack dab into the wreckage of the car that was haunting them, with the charred remains of someone who is reaching out for help, wanting to release their trapped soul from purgatory.

Part II: 1998 – Two sisters seek help from a troubled young man after their car breaks down on the road. He takes them back to his home and takes them prisoner after knocking them out. The disheveled abode is a true house of horrors, as the girls are murdered without the killer uttering a single word. His lack of dialogue makes the murders even more disturbing. No rhyme. No reason. The dingy living conditions speak volumes for themselves, they represent he is out of touch with reality. This segment is a nice antithesis to the torture-porn drudgery that was so prevalent in years past.

Part III: 1988 – A young boy is smitten by a neighbor girl, but his overbearing mommie dearest of a mother has closed him off from the outside world. She doesn’t allow him to go outside, and locks him in a closet for his disobedience, and just long enough so she can’t cheat on her husband with another man. This is one abusive woman, and because of her careless actions, her son’s virgin eyes see death, abuse, infidelity and suicide – all in one fell swoop.

Three decades of terror collide in a film that is structured like Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible, where the plots unravels backwards as the films rolls on. Director Yam Laranas shows restraint as he allows the characters to develop, then he tears out our hearts by pulling back the cover and showing family dysfunction is not limited by race, religion or creed.

This is quiet genre film that is beautifully shot. The use of the widescreen camera (great use of lens flares) doesn’t take away from the unease you feel as the road feels like it is not part of our time and space, but an alternate realm that is trapped in time by the insane doings of normal people. The score really punches up the jolt scares that come at you in spades.

In my humble opinion, the J-Horror scene has been dead for some time and is played out. Maybe it is time for F-Horror (Filipino Horror) to re-emerge in popularity like it did in the 70′s and 80′s (watchMachete Maidens Unleashed!), except with classic scares that are more about the emotion of horror and not the exploitation.

After successfully remaking The Echo (Sigaw), my fingers are crossed that Yam Laranas’ Patient X will be released so we can see folkloric Filipino vampire-like creatures. Until then, be on the look out for this movie. The Road is creepy to the extreme. It gets under your skin and stays there.

Rating:

PINOY MOVIEBLOG REVIEW

2011-12-02T07:08:00.000-08:00

A Brilliantly Crafted Ghost Story!

DEC 02

The fundamental requirements of a good horror movie are plot, cast, music and cinematography. A film may have all those but these days, one has to exceed fundamentals to earn the nods of the modern-day moviegoers, the erudite and critical ones.

To whether Yam Laranas’ The Road earned our nods, read on to find out!

Yam Laranas brilliant visualizations subjugated the film with an atmospheric and stylish cinematography. From the way some parts looked, Laranas surely knows how to play well with his camera. From focus, still shots, time lapses, and wide camera angles, Laranas has all these elements to build up scares and intrigue for the remaining parts of the film.

Excellent lighting lit The Road which was dimmed by dusts and tall trees at night while a striking midday shot was lit up by the glaring sun. I am ultimately fascinated, however, by the blurry first-person vision shots on The Road. It gives mystery and makes you feel as though you were inside the car while an entity slowly reveals itself in front of you. It was one of the best and scariest parts of the film!

From a traditional ghost story the movie sooner evolved into a psychological thriller which sustains creepy supernatural tension without relying on overrated jump-scares and other horror cliches.

Since The Ring, the Asian Horror Movie scene ousted Hollywood by using phobias as the best scare tactic for the audience. You know? Hair-covered ghosts, creepy kids, hand jump scares, etc. But sooner the trend went mad that they all ended up becoming yet another set of infamous horror clichés. It may be an effective way to build up scares, but Yam Laranas insisted to welcome change and has effectively created his own style of terror.

Things became gradually interesting and at the same time disturbing in the later parts of the movie. I personally liked the part where Rhian’s world turned upside down as she found herself locked up inside a room. The rotating of the camera did not only prove it’s dizzying to wake up after having been hit at the back but proves a first person’s vision can do so much cinematically.

All of the cast gave splendid performances and I was surprise that the tween’s did some great acting job in the film. I liked the acting of Rhian Ramos, Tj Trinidad, Marvin Agustin and most especially Carmina Villaroel which made the psycho’s back story more interesting and terrifying.

Plot-wise, the movie is slick and a brilliantly crafted ghost story. My only gripe is that, some deaths happened so fast that there was no room to explain why they just suddenly die. With the music scored by the great Johan Söderqvist, and was directed by an international director (Yam Laranas), The Road movie is undoubtedly one of the best Filipino horror movies I’ve seen to date! One with international feel and has a great twist in the end!

If that our nods may profit our ratings then. . The Road deserves!

Rating:.
(9.5/10 Popcorns)

Read More: The Road (2011) Movie Review
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Simply Ghastly and Disturbing

2011-12-01T15:55:00.000-08:00

The Road (2011)

Simply Ghastly and Disturbing

by Reymundo Salao

THE ROAD is a story about the ghostly hauntings in an abandoned road, and the disturbing killings that occurred there 10 to 20 years ago. This film is directed by one of the very few really good directors working on mainstream Philippine cinema: Yam Laranas. Laranas has been known for “Sigaw” which was later given a Hollywood remake, directed by Laranas himself, entitled “The Echo”.

THE ROAD is top quality, must-watch for those who love horror movies. It’s a solid combination of a well-made storyline and script, refreshingly dynamic concepts, and topnotch direction. As expected from a Yam Laranas movie, you get magnificent cinematography, even for Hollywood standards. This movie has plenty of simply astounding visuals, we can clearly see Laranas’ mastery of Light, Shadow, and Color, as if he could easily capture and manipulate life with a camera. The story and the direction create a movie that can be added in to what may be one of the finest ghost story movies ever made.

Some of you may notice that watching the movie feels like watching a well-made “Hollywood” horror movie, primarily because it does not follow the overused clichés and the corniness of the typical mainstream tagalong movie. The Road’s villains and monsters are not easily revealed by cheap camera tricks and weak direction. Had it been a typical mainstream tagalog movie, it would have exaggerated the movie’s villains, and would have probably made the movie into a horror ride for pre-school children, just like this one popular Tagalog horror flick (fine, it’s actually Villa Estrella) that made its climax look like a sequence from X-Men or Mask Rider Black.

The set designs also played a major role. The story takes place in three timeline settings; 2008, 1998, and 1988. And they really did an impressive effort in making the set details match uniformly in such an almost professionally flawless manner. The cast did a fine job as well.

The Road is genuinely eerie; a movie that really creeps into those tiny strands of hair at the back of your neck. It’s refreshing to watch a Tagalog horror flick that really lets you step back and use your head in the little guessing games you would do along the way. THE ROAD is thumbs up excellent, I highly recommend it to fans of horror, mystery, and suspense movies. Not many Tagalog horror movies are usually this good these days; I suggest you never miss this one.

THE ROAD to DREAD CENTRAL

2011-12-01T15:32:00.000-08:00

THE ROAD review by Steve Barton

DREADCENTRAL

Written and directed by Yam Laranas

There are certain places in this world that you just shouldn't visit. Places in which things so hideous have occurred that negative energy cannot help but be left behind. With his film The Road director Yam Laranas not only takes you to such a place, but he leaves you stranded there white-knuckled and helpless.

