The horrors of November

The month of November is always associated with ghouls and spooks since it starts with our observance of All Saints’ and All Souls’ Day. This month is about to close and generally it didn’t turn out to be so horrible. The only horrors of this November are the Vietnam twit of a Malacañang official and the aborted Pilipinas Kay Ganda slogan of the Department of Tourism.

In the foreign movie scene, I saw one of the most suspenseful thrillers in recent years — Let Me In.

Adapted from the Swedish movie, Let the Right One In (2008), the movie is set this time in 1983 New Mexico and it focuses on the travails of a 12-year-old boy (Kodi Smit-McPhee) who is bullied by the bigger kids in school. His situation at home doesn’t get any better since he has to live with a mother who is still licking the wounds from a recent divorce. He could be the most miserable boy in the world, except that he still has a roof over his head and always has food on the table. Although there are millions of other children starving and neglected all over the world, he isn’t any happier compared to them. In fact, his lot is far from enviable.

His sorry plight is already enough to make a dramatic, yet relevant film, especially since there are so many cases these days of young people being driven to suicide because they are bullied and ostracized by classmates. And it isn’t easy either for him to accept the fact that his parents had separated. Seeing the parents’ union collapse is never easy on kids.

The movie later adds a new twist by bringing in another 12-year-old (Chloe Grace Moretz), a girl this time who will always remain 12. No, she doesn’t go to Belo to maintain her youth. She is actually a vampire — though not in the Christopher Lee mold, complete with a satin cape. But she takes on different forms and sucks blood to live and that qualifies her as a vampire.

The young boy and girl are actually neighbors and since they consider themselves as society’s outcasts, they bond and start hanging out. Misery loves company and together as a team, they begin to make life miserable for others.

The gory scenes where the creature attacks victims are truly heart pounding and scary. There are no cheap scare tactics — only inventive and effective products of creativity.

Let Me In, however, is no scarefest where there are scenes after scenes of vampire attacks. But I’m not complaining.

What I appreciate more is the story of the two lead characters, who know how it is to feel like the world’s discards. The boy’s plight is particularly heart tugging and I hope the film is able to send the message to viewers that we should stand up to bullying — and how parents should check out their kids’ behavior in school to find out which end they are in. The horns of bullies should be clipped because their oppression of the weaklings often leaves a life-long scar on the victims. The scenario had gotten so bad that we now see deaths in the victims’ own hands.

To me, Let Me In is an engaging film not because of the scary elements — although all those help to make it even more of an engaging fare. It’s stronger points, however, are due mostly to the fact that it shows the horrors of real life. That’s more frightening than the bloodiest of vampire films.  

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A Halloween column I wrote trying to unravel the mystery of the supposed ghost of Balete Drive got a reaction from reader Johnny Yulo, a former Negros Occidental delegate to the Constitutional Convention (the pre-martial law Con-Con). His letter to me was mailed all the way from Bacolod City and I am sharing its contents with you below:

Dear Butch. 

I enjoyed reading your article, Have You Met the Ghost of Balete Drive?, because I lived near that street for almost 10 years when I was studying in the Ateneo in the 1950’s. Living in Dama de Noche near Balete Drive, I had so many pleasant memories there during my student days. I still remember the swaying golden rice fields that gave out a pleasant aroma, reminding me of farm life in Negros Occidental.

From Aurora Boulevard to the other end of Balete Drive, those were all rice fields on the left side. The Sanchezes were our next-door neighbors and we would visit them in their house almost every night. We were very close to the two Sanchez ladies, Auring, the lawyer, and Aleg, the architect.

Coming home several nights a week from a movie downtown, seeing the long lines of cars stretching from Dama de Noche to the Madrigal mansion amused us. We thought it was so silly for those people to park their cars there in the hope of seeing a ghost that was just a concoction of others. No ghost ever appeared there. I walked day and night in Balete Drive and never saw a ghost.

Well, Butch, thank you very much for your article, which I enjoyed so much. It reminded me of my pleasant, young life in Balete Drive.

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Thank heavens the month of November seems to be leaving us only with minor horrors. But let’s brace ourselves for a more horrific scenario — the traffic of the Christmas season.

I live in Greenhills and getting out of the house is scary every day. I’m preparing myself for bigger horror traffic stories this December.