Gallaga/Reyes’ T’yanak remake at Sineng Pambansa Horror Fest

MANILA, Philippines - Directors Peque Gallaga and Lore Reyes have teamed up once again for their newest film T’yanak, which will premiere on Oct. 29 at the Sineng Pambansa Horror Plus Film Festival. Presented by the Film Development Council of the Philippines in cooperation with SM Cinema, the filmfest will run until Nov. 4 at all SM Cinema branches nationwide at regular admission prices.

The first-ever Horror Plus Filmfest will feature films that are horror and more. Alongside Peque and Lore’s T’yanak, the films participating in the festival include Hukluban by director Gil Portes; Bacao by director Edgardo Vinarao; and Sigaw sa Hatinggabi by director Romy Suzara. Crafted by veteran directors, all four films feature a unique mix of various film genres with traditional horror and also touch on the theme of Filipino folklore. 

Featuring an A-list cast with Judy Ann Santos in the leading role, T’yanak is actually a remake of Peque and Lore’s 1988 classic Tianak, which won Best Sound at the Gawad Urian Awards and Best Cinematography at the FAP Awards in 1989. Juday is not new to the horror genre, as she also starred in the horror flicks Ouija (2007) and Mag-ingat ka sa…Kulam (2008). She will play the character Julie that was popularized by Janice de Belen in the original classic.

T’yanak is the story of Julie’s adopted baby who transforms into a