The film focuses on a stretch of abandoned road somewhere in the Philippines where twelve years ago two sisters disappeared without a trace. The case remained unsolved, but now, over a decade later, three more teens go missing in the same area. Families are distraught, police are baffled and you the viewer are drawn into the mystery and horror of a nightmare happening before your very eyes. To tell you anything more about The Road's storyline would do you a complete disservice as this journey is one of discovery riddled with twists and turns that make sense instead of just being tacked on for shock value that never really pays off.

The Road is a slow-burn ghost story. One that's very deliberate in its pacing. Director Laranas (coming from a background as a cinematographer) displays a keen eye for shot composition and as a result manages to conjure some of the most truly unsettling moments we've seen all year. Couple that with rock-solid and believable casting along with a haunting score by Johan Söderqvist (Let the Right One In), and we have a true winner hampered only by a few pacing issues that by the time the credits roll are easy to forgive.

Told in non-linear fashion, The Road does a great job of explaining (while not over-explaining) the history of this accursed location and the events which transpired to make it that very dark place that people only whisper about while telling ghost stories. The experience is as incredibly creepy as it is fulfilling.

Every frame of The Road oozes with atmosphere and dread. The film is beautifully shot, incredibly intense, and as frightening as they come. You may not know the name Yam Laranas just yet, but get used to it as we have a feeling it's one we are going to be hearing for some time to come. Take the ride. There's no turning back.

4 out of 5

THE ROAD Review by Staci Wilson, Horror.com

2011-11-29T16:24:00.001-08:00

The Road Movie Review

Directed by Yam Laranas, starring Carmina Villaroel, Rhian Ramos, Barbie Forteza, Marvin Agustin, Tj Trinidad, Ynna Asistio, Derrick Monasterio, Lexi Fernandez, Louise Delos Reyes and Alden Richards.

by:stacilayne
Updated: 11-29-2011

When I first saw a Yam Laranas feature, six years ago now (hard to believe it's been that long, but I do still recommend The Echo to friends on the hunt for a good rainy-day ghost movie), I was already looking forward to the next one. Fortunately, The Road was well worth the wait. (Laranas has been busy with his other bread and butter — commercials, shorts and rock videos — in the interim.)

The movie opens up, as one might guess, on a lonely stretch of road. But rather than being predictable, it's suspenseful… makes you wonder what's around the next bend. Let's just say, it's not good. In a good way.

Lurking in the atmosphere of that winding way is an angry apparition with an ax to grind and people to kill. Gruesome and no-holds-barred when it comes to the harrowing aspects, The Road is unusually effective in its emotional resonance as well. Usually, when we watch the doomed meet their demises in various brutal ways, we horror hounds are pretty much desensitized, and just curious to see the murder set-pieces unfold. In this case, however, one actually feels a vicarious tinge of the terror as the young women are painfully terrorized, tortured and killed (anyone who's read a true crime book, such as BTK by Robert Beattie or almost anything by Ann Rule, will know what I'm talking about — there's a fine balance between victim and victimizer, and getting to know a little bit about both is the key to maintaining suspense).

The plot itself isn't anything to write home about (however, it is review-writing worthy!). The story follows a 12 year old cold case which is reopened when three teenagers on a road trip go mysteriously missing. As a new investigative unit explores the facts of the crime, unexplainable supernatural phenomena starts to rise and arouses more questions than any mortal could possibly answer. So, yeah — The Road is about a serial killer with mommy issues who acts out on unsuspecting teens over a number of years, and so on… kind of Psycho'esque, but there is a lot more dimension to the movie than just that.

First of all, the cinematography (by Laranas, who also wrote, produced and edited this pup) is stunning. It's really special and showy, without being ostentatious. It's masterful, but understated. What I love best about Laranas' DP'ing is his embracing of negative space and his effective use of focus. (His style, though less-colorful, reminds me quite a bit of Christopher Doyle's.) Secondly, the horror effects and fright-factor on the ghosts and dead bodies, are top-notch. They're gory and gooey, without being grand guignol over-the-top, nor too squirm-inducing in crime-scene realism. Lastly, the casting is perfection… the actors are real, believable, smart, relatable and likeable. When they are in peril, it matters.

Having heaped all that praise, I will say The Road is not a zing a minute, and I did find the resolution a bit too pat. However, it's not often one watches a chiller of any kind which has actual thrills, trepidation, gore, and gravitas — so, I recommend The Road to anyone who's into more than just the cheap thrill and wants something cinematically spooky to cuddle with on a dark night.

= = =

Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson

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NO ESCAPING DEATH IN THE ROAD

2011-11-19T04:16:00.001-08:00

THEY SAW THE ROAD

2011-11-14T23:16:00.000-08:00

"A beautifully shot, twisted supernatural tale with incredible effects and great scares!"

Brad Miska, Editor-In-Chief Bloody Disgusting

“Stunning cinematography and sound design combine to create a truly unsettling atmosphere.”

Todd Brown, Editor-In-Chief Twitch Film

"Creepy to the extreme. It gets under your skin and stays there. "

Jason Bene, KillerFilm.com

SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND

2011-11-10T18:56:00.000-08:00

ROAD KILL

2011-11-10T11:37:00.001-08:00

Running away is not an option.

NOVEMBER 30. KEEP YOUR LIGHTS ON

2011-11-02T02:32:00.000-07:00

Lights on. Lights off. Hold your breath. Die slowly.

THE ROAD (Official Trailer)

2011-10-22T13:38:00.000-07:00

A twelve year old cold case is reopened when three teens are missing in an abandoned road. In the course of the investigation, deeper and gruesome stories of abduction and murders are discovered. After more than two decades, the secrets of the haunted road may finally be revealed.

NOBODY LEAVES THE ROAD 11.30.2011

2011-10-14T22:10:00.000-07:00

Eyes on the road

2011-08-29T04:06:00.000-07:00

You will always come back...

This road is not letting you leave

2011-08-03T07:09:00.001-07:00

You drive. You get lost. You are alone.

They never leave you alone

2011-07-10T19:36:00.000-07:00

DAY ONE

2011-07-06T16:02:00.000-07:00

It's all about excitement and nervousness. Yah, from the page to the screen that's what they say. I will try to relax because I feel that my head is spinning due to the non-stop bombardment of imagery that I want to see through my lens.

Breathing seems to work. Also following Mel Brooks' advice on directing : "Wear comfortable shoes."

Here we go...

Three Decades Of Death On This Road

2011-06-29T18:25:00.001-07:00

You will soon travel with me on this familiar road. Try not to panic as I wrap your head in plastic. It will be hard to breathe and it will take a while before you die.

We are alone and I can do anything I want.

The Road

2011-06-18T07:03:00.001-07:00

You know every corner but you don't know what's waiting for you at every turn.

Remember

2011-06-10T19:58:00.000-07:00

Thirty years is not too long ago. The dead remembers and will never forget.

NOBODY LEAVES

2011-04-13T09:34:00.000-07:00

SAYING GOODBYE TO CELLULOID

2011-03-29T17:24:00.000-07:00

As I am officially in development now for my next feature film - I am also officially saying goodbye to celluloid. As the director of photography for all my movies, I have decided to use the RED ONE MYSTERIUM X Camera.

