Aswang

I've seen a lot of vampire films but never one like this. Tense, dark tale of a pregnant girl who thinks she's selling her unborn child to a rich family with inheritance issues but comes to realize that what they really need is something a whole lot worse. With terrific use of color AND lack of color (look how the scenes in Claire's house are all shot in the same bleached-out reddish sepia, like partly-washed-out bloodstains), neat twists on Gothic horror conventions, nasty use of garden implements, and an overall Blair-Witch-meets-Texas-Chainsaw vibe of unnerving low-budget conviction, this is a cheap but effective little chiller. Vamp fans who've stayed in the familiar Eastern European and urban American traditions should definitely give this Filipino-based oddity a try.

A young lady with child marries(for pay) into a wealthy family. Unbeknownst to her, they are a family of "Aswang"...predatory creatures of Phillipines-regional lore with an appetite for fetal human blood(sometimes extracted using their elongated wriggling probosces while the fetus is still inside the mother's womb...a rather sexually manky and squirm-inducing distinction of these mythical beasts). Also, it is interesting to note that these beings are devout Catholics(!).

ASWANG is a flawed but intriguing low-budget film, and there are scenes which will likely offend very sensitive people. Technically a tad grotty at times, but atmospheric enough to hold the interest of many horror buffs. A unique other-cultural study of vampirism, and one the likes of which I have personally not seen before

Despite the frequently negative criticism of this film, I maintain that it has some great moments, and is an overall fairly impressive minor-league effort.

5.5/10.

Damn! I've been fooled again! I still don't learn from previous lessons not to trust comments on DVD covers.

I don't know WHAT I was thinking when buying this DVD. Whoever wrote those comments and synopsis should be shot. It says here this movie was a sensation when it hit Sundance in 1994? What kind of sensation? Puking?

Let me quote some of what's written on the back cover:

"After a brief theatrical release, nervous video chains refused to carry the film and the shocker [BWAAAHAHAHAHA] all but disappeared."

When it disappeared, why did they bring it back? IT DISAPPEARED FOR A REASON, GODDAMMIT!!!!

I WANTED TO GET RID OF THIS MOVIE, BUT NOONE WANTS IT. I gave it to a friend for his birthday, and he posted it back to me a week later. that goes to show how bad it is. I hope more people would buy this film because I won't be the only one stoopid enough to see it.

Hey, i didn't even spoil it for you.

This starts off being something of a cross between Society and Rosemary's Baby and for the first half hour is really quite creepy. For the rest of the film things are distinctly more nasty and occasionally almost too repulsive to watch. Possibly budgetary restraints led to most off the movie being shot in just the one colour, brown, but not without effect. In fact the gloom is about as cheerful as this nasty film gets, there are splashes of humour but you are rarely in the mood for smiling and from the spooky Filipino maid, Cupid, to the manic leading man and his almost dead mother and crazed sister all is very, very wrong. I cannot understand the bad reviews this film has received because to me it seemed a shockingly different effort in the horror field. I suppose much has been borrowed from earlier horrors but there is enough that is different to certainly set it apart from much more celebrated films.

I had never heard of this film, I must confess. The 90s were a horrible dry time for horror, but this isn't bad at all. It's pure schlock, frustrating at times and plot exposition isn't handled as well as it could be, but it's worth a watch if you like obscure horror.

The film plays like a cross between The Evil Dead (with the backwoods, claustrophobic feel and some 'running fast with the camera' bits) and the superior recent French movie Inside (the central concept, albeit given a supernatural angle). It's quite professionally done (although due to a lot of the nonsense I subject myself to, my standards are low!), the effects are good enough and the performances capable. Some of the concepts are a little distasteful, and in the gloomy netherworld of tame mid-90s horror, were probably quite nasty. I wasn't aware of Aswangs before watching this movie, very creepy mythical beasts. It's a shame this film didn't do better, as there's quite a bit of mileage in these nasty bloodsucking creatures, I reckon

( I really, really recognise the guy who plays the central male role, but this is the only movie he's done apparently...strange. He looks just like somebody else. Who could I be thinking of?)