The Aswang: Ancient Filipino Mythology Brought to Life
Last month, filmmaker Matthew Abaya was our guest blogger and shared his experience with directing his first feature film. I had the pleasure of working on set with him and saw all the behind the scenes magic take place. The hard part about working on a crew, especially on a movie set that requires tons of post-production magic, is you can't tell what is really supposed to be happening. There were hours of holding fake wings, sausage guts and squirting fake blood. It wasn't until Matt asked me to edit some trailers for film festivals when I got to see some of the fully composited and rendered film clips.
Before I share the official trailer with you, I wanted to give you some background information about the creature and ancient Filipino mythology that Matt is reinventing with his movie. An Aswang is a shape-shifting evil spirit in Filipino folklore usually possessing some combination of the traits of a vampire, a ghoul, a warlock/witch, or different species of werebeast. It is the subject of a wide variety of myths and stories. Spanish colonists noted that the Aswang was the most feared among the mythical creatures of the Philippines, even in the 16th century. The myth of the aswang is well known throughout the Philippines. It is especially popular in the Visayas, southern parts of Luzon, and parts of Mindanao. Other regional names for the aswang include "tik-tik", "bayot", "wak-wak", "sok-sok" and "kling-kling".
Of course, aswangs aren't real, and you don't have to worry about running into one if you visit the Philippines. So do you have a mythological creature from your culture that your grandmother used to keep you in check? Becuase one mention of the aswang from my grandma and that's all that it took to make me behave. Enjoy the trailer.
Before I share the official trailer with you, I wanted to give you some background information about the creature and ancient Filipino mythology that Matt is reinventing with his movie. An Aswang is a shape-shifting evil spirit in Filipino folklore usually possessing some combination of the traits of a vampire, a ghoul, a warlock/witch, or different species of werebeast. It is the subject of a wide variety of myths and stories. Spanish colonists noted that the Aswang was the most feared among the mythical creatures of the Philippines, even in the 16th century. The myth of the aswang is well known throughout the Philippines. It is especially popular in the Visayas, southern parts of Luzon, and parts of Mindanao. Other regional names for the aswang include "tik-tik", "bayot", "wak-wak", "sok-sok" and "kling-kling".
Of course, aswangs aren't real, and you don't have to worry about running into one if you visit the Philippines. So do you have a mythological creature from your culture that your grandmother used to keep you in check? Becuase one mention of the aswang from my grandma and that's all that it took to make me behave. Enjoy the trailer.
Vampariah trailer courtesy of Matthew Abaya
My mom was actually born in the Philippines! She moved to the US when she was nine. I will have to ask her if she remembers hearing about the aswang when she was growing up. She hasn't been back in decades and I have never been but would love to go visit one day. My aunt has been lucky enough to go once a year for the last few years. It's much a long flight though from the east coast!
ReplyDeletePlease do ask her about the aswang. The stories used to scare me so much. Matt's take on the aswang is very original and he has basically rewritten the lore. His film is very edgy and different than our parents aswang. If you have Amazon Prime, Vampariah is free on Amazon Prime Video. I hope you can watch it.
DeleteI do have Prime so I will be sure to check it out! Thanks!
DeleteGreat. I hope you like it. The film was created on a shoestring budget but we made it work with our talented crew and cast.
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