I have been very familiar with this camera and fell in love with it the moment I laid eyes on one. Red One has been my constant gear of choice in 100% of my television commercials. I like its flexibility and speed during photography.

My story involves several night shoots and low light situations. This is the perfect camera to deliver the scares!

STAY DEAD. FOREVER.

2011-03-08T21:02:00.000-08:00

dead. end. stay. forever. dead.

Sometimes the present will haunt your past...

GOING BACK TO A CLASSIC GHOST STORY

2011-03-01T18:57:00.000-08:00

I feel very lucky that I have producers and studios who trusts my creativity.
It's been almost two years since Patient X and I feel that It's time to do another film. I am aching to start rolling very very soon.

This will be another classic ghost story but the structure - I feel - is unique.

Yam Laranas on the Behance Network

2010-11-19T10:14:00.000-08:00

Yam Laranas on the Behance Network

KinoCineMovie - Colombia: El eco (2008) The Echo

2010-11-05T13:20:00.000-07:00

KinoCineMovie - Colombia: El eco (2008) The Echo: "Premier: 2008/05/25 Festival de Cine de Cannes, FranciaNacionalidad: Estados UnidosDuración: 90 min.Idioma original: InglésGéneros: Drama, ..."

I THINK I'M NOT ALONE

2010-11-04T11:49:00.000-07:00

(Thank you Twitch)

WATCH YAM LARANAS' NEW SHORT FILM I THINK I'M NOT ALONE

by Todd Brown, November 4, 2010 12:17 PM

ASIA, HORROR

We have been outspoken supporters of Filipino cinematographer and director Yam Laranas here at Twitch, first encountering him with his chilling ghost story Sigaw and following all of his subsequent work closely. So when Laranas emailed yesterday to ask if Twitch wanted to premiere his new, three minute long short film the answer was obviously yes.

Shot entirely on an iPhone 4 - the second time Laranas has put together a cell phone movie - the piece is titled I Think I'm Not Alone and you can check it out below.

VIDEO

It's inspiring when you get appreciated

2010-10-19T12:26:00.000-07:00

The Echo (USA, 2008) - Color, Director(s): Yam Laranas
MPAA Rating: R
[UK: 18]
Approx. 90 min.

Z-rating: 9.5 out of 10 stars for being surprisingly creepy

[Note: I would suggest not watching a trailer and going into this movie not knowing what to expect]

One of the posters for this film calls this film the "much-awaited first Hollywood remake of a Pinoy blockbuster horror movie." What I really like about this remake is the fact that it's done by the same guy that directed the original four years earlier. (Sigaw, 2004) So not surprisingly, this is probably one of the better Hollywood remakes that you'll find out there.

Bobby Reynolds (played by Jesse Bradford) is released from prison and moves back into his mother's old apartment. While he was away, his mother went insane and locked herself in her apartment for weeks before starving to death. Bobby desperately tries to reconnect with people from his old life but everyone seems to just want to keep a safe distance. Everyone except his old flame, that is. All seems to be going well until Bobby realizes he's got a police officer living in the apartment next to his. What's worse, this cop seems like one of those assholes on a power trip who comes home and beats on his wife all day. As if that wasn't bad enough, he keeps hearing strange noises coming from the walls and hallways. Things start to get really weird when he starts seeing strange things to accompany those strange noises he's hearing. Bobby begins to think that his mother wasn't insane but that something just made her crazy.

I have to say that I am thoroughly impressed with this movie. The first half of the film is a bit of a slow burn but once this movie picks up, it is absolutely relentless with the scares. I hadn't heard of this movie before it came from Netflix so when I threw it on, having no idea what I was in store for. My first time watching this movie, I had it was just playing in the background while I was chatting with a buddy of mine. Every time I turned to watch the screen, something creepy was happening. I noticed that it didn't matter when I turned around, this movie seemed pretty consistently creepy throughout. So I sat down and gave this film a second viewing, in its entirety, and I have to say that this is one of the most effectively creepy and unrelenting films I've seen in a LONG time. There are a few jump scares in this movie but a lot of the good scares in this film are built up to. A great suspenseful, creepy, and atmospheric film.

Nudity: None

Gore: Minimal. There are a couple bloody scenes but, unlike yesterday's extremely violent recommendation, this one doesn't rely on shocking scenes or violence to scare you. This one is genuinely creepy and builds up the suspense slowly. I liked the fact that the bloody scenes were present in the film but were used sparingly and very effectively.

Awesome: Very. One of the best creepy movies I've seen in a very long time. I usually turn to more violent and gory movies for my entertainment because I find mainstream horror so dull that I need something more extreme to get my thrills. This movie was so atmospherically creepy though that the gore played second fiddle those creepy scenes that were set up earlier in the movie. (One of my favorite scenes involves a little girl, a piano, and a song that you hear throughout the film)

Top 10 Scariest Non-Hollywood Horror Films

2010-09-25T01:33:00.000-07:00

(always fun to be in a "top favorite" list...)

4. Sigaw/The Echo

Country: Philippines

Director: Yam Laranas

About The Film: Released as The Echo internationally to avoid confusion with the US horror film Scream.

This is one of the very films, just like the Orphanage, that successfully fused brilliant storytelling with lots of scary moments. This is not one of those thriller that will leave you screaming. It’s more haunting during the movie. The way they did it, though, is brilliant. They employed devices that has never been done before.

Hollywood has a knack for destroying brilliant horror films, so stick with the original.

CINEMALAYA'S TROJAN HORSE

2010-08-04T20:19:00.000-07:00

CINEMALAYA or Free Cinema may not be as free as some of us may think it is (or was). I am a HUGE fan of this film festival in the Philippines. One of the few of its kind in the world that gives funding and awards to independent filmmakers – many of who are the new voices of Philippine Cinema. The works that the Cinemalaya festival produced has resulted in the renaissance of Philippine Cinema, as it has now become known in the international circuit.

I am very proud of this film festival. I always talk about it (and the new filmmakers it gave birth to) to friends and colleagues around the world.

Cinemalaya for the past years has been a source of pride and praises from the film community because of its efforts to bring out a new breed of filmmakers. It is my greatest wish that they stayed focused on giving venue to our new breed of filmmakers and not (or never) to SENIOR DIRECTORS who can always get funding from the studios that they have made films with… for decades. It is very interesting to learn that up until they opened a category for mainstream directors, “mainstream controversies” never hounded this festival. I am looking at the timing of events. Two “senior” filmmakers are separately accused of plagiarism. One accused by a scriptwriter/director, the other one by a novelist/writer. One director was a former member of the screening committee where the accuser submitted his screenplay to years back. The other director’s work was thought to have “striking similarities” to an original book by a novelist.

I hope this gets resolved soon before it taints the name of Cinemalaya and cause more damage to this emerging Philippine cinema. My heart goes out to the independent filmmakers whose independence is now threatened by a Trojan horse called the DIRECTOR’S SHOWCASE.

HURRY UP AND WAIT

2010-07-21T23:51:00.000-07:00

Yes. "Hurry up and wait". I am now a believer of that Hollywood mantra. If you don't have enough patience, you'd kill yourself wondering what is next or "what up?".

After successfully doing a pitch to blockbuster producers from the East Coast, I am now "waiting". Waiting for rights issues, waiting for writer deals, and waiting to wait. There is no guarantee that we are going into production right away. But, I am sure that unless the producers (who are looking forward to work with me) say otherwise, I am going to patiently wait until they ask me to fly to LA "now".

