Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles

 

What the hell is a tiktik and what the hell is an aswang? Those are two questions that’ll probably come to mind when looking at this movie. Aswang, from what I gathered, are some kind of Filipino vampire/were-dog. They’re gypsies who can transform into monstrous forms and eat human flesh. They eat hearts and livers, but prefer to eat unborn children. They appear almost like vampires – they have horrific sharp teeth, they hiss, their bite and saliva is infectious and they have super strength and speed. They can also transform into skinny dog monsters. They’re vulnerable to salt, garlic and stingray tails, and when the sun rises they lose all their powers. As for tiktik? That’s where things get a little more confusing. The word only appears once in the film, said by one of the murderous aswang. From what I can tell, a tiktik is a particular kind of aswang. All tiktiks are aswangs, but not all aswangs are tiktiks. Got it? No? That’s ok, it really doesn’t matter.

So then what exactly is Tiktik: the Aswang Chronicles? It’s a Filipino action/horror film with a tiny bit of comedy thrown in, shot mostly on green screen. And it’s alright. It’s not a scary movie and it might be a bit all over the place, with a weak story and thing characters, but it’s entertaining for what it is and the cultural spice gives things a different flavour.

Makoy, an arrogant jerkass, travels to his heavily pregnant ex-girlfriend Sonia’s tiny countryside hometown hoping to reconcile with her. Sonia doesn’t want to see him and tells him to leave, egged on by her headstrong mother Fely. Her timid father, Nestor, is more welcoming as he feels that underneath Makoy’s douche persona he truly cares for Sonia. Nestor convinces Makoy to stay for Sonia’s birthday the next day and they head into town to buy supplies. Wanting a suckling pig to roast in celebration, they head out of town to buy one from the large family of gypsies that live in the mountains. The rude and impatient Makoy needlessly antagonises and insults them and they head home with a pig in tow. But the insults aren’t forgotten and they certainly aren’t forgiven; the gypsies are actually aswang, flesh hungry were-dog monsters who feast on unborn babies. The aswang want to kill Makoy and eat Sonia’s unborn baby, and so Makoy and Sonia’s family must barricade themselves inside their house and survive the night.

 Aswang are weird, initially appearing as basically vampires (big teeth, superhuman strength/speed, hissing) Things get downright bizarre when their patriarch appears; when things get really dire (and the film switches from horror into more action-based territory for its finale), the aswang’s leader opens his mouth and a crow sticks its head out. The crow vomits a disgusting liquid into his hands, which his children and grandchildren lap up. They then transform into skinless dog monsters, much like werewolves. The leader, for his part (and completely confusing me entirely) transforms into a demonic looking giant crow-man monster. Why is he a crow when his children are dogs? No freaking idea. I feel the answer would be ‘because aswang’.

I always find it interesting watching horror films from different countries dealing with culturally-specific monsters or nasties from folklore, mythology or legends generally because it’s usually something new and different, but also because they never seem to spend too much time explaining what’s going on or what the horror is. Nobody acts like it is strange or even out of the ordinary when the aswang show up. In fact, everybody seems to know and accept that they’re around, which is why everybody is so well supplied with garlic, salt and aswang-killing weapons. ‘Oh look out, there are aswang’ seems to be the muted response from some characters, and while they do explain what they are and how to kill them it’s done quickly and the characters already know what they’re doing. I find it refreshing when a film’s characters are well-educated, equipped and prepared for the horrific beasties, usually because the film’s audience is assumed to know what’s going on. It’s the opposite of American horror films that spend a lot of time explaining things. 

 

Makoy is a massive toolbag for almost the entire movie. It’s one of those movies where he magically redeems himself to the other characters by killing monsters, but even then he remains a jerk throughout. He doesn’t grow as a person, he doesn’t learn anything but by the end Makoy is slashing down monstrous dog-like aswang with mystical stingray whips because he’s the main character. It’s a clichéd character arc, but thankfully the film doesn’t spend too much time looking at it. Thankfully the film also makes fun of him, pointing out his poser crap, his terrible decision making skills and how dumb he tends to be. In fact a great strength is the use of humour – while I wouldn’t call it hilarious, the levity makes it a fun ride and a better film than if it had tried the serious route. The rest of the cast are similarly simple – Sonia doesn’t have much going on apart from being pregnant, her mother is righteously bitchy about Makoy being a tool, Nestor is wimpy because his wife browbeats him constantly while Sonia’s cousin brings the comic relief, usually being the target for Makoy’s douchebag behaviour.

 

The pacing is initially slower than you might expect. It takes its time in the beginning, introducing the thin characters and setting up the scenario. I thought it worked partly to its benefit, since it lets the rest of the film have a sense of escalation. After building some tension and atmosphere, it becomes a little bit of a chase movie, then a house-under-siege horror film before becoming more of an out-in-the-open action film for the finale. As a result it sort of removes some of the atmosphere and tension that gets built up. While I’d never say it’s scary, the initial scenes at dusk in the village and gypsy camp give a cool pulpy horror story feel, and an initial car chase through the woods feels a little tense.

The film is noted as being the first ever Filipino movie shot in green screen. It’s not entirely green screen (despite the claims, those interior locations are real), but the effect is used in exterior locations and for landscape backgrounds. It doesn’t look bad. In fact I think it looks fine, and actually adds to the atmosphere. The surrounding countryside of woods and hills have a somewhat sinister look to them, while the few locales, like a bustling little market and the aswang’s gypsy camp feel legit. The other CGI doesn’t fare quite as well. The transformed aswang aren’t anywhere near being convincing, looking like obviously fake computer generated dog monsters. It takes some of the bite out of the finale. 

 

I enjoyed the film, probably more than I expected. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was expecting actually, but I think the added humour and cultural flavour spiced things up. While the blend between horror and action might not be the smoothest, especially after the slow build-up, I still had a fun time with the movie. Let me put it this way, apparently there’s a sequel and from watching the original I’d be interested in seeing it.