Belief in the supernatural is deeply rooted in Filipino culture
and persists until today. I grew up hearing of monsters called
“aswang”, and stories of deadly curses called “barang”. Once,
I had a conversation with a person who believed that his
family, a prominent political family, was cursed. This inspired
me to write a film about the intersection of temporal power
and supernatural power. Inasmuch as we have monsters in
our folklore, we also have monsters in our midst. Our country
was ruled by a bloody dictatorship for 30 years, and while
democracy has been restored, power is still held by a few
political clans, and corruption and human rights abuses are
still rampant. This is an allegory for a society that loves and
embraces its monsters. But I don’t think that this is specific
to Filipinos, as we live in a world ruled by monsters. This is
why I would like to make this film, my first predominantly in
English, for a global audience, and using the horror genre.