PATIENT X BITES KOREA

2010-06-30T08:09:00.000-07:00

Info
Director	Yam LARANAS
Country	Philippines
Release	2009
Running Time	90 Min
Category	Feature/Fiction
Premiere	International Premiere
Cast

Synopsis

After becoming a surgen and returning home, Lucas finds his family brutally murdered by the family of his loving nanny, Guada. He receives a call that the killer, Guada, is caught. But even after being doused with gasoline than burnt, shot, stabbed and eletrocuted, Guada refueses to die…

ELEVEN ARTS TO CARE FOR PATIENT X

2010-02-18T05:47:00.000-08:00

by Patrick Frater
Film Business Asia

Los Angeles-based Eleven Arts has taken over international sales duties on Patient X. The action-packed horror film from director Yam Laranas was released in the Philippines in October 2009. Sales were previously in the hands of XYZ Films, a US production, sales and finance outfit, which has now contracted the Ko Mori-headed (森浩太郎) Eleven Arts to bring in the money.

Patient X takes its title from the vampire-like female aswang - a mythical creature in Filipino folkore - who is captured and kept prisoner in the basement of a small town hospital. All hell breaks loose when a trio of zombie-like male aswang siege the hospital to secure her rescue, putting the lives of the other patients and the local police force at risk. The film marks the debut of RGutz Productions, founded by leading actor Richard Gutierrez, which produced the film in collaboration with industry heavyweights GMA Films and Viva Films. Laranas previously directed Sigaw, also starring Gutierrez, which he then remade in the US as The Echo for Roy Lee’s Vertigo Entertainment.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

2010-02-08T13:38:00.000-08:00

Yes. All the way to the Department Of Justice. That's where our research will take us for this new story I am so obsessing about. I am very optimistic that we will be able to dig up some real nuggets with the best research team that I worked with in my National Geographic Channel documentary.

This story rocks! And I think this will be my very first feature to be shot on the Red One digital motion picture camera and to be edited 4K native in our little "editing shop of horrors".

The story is pretty much done. It sort of wrote itself. It is not horror. It is a horrifying story. Based on real events.

It is very very dark.

2010 MAY BE THE END OF CELLULOID

2010-01-08T04:02:00.000-08:00

I love film. There is nothing like Motion Picture Negative's reproduction of an image. Contrast ratio. Color saturation. Gamma. Texture. Nothing came closer to it's quality. Until now.

When Digital SLRs came and evolved into 20 megapixel (and more) still reproducing miracles, it signaled the eventual (near) death of the negative. The still camera negative is now the thing of the past.

Cameras, lenses for digital motion picture photography has developed into a format that can not be ignored anymore. Film as we know it, is about to come to an end.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

2009-12-31T17:56:00.000-08:00

The future is here now!

Pacman flick suffers film fest knockout - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

2009-12-26T17:24:00.000-08:00

Pacman flick suffers film fest knockout - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

By Bayani San Diego Jr.

Philippine Daily Inquirer

SEVEN-TIME world champion Manny Pacquiao may have knocked out 38 of his 55 opponents, but he has failed to bring his billion-peso punch from the boxing ring to the box office.

Pacquiao’s superhero flick “Wapakman” landed in last place, earning only P750,000 on the first day of the two-week Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF).

Reyes, the director behind two MMFF top-grossers (“Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo” in 2006 and “Sakal, Sakali, Saklolo” in 2007), offered a theory on Pacquiao’s lackluster performance in the box office. “Filipinos adore him as a prizefighter … as an athlete, but apparently not as an actor, singer … not even as a politician,” Reyes said. The filmmaker recalled that Pacquiao lost in his first congressional bid in 2007 when he ran against Rep. Darlene Antonino-Custodio in South Cotabato. He is running again in next May’s elections, this time for the lone congressional seat of Sarangani.Reyes said Pacquiao’s entry in the MMFF two years ago, “Anak ng Kumander,” was also a tail-ender at the tills, earning barely P2 million by the end of the festival.

“People will stop their lives to watch him fight in the ring, but it seems they will not go out of their way to watch him goof around in a movie,” Reyes said. “He is a real-life hero; not a superhero.” There is also an opinion running in the entertainment industry that rumors of his romantic fling with “Wapakman” costar Krista Ranillo didn’t help in promoting what is ostensibly a family movie—in the same way that gossip of an illicit romance with “Kumander” costar Ara Mina didn’t help their film at the box office.

“There is a disconnect, publicity-wise. That’s possible,” Reyes said. “But in Pinoy macho society, there’s nothing too scandalous, shocking or salacious about the gossip regarding Manny and Krista, anyway.” In an earlier interview, Pacquiao said he hoped that the “intrigue-mongers” would watch his movie with Ranillo. “What’s the use of the intrigues if our movie doesn’t make money?” he said in Filipino.

From all indications, the controversy didn’t help.

“He is an icon. A legend. He has to know his limits, his parameters,” Reyes said. “As a media personality, his biggest achievement is that he gave the world his mother, Dionisia, who is such a colorful character.”

UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT

2009-12-11T13:44:00.000-08:00

New year. New management team. I am extremely proud to be part of Zero Gravity Management. I have so much excitement to be handled by husband and wife team Mark Holder and Christine Holder.

It's a very long story, but meeting Mark and Christine is serendipitous.

My heart is beating fast...

FANGORIA #288

2009-11-24T02:42:00.000-08:00

Last Updated on Friday, November 06 2009 11:47

FANGORIA #288 On-Sale Now!

GUTS:

WHEN “HALLOWEEN II” FIRST FELL Twenty-eight years ago, Michael Myers made his initial stab at franchise-hood.
“BOX” YOUR FEARS Would you make the deadly bargain this film offers? And how would you deal with the aftermath?*Contains Exclusive Cast Interviews, and a full gallery of never-before-seen exclusive photos!
THE “SAW VI” FACTORY If it’s Halloween, it must be time for Jigsaw’s legacy of evil to claim a bunch of fresh victims.*Contains Exclusive Cast Interviews, and a full gallery of never-before-seen exclusive photos!
“NEW MOON,” NEW MONSTERS Love triangles can be scary, but hopefully the second “Twilight” film will offer more to frighten us. *Contains Exclusive Cast Interviews, and a full gallery of never-before-seen exclusive photos!
“CIRQUE DU FREAK” SHOW At a carnival where a boy becomes “The Vampire’s Assistant,” the main acts truly suck.
“ANTICHRIST” ALMIGHTY Actually, Satan sits out Lars von Trier’s newest provocation, which examines the darkness of very human souls.
THE REPEATING “ECHO” Filipino director Yam Laranas took full advantage of the opportunity to redo his original hit in English.

THE TRUTH HURTS BUT FUNNY NONETHELESS

2009-11-22T02:58:00.000-08:00

You gotta love this billboard of Chase Bank. A fine reminder to anyone who wants to break into writing for film and television - appropriately mounted in Hollywood Boulevard.

GUTEN TAG DEUTSCHLAND!

