Moviedom's scary characters

Halloween is again upon us, but what could be scarier than the recent calamities that hit us the past weeks? I don’t want to be a killjoy, however, and in the spirit of moving on, I decided to draw up a list of actors who with the help of prosthetics and their fine performances scared me in local horror flicks:

Charlie Davao — Now better known as the father of Ricky Davao (it’s a tribute to Charlie that his son surpassed his achievements), he made a name for himself as a villain in Sampaguita Pictures projects and even when he went freelance. Now, one of the films he did for Sampaguita’s sister company, VP Productions, was the horror movie, Dugo ng Vampira, starring Gina Pareño in a dual role: As the God-fearing Rosario and her twin sister-turned-vampire Rosenda. Charlie is the vampire father and given his sharp Castilian features, he could scare any kid in the audience. Surely, he succeeded with me.

Rod Navarro — Drakula Goes to RP was a horror comedy that topbilled Dolphy and Maritess Revilla. In the story, Dolphy has a half-brother (Navarro) who is based in London. One day, a package was delivered to him and since it was huge, he remarked: “Ang bait naman ng kapatid ko, nagpadala pa ng refrigerator.” The ref turned out to be a coffin and when Dolphy opened it, there was Rod Navarro — deader than dead. I consider that a master stroke because from comedy, the audience was engulfed within moments by a horror scene that was scary.   

Dawn Zulueta — I don’t know if it was her or just a wax figure in her image that was used in a funeral scene in the remake of Patayin Mo sa Sindak si Barbara. But that sure spooks me to this day whenever I replay that in my head. You know Dawn Zulueta — her face is one of the loveliest in Philippine entertainment. That image of her, however, looking stiff like any other corpse is scary (in the story, she had committed suicide out of jealousy). It also helped that director Chito Roño was able to mount the scene in a manner that would give viewers the goose bumps. It was actually set in a mansion and the open coffin with Dawn in it was in the living room and there was this macabre shot obviously aided by careful lighting. Every time that image of Dawn crosses my mind at night (my imagination always gets the better of me), I immediately turn on the switch in my head that reminds me of the usually divine-looking Ms. Zulueta and how she is always so friendly and animated in person.  

Judy Ann Santos — For all that smooth skin and flawless beauty (she is one of Flawless’ top endorsers), Judy Ann can truly scare audiences in horror features. That’s proof that she is indeed a great actress. The first time I saw her in a horror story was in Maalaala Mo Kaya’s 2001 Halloween episode where she portrayed a woman possessed by an evil spirit. She is seen floating in the air and spooks her housemates by showing up outside the window. She wasn’t wearing prosthetics — just makeup. I guess with her facial expressions and internalization she managed to scare viewers. Well, she succeeded with me. I was on an out-of-town vacation that time and I couldn’t sleep that night. When I returned to Manila, I still hadn’t shaken her off my mind and it took a while for me to convince myself that, hey, that’s just Juday, your friend, who is so sweet in real life.

The second time she scared me was in Mag-ingat Ka… sa Kulam, a well-made Jun Lana horror flick graded A by the Cinema Evaluation Board (CEB). Judy Ann plays twins here — the good one and the other one left in the care of their witch mother. When she turns into a mangkukulam, she is quite frightening. I don’t know how she does it because with some actors, you can put all the prosthetics on their face and still you know it’s them and you don’t get scared. But in Judy Ann’s case, I guess she allows herself to be possessed by the role.

Jayvee Gayoso — He plays Maricel Soriano’s vampire brother in Joey Romero’s Vampira. Except for the fact that he is made to look menacing here, he really isn’t scary. But there is a scene where he is shot hanging from the ceiling and that is quite spooky, especially since it comes all of a sudden.

Elvis Gutierrez — In the currently-showing Patient X, he plays the chief aswang and looks scary. The Gutierrez’s enviable height obviously helped a lot to make him frightening. And with the help of prosthetics, he delivers. He contributes a lot in making this film a true Halloween treat.