2009-11-18T00:12:00.000-08:00

Patient X, philippinische Aswangs (Vampire) im Trailer

Marcel, 24.09.2009 14:03
or Twitter

Teaser-Poster

Zum aktuelle Film Patient X vom philippinischen Regisseur Yam Laranas gibt es den ersten Trailer zu sehen. Im Film geht es ganz suspense-mässig zur Sache und irgendwie tauchen darin auch die philippinische Variante von Vampiren, sogenannteAswags auf.

OLA ESPAÑA! OLA PATIENT X!

2009-11-17T20:12:00.000-08:00

LARANAS DESVELA A SU PATIENT X

OS MOSTRAMOS LAS DOS PRIMERAS IMÁGENES DEL NUEVO TÍTULO DE YAM LARANAS.

Cineasta responsable del remake de "The Echo" que acaba de rematar la post-producción de su último y terrorífico film "Patient X".

La búsqueda de unos asesinos en su pueblo natal llevará a un doctor al descubrimiento de unos Aswangs, un tipo de vampiros específicos del folclore filipino que tratarán de segar la vida de todo el poblado.

Pinchando aquí accederéis a su galería, donde os esperan su primer afiche e imagen.

Y en el reproductor bajo esta noticia podréis revisar su primer tráiler.

TALKING ABOUT PATIENT X

2009-11-16T23:09:00.000-08:00

http://www.beyondhollywood.com/yam-laranas-patient-x-attacks-with-a-trailer-and-poster/http://www3.webng.com/horrormoviesandstuff/PatientX.html

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/18113

‘The Echo’ remake improves original 2004 film’s scariness

2009-11-16T23:01:00.000-08:00

The Nevada Sagebrush
BY: ENJOLIE ESTEVE
Monday, November 16, 2009 - 7:41 PM

It’s a known fact that most Asian horror films are far superior to their American counterparts. They are generally more haunting, shocking, gory and, most of all, more disturbing. Also widely known is that most American remakes of Asian horrors are terrible, and laughably so. Take last year’s hot messes “The Eye,” “Shutter” and “One Missed Call” as examples. “The Echo” is an exception to the rule.

“The Echo,” which is a remake of the 2004 Filipino horror film, “Sigaw,” far exceeds its predecessor. The film centers around Bobby (Jesse Bradford), a young man newly released from prison who moves into his deceased mother’s apartment. While Jesse tries to pick up where his life left off before he went to prison by trying to get back into the workforce and reconnecting with an ex-girlfriend, he has to deal with a set of noisy neighbors that are always involved in domestic disputes. Bobby then starts hearing and seeing crazy, abnormal things that make him fear he is heading down the same path of insanity that his mother eventually succumbed to shortly before her death. Things get worse for Bobby when he suddenly realizes that his noisy neighbors are not what he expected and their existence threatens not only his sanity, but also his life.

As previously mentioned, “The Echo,” which is actually directed by the original film’s director, Yam Laranas, is a vast improvement to “Sigaw.” While the original version was terrifying and had a great story line, it was a bit too long and obvious. I say this because the film went too in depth with the initial characterization, revealing too much information about the neighbors. While I love films based on strong characterizations, that technique is not always well-suited in horror and thriller films, especially ones like “The Echo,” which is based not on what the audience knows or sees, but rather what it feels and what it imagines is happening.

The fact that so little is known about the constantly fighting neighbors is what makes the updated version so suspenseful and frightening. Laranas uses camera techniques to cast eerie shadows in many shots to convey an ominous feeling, along with perfectly timed, spine-tingling music that is sure to make your heart race and make the hair on your arms stand up. These elements of “The Echo” manage to keep the atmosphere of the film constantly chilling, even when a scene is taking place in stark white, broad daylight. The subtlety of the film only adds to its frightening nature. Because the film does not rely on cheap scares and tons of fake blood, special effects and entrails to send a chill down the viewers’ spines like many B-grade horrors do, it is often left up to the audience’s imagination to decide what is occurring during many grizzly events. One of the most haunting aspects of the film is not the fact that it deals with other-worldly, non-corporeal matters, but the fact that it truly shows the dark, sick and often times uncompassionate side of human nature that lives in every human, not just the sociopaths. “The Echo” shows that the real monsters of the world aren’t slimy, huge, reptilian giants such as Godzilla. We are the real monsters. The name of the film, “The Echo,” is truly well deserved, because this haunting movie resonated with me for days.

DVD release date: Nov. 10

Grade: A

Rating: R for violence, disturbing images and brief language.

The Echo - Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes

2009-11-14T00:13:00.000-08:00

The Echo - Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes

THE ECHO IS #118 IN IMDB

2009-11-11T03:00:00.000-08:00

The Echo DVD was released yesterday here in the U.S. and its movie meter in IMDB went up to more than 2000%.

INCREDIBLE!

An Echo of its Great Old Self: ‘Echo’ by Yam Laranas

2009-11-04T04:51:00.000-08:00

by Tito Genova Valiente
Business Mirror
Wednesday, 04 November 2009

THERE is a truly scary movie in town. It’s not a horror film in the classic sense of the word but it is horrifying. Echo is the title of this film, written as a remake of the Filipino film Sigaw.

When the film came out in the Metro Manila Film Festival not too long ago, film critics immediately cited its nearest inspiration as a Japanese film—from Ring to The Grudge to Dark Water. Perhaps, on the surface, yes, Sigaw does echo the figures and roots of fear in those films: magical hair, faces of innocence, and an overflowing of emotions and passion that initiate the restlessness of souls.

Upon closer inspection, the film Sigaw exhibits the elements of Japanese gothic narrative: a home-based fear, a blurring between the lines of the human and the nonhuman, and the difficulty to distinguish between the living and those afflicted dead. One never knows really whether the person you meet in the elevator is still of this world or one whose soul has been condemned to roam and trouble the living until the proper resolution is enacted for them.

It is perhaps a privilege for us who have experienced Sigaw that we can articulate our appreciation of The Echo. It is a film scholar’s delight to witness a version even if must be said that one cannot call Sigaw the original and Echo the remake. The two films are different from each other in many crucial aspects. The greatest achievement of Laranas, who directed Sigaw and who cowrote the screenplay with Roy Iglesias, is that here is a handsome film paying tribute to a local product.

One cannot stop people from comparing (critics and fans will) but The Echo is one engaging work that should be able to stand on its own. It does, seeing the reviews of filmgoers in other parts of the world who validate the power of the film: it can and does shock and scare.

Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times calls Echo a real stunner that “could easily be a cult film.”

The film is about an ex-con, Bobby (Jesse Bradford), who is released and returns to his mother’s place. The building is a prewar structure. Bobby’s mother is said to have kept to herself for some weeks before she was discovered dead. Upon arrival in the house, Bobby keeps hearing strange voices from next door. He sees a pillow with blood stains and the keys of his mother’s piano has fresh blood on them.

Outside the hallway, Bobby sees a little girl who is tinkering with her toy piano. Bobby gets to meet the parents of the girl. The father is a cop and the mother is a distraught wife, abused by the husband.

Bobby meets up with his former girlfriend. This meeting brings the girlfriend into the haunted loop, for she, too, gets to hear sounds and witness strange visions.

“Atmospheric” is one word film critics use to describe the film. The building, while not like the living evil in Amityville Horror, can send chills down one’s spine. Shot at various angles, the building has hallways that are as scary as the shadows that hide in them. The burnished yellow and red tones dominate the place where most of the action takes place. There is no relief in the umbra of the place and even when the lights grow white, as in one scene, in the basement where the washing machines are, a succession of sounds tell us we are safe nowhere. Shot at various angles, the distortions of the buildings from outside do not spare us.

There is a discovery at the end about ghosts. Still, the horror of The Echo is not situated in any of these paranormal events. The abomination in the film is in the story about domestic violence and the fact that even if we witness the battery, we are not allowed to interfere. The terror is there also in ourselves not being able to prevent harm inflicted upon women and children. Easy to write on the film treatment but not easily transferable onscreen, and when one director, Yam Laranas, and his cinematographer, Matthew Irving, are able to do it, then we discover the core of a horror film. It is in that urge in man to hurt and cause pain to himself and the people he cares for, with the act seen up-close like a spectacle, repeated over and over.

When not even physical death and the phantom divide can stop the hatred and the loathing, then we want to run to our mother’s home, but even there we are not safe.

But, of course, I will compare. In Sigaw, Jomari Yllana played the brute of a husband. He was cruel enough. But in Echo, that character is a massive of a man, a cop who beats and mutilates his wife. Kevin Durand plays this vicious character. He does not have to be phantasm; he is terrifying enough and evil as a cop who finds always a reason to beat his wife.

We were, of course, curious about Iza Calzado, who reprises the role of the battered wife. She gets top-billing in The Echo—and she also runs away with her scene. She is intense and she has the grace of someone who knows that the camera is the eye and it will smell like a dog all her abhorrence. She keeps all those pain and recriminations within, as if releasing them will subject her to more punishment. We stand there wondering how we can help her, and that unease is Calzado’s contribution to the literature of Terror. As a footnote, Iza Calzado was honored with the Urian Best Supporting Actress for that role. She honors us once more with this role.

As for Laranas, he proves to be no fluke and provides an avenue for those who want to hit the mainstream film industry, the indie being covered sumptuously already.

Eric Bernt and Shintaro Shimosawa is credited for the screenplay of The Echo. Shimosawa is the producer of both The Grudge and The Echo.

PATIENT X PARTNERS WITH XYZ FILMS

2009-11-03T15:49:00.000-08:00

GMA FILMS and VIVA FILMS has partnered with XYZ FILMS. XYZ Films will be the sales representative of Patient X worldwide (all media).

__________________________________________________________

XYZ FILMS is an LA-based film production and sales company.

XYZ is currently producing a slate of film and television projects, many of which were cultivated from an exclusive one year partnership with Time Inc., the publisher of such magazines as Time, Fortune, People, Sports Illustrated and Life.

XYZ also specializes in representing feature films for worldwide sales with an eye on North American distribution. XYZ sells to all of the major, mini-major and specialty distributors, across all distribution platforms, both domestically and internationally. Additionally, XYZ sources and structures financing on select third party projects via its relationships with investors around the world.

Partners Nate Bolotin, Nick Spicer, and Aram Tertzakian met while earning MFAs at UCLA’s Producers Program. XYZ Films is based in Los Angeles, CA.

THIS IS IT PATIENT X!

2009-11-03T02:17:00.000-08:00

Patient X went up against Michael Jackson's This Is It.

We were bitch-slapped bad and we deserved it.

No. We didn't tank. On a different date, we could have made more.

But, we are out... still holding... no turning back. This is X!

The Aswangs : Narrative Of Anti-Insurgency

2009-10-31T18:30:00.000-07:00

The Aswang’s Narrative of Anti-Insurgency

by Edgar Allan Paule

They hide in the jungles. They massacre innocent people. May mga kasama siya. Gusto kong malaman kung sa’n sila nagtatago. At kung paano sila mapatay. Kahit ano’ng gawin ko, hindi ko siya mapatay. Sabihin mo sa’kin kung paano sila mapapatay. Hindi tama na ikulong lang sila. They must be annihilated. They are evil. Hindi sila tao. Sino ka ba? Ano kayo?
If it weren’t for the raucous growls and decaying teeth of the Gollum-like monsters, one would swear that they were talking about rebels. This, however, was not one of the military’s anti-communist forums, nor a press conference by the Bantay or ANAD partylists. This was Patient X, the latest horror film by Yam Laranas, and the heartless creatures were not guerrillas but aswangs.

The use of aswangs as a veil for state counter-insurgency strategies is not new. The notion of the aswang and other supernatural beings were mobilized by Spanish colonizers to discredit oppositional forces like babaylans and tulisanes, as well as to create a climate of fear to limit civilian movement after dark—nighttime, after all, is the best time to clandestinely assemble and plan tactics of rebellion. This tactic was so successful that it has been repeatedly used throughout history. Cesar Hernando’s 2006 short film Kagat ng Dilim, for example, starring Piolo Pascual, tackles how this tactic was used against the anti-Japanese Hukbalahap rebellion of the 1950s.

Patient X does not exactly scream for such a political interpretation, but its elements beg for a second look. The film is about Lukas (Richard Gutierrez), a Manila-based doctor who, upon notification by a military agent, rushes back to his provincial hometown. As a child, Lukas bore witness to his family’s massacre, and it is only now, years later, that the culprit was caught. We learn that the suspect is incarcerated in the basement of an old hospital under the name Patient X. She is Guada (Cristine Reyes), an aswang. Over the course of a night, Lukas, the hospital’s skeleton staff and the provincial police/military battle it out with the rest of the bloodthirsty aswangs who try to break into the hospital to retrieve Guada.

The most obvious element, of course, is the prominence of the historically politicized entity we call the aswang. Then we have the decrepit hospital which looks equally dilapidated, with or without electricity, suggesting a dearth of basic social services in the far-flung town. The police chief Alfred Molina (TJ Trinidad) commands an unambiguous conflation of police, military and private security forces, blatantly mirroring the circumstances of the repressive state apparatuses which operate in authoritarian unison in the countryside. The film’s milieu, then, is a combination of poverty, authoritarianism, and superstition—a very plausible setting for a fantastic approach to counter-insurgency operations.

Politics—or at least, political imagery—contributed to the conceptualizing of the film. Laranas admits in his blog that the Abu Ghraib photos were among his visual references. This is clearly reflected in a sequence when Molina, in a fit of anger, repeatedly tortures Guada, using, among other gory techniques, a style of electrocution which became iconic of the Abu Ghraib tortures. The film reproduces the image faithfully, down to the ragged cloak and the black bag over the detainee’s head.

That Patient X depicts a clearly American torture method and situates it within the operations of the Philippine National Police/Armed Forces of the Philippines has a very clear implication: that the United States government is training and assisting the AFP/PNP in its counter-insurgency measures. The history of the Philippines is, in fact, a testament to American participation in local political decisions—of course, not out of sheer benevolence, but because the US stands to benefit from it. The installation of US-backed presidents; the presence of US military outposts in the country as assets to its wars of aggression in the Middle East and Asia; the enactment of unfair agreements such as the Visiting Forces Agreement, the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement and the Mutual Defense Treaty; the controversial Balikatan exercises—the list goes on an on, and provides context as to why there is a need to use tactics (both cultural and military) to suppress local oppositional movements that aim to end to such barefaced imperialism.

“We have realized that winning the battle is not through an armed struggle,” said a commanding general of the AFP Central Command, “but winning the hearts and minds of people.” It is interesting, then, that in Patient X, aswangs are literally (and viciously) after the hearts of the people, and Molina’s men are trying to thwart them. It is a crude and gory manifestation, but a manifestation nonetheless.

In one scene, two male aswangs pretend to be wounded civilians in order to gain entry to the hospital. Lukas spots that inhuman gleam in their eye, and screams “Andito na silaaaaaa!” thus prompting the policemen to shut and barricade the hospital’s entrance.

This gesture of “notification” and, to some extent, paranoia, is reminiscent of the AFP’s presentation “Knowing the Enemy,” leaked in 2005, which accused various legal organizations of being “communist fronts” pretending to be civilian groups. This document merely confirmed the escalating trend of extrajudicial killings in the country, which targeted heads of militant groups like partylist Bayan Muna and workers’ group Kilusang Mayo Uno. Similarly, in Patient X, the only way to kill an aswang is to slit its throat, or chop off its head. Again, on the level of metaphor, the counter-aswang tactic reflects the government’s counter-insurgency tactic (the “Palparan solution”) of targeting heads/leaders.

“Hindi tama na ikulong lang sila,” says Chief Molina, commanding his men to search out every aswang in the community and kill them. This minimum tolerance policy on aswangs reflects the all-out war strategy employed by both the Joseph Estrada and Gloria Arroyo administrations against insurgent groups. “Gruesome, animalistic, barbaric are not even enough to describe what you have seen,” said then AFP Chief of Staff Hermogenes Esperon in an anti-communist documentary. “That is why your AFP and the officials of this land, national and local, are even more determined now to end this cruelty and oppression of the New People’s Army.” Clearly, the government, in its bid to gain ground in the war against the Reds, paints rebels as monsters, in the same way that the head nurse Betty (Miriam Quiambao) warns Lukas about the inhumanity of Guada and other aswangs: Hindi ‘yan tao!

Laranas encodes the countryside as a space of state/military authoritarianism, where agents can track you down to your exact city address and show up at your doorstep without prior notification, or where, fueled by personal revenge, the police chief can order the transfer a town’s worth of sick patients and convert the hospital into a detention center. There, right under the vital structures of ordinary life, lies a dungeon, a shadowy underground where people can be seized and tortured while aboveground, people are healed, oblivious to the fact that there are prisoners, there are secrets, there is darkness—and a vast, complex realm of fantasy disguising concrete horrors.

Outsider Yam Laranas: The Cinema of Horror | The Philippine Star Other STAR Sections Starweek Magazine

2009-10-31T10:27:00.000-07:00

Outsider Yam Laramas: The Cinema of Horror | The Philippine Star Other STAR Sections Starweek Magazine

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1216815-echo/?critic=3

2009-10-30T09:05:00.000-07:00

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1216815-echo/?critic=3

L.A. ON MY MIND

2009-10-30T07:56:00.000-07:00

One more week and I'll be back in Los Angeles. I can't wait to bring Patient X there.

Very excited to see my friends and hopefully do some meetings.

‘Sigaw’ adapts well to its new setting - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

2009-10-25T10:49:00.000-07:00

‘Sigaw’ adapts well to its new setting - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos
REVIEW : ‘Sigaw’ adapts well to its new setting

By Oliver Pulumbarit
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Posted date: October 25, 2009

MANILA, Philippines—Filmmaker Yam Laranas remakes his well-received 2004 horror film “Sigaw,” replicating some atmospheric parts, and evolving scare tactics accordingly.
The universality of tales involving the inexplicable is exemplified in the new version, “The Echo,” set in New York’s East Village. The neighborhood has its own texture and character, and the ghost story easily adapts to its surroundings. The Americanized version works in delivering the scares even if you haven’t seen the original.

The role first portrayed by Richard Gutierrez is modified into a brooding ex-convict, Bobby, played by Jesse Bradford. Shortly after his release, Bobby decides to live in his late mother’s musty, dismal apartment unit and, before long, begins noticing strange and spooky patterns. He starts having nightmares, and discovers a piano with bloody keys, among other things. But what he finds most alarming are the loud arguments next door between a violent cop (Kevin Durand) and his battered wife (Iza Calzado, reprising her old role).

Bradford makes the role his own, and manages to create a layered misfit-outcast character. He’s most vulnerable around ex-girlfriend Alyssa (Amelia Warner), but is believably detached and guarded with almost everyone else. Bobby inevitably helps out his abused neighbors, the mother and daughter trapped in the cycle of abuse.

The abuse angle and its repercussions are things we’ve seen before in “The Grudge,” but “The Echo” manages to infuse the subject with a different sense of immediacy. While domestic abuse is one of the more disturbing horrors of reality, it practically becomes another bogeyman in the film, thanks to the effective portrayals. Also, “The Echo” keeps things mysterious, even after some paranormal goings-on are revealed.

Sequences involving victims of the spectral presence can be truly predictable. Still, “The Echo” conjures up its own foreboding and ominous scenarios. The blaring sounds of chaos agitate just as effectively as its quiet scenes of despair and dread.

The Dark Visions of Yam Laranas

2009-10-24T14:25:00.000-07:00

The Dark Visions of Yam Laranas - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

‘Aswang’ repackaged

2009-10-24T14:23:00.001-07:00

‘Aswang’ repackaged - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

RESTRICTED

2009-10-23T06:26:00.000-07:00

IT'S SCARY. UNDER 13 YEARS OLD ARE NOT ALLOWED.

THE ECHO OPENS IN THE PHILIPPINES

2009-10-15T12:13:00.000-07:00

October 16, 2009. In theaters nationwide.

PATIENT X THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

2009-10-12T17:37:00.000-07:00

BUSAN, South Korea -- Thai aces Prachya Pinkaew and Panna Rittikrai – the behind-the-camera duo responsible for "Ong Bak" -- will make their English-language debut with "City of Angels," an action thriller that is one of the highlights of Asian-friendly U.S. mini-studio XYZ Films.

Pinkaew will direct and Rittikrai handle the action choreography on the pic that is written by and will co-star Hong Kong based Robin Shou and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Production is by Shawn Wallace.

XYZ is also handling world rights on Filipino film "Patient X," the recently completed horror pic by Yam Laranas, who also directed "The Echo" for Vertigo Entertainment as a remake of his own "Sigaw."

The company was formed 18 months ago by a trio of executives from different backgrounds -- Nate Bolotin, Nick Spicer and Aram Tertzakian – and started out with a one-year deal with Time Inc. that allowed its production operations to develop several projects based on magazine and literary properties and real life stories. These include one on infamous car-maker John DeLorean and a stage musical of "American Psycho."

It recently brought on board 'Twitch' executive Todd Brown as a fourth partner.

Tertzakian is in Pusan this week in both a sales and production capacity.

XYZ sees itself as a well-capitalized outfit able to help indie players raise their game to the next level through development, production and distribution. The company also has a "significant" fund under its control.

"Almost everything we have is international. The way we work is that we are very filmmaker driven, then we go find the writer," said Bolotin. "There is a really cool crop of filmmakers coming out of Southeast Asia right now. We are already working with several of them and two of the biggest Korean companies around. This spans from film to TV projects, with top tier partners and talent."

XYZ's current sales slate includes handling North American rights on Indonesian actioner "Merantau," which was the opening film at the recent Chungmuro festival in Seoul, and "Faasuto Sukuwaddo" (First Squad) a Japanese animation that is sold in other territories by Hong Kong's Golden Network.

"Pusan is our first market and very much a meet and greet for us," said Spicer.

Vote online for Filipino Efren Peñaflorida for CNN "Hero of the Year"

2009-10-12T16:09:00.000-07:00

VOTE : Efren Peñaflorida
Pushcart classes help break gang chain

Story Highlights
Efren Peñaflorida was bullied by gangs in high school in the Philippines
Now his Dynamic Teen Company offers an alternative to gangs through education
Since 1997, some 10,000 members have taught more than 1,500 children in slums
Vote now for the CNN Hero of the Year at CNN.com/Heroes
CAVITE CITY, Philippines (CNN) -- At 16, Rhandolf Fajardo reflects on his former life as a gang member.

"My gang mates were the most influential thing in my life," says Fajardo, who joined a gang when he was in sixth grade. "We were pressured to join."

He's not alone. In the Philippines, teenage membership in urban gangs has surged to an estimated 130,000 in the past 10 years, according to the Preda Foundation, a local human rights charity.

"I thought I'd get stuck in that situation and that my life would never improve," recalls Fajardo. "I would probably be in jail right now, most likely a drug addict -- if I hadn't met Efren."

Efren Peñaflorida, 28, also was bullied by gangs in high school. Today, he offers Filipino youth an alternative to gang membership through education. Vote now for the CNN Hero of the Year

"Gang members are groomed in the slums as early as 9 years old," says Peñaflorida. "They are all victims of poverty."

For the past 12 years, Peñaflorida and his team of teen volunteers have taught basic reading and writing to children living on the streets. Their main tool: A pushcart classroom.

Stocked with books, pens, tables and chairs, his Dynamic Teen Company recreates a school setting in unconventional locations such as the cemetery and municipal trash dump.

Peñaflorida knows firsthand the adversity faced by these children. Born into a poor family, he lived in a shanty near the city dump site. But he says he refused to allow his circumstances to define his future.

"Instead of being discouraged, I promised myself that I would pursue education," he recalls. "I will strive hard; I will do my best."

In high school, Peñaflorida faced a new set of challenges. Gang activity was rampant; they terrorized the student body, vandalized the school and inducted members by forcing them to rape young girls, he says.

"I felt the social discrimination. I was afraid to walk down the street."

Peñaflorida remembers standing up to a gang leader, refusing to join his gang. That confrontation proved fateful. At 16, he and his friends "got the idea to divert teenagers like us to be productive," he says.

He created the Dynamic Teen Company to offer his classmates an outlet to lift up themselves and their community. For Peñaflorida, that meant returning to the slums of his childhood to give kids the education he felt they deserved.

"They need education to be successful in life. It's just giving them what others gave to me," he says.

Today, children ranging from ages 2 to 14 flock to the pushcart every Saturday to learn reading, writing, arithmetic and English from Peñaflorida and his trained teen volunteers. Watch Peñaflorida and his group in action with their push cart classroom »

"Our volunteers serve as an inspiration to other children," he says.

The group also runs a hygiene clinic, where children can get a bath and learn how to brush their teeth.

Since 1997, an estimated 10,000 members have helped teach more than 1,500 children living in the slums. The organization supports its efforts by making and selling crafts and collecting items to recycle. Take a look at the slums where Peñaflorida and his group spend their Saturdays »

Through his group, Peñaflorida has successfully mentored former gang members, addicts and dropouts, seeing potential where others see problems.

"Before, I really didn't care for my life," says Michael Advincula, who started doing drugs when he was 7. "But then Efren patiently dug me from where I was buried. It was Efren who pushed me to get my life together." Watch Advincula describe how he met Peñaflorida in the slums »

Today, Advincula is a senior in high school and one of the group's volunteers.

Peñaflorida hopes to expand the pushcart to other areas, giving more children the chance to learn and stay out of gangs.

"I always tell my volunteers that you are the change that you dream and I am the change that I dream. And collectively we are the change that this world needs to be."

YAM LARANAS

Make Me Blush: Blush! - 2011's Best Pictures

Make Me Blush: Yam Laranas' The Road - Spinning Scary Yarns

Todd’s Top 10 Movies You May Have Missed In 2011

THE ROAD IN TOP 10

Dread Central's Best and Worst of 2011

FROM FIZZLE TO SIZZLE

Laranas goes from fizzle to sizzle

WHIRLWIND

GOING OUT ON THE ROAD

GOING OUT

THE ROAD SCORES A WIN

THE ROAD TO FILMCRITIC.COM

critic:

users:

you:

THE ROAD BEYOND HOLLYWOOD

"CREEPY TO THE EXTREME"

The Road – Review

PINOY MOVIEBLOG REVIEW

A Brilliantly Crafted Ghost Story!

Simply Ghastly and Disturbing

The Road (2011)

THE ROAD to DREAD CENTRAL

THE ROAD Review by Staci Wilson, Horror.com

NO ESCAPING DEATH IN THE ROAD

THEY SAW THE ROAD

SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND

ROAD KILL

NOVEMBER 30. KEEP YOUR LIGHTS ON

THE ROAD (Official Trailer)

NOBODY LEAVES THE ROAD 11.30.2011

Eyes on the road

This road is not letting you leave

They never leave you alone

DAY ONE

Three Decades Of Death On This Road

The Road

Remember

NOBODY LEAVES

SAYING GOODBYE TO CELLULOID

STAY DEAD. FOREVER.

GOING BACK TO A CLASSIC GHOST STORY

Yam Laranas on the Behance Network

KinoCineMovie - Colombia: El eco (2008) The Echo

I THINK I'M NOT ALONE

WATCH YAM LARANAS' NEW SHORT FILM I THINK I'M NOT ALONE

VIDEO

It's inspiring when you get appreciated

Top 10 Scariest Non-Hollywood Horror Films

(always fun to be in a "top favorite" list...)

4. Sigaw/The Echo

CINEMALAYA'S TROJAN HORSE

HURRY UP AND WAIT

PATIENT X BITES KOREA

Synopsis

ELEVEN ARTS TO CARE FOR PATIENT X

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

2010 MAY BE THE END OF CELLULOID

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Pacman flick suffers film fest knockout - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT

FANGORIA #288

THE TRUTH HURTS BUT FUNNY NONETHELESS

GUTEN TAG DEUTSCHLAND!

Patient X, philippinische Aswangs (Vampire) im Trailer

OLA ESPAÑA! OLA PATIENT X!

TALKING ABOUT PATIENT X

‘The Echo’ remake improves original 2004 film’s scariness

The Echo - Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes

THE ECHO IS #118 IN IMDB

An Echo of its Great Old Self: ‘Echo’ by Yam Laranas

PATIENT X PARTNERS WITH XYZ FILMS

THIS IS IT PATIENT X!

The Aswangs : Narrative Of Anti-Insurgency

Outsider Yam Laranas: The Cinema of Horror | The Philippine Star Other STAR Sections Starweek Magazine

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1216815-echo/?critic=3

L.A. ON MY MIND

‘Sigaw’ adapts well to its new setting - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

The Dark Visions of Yam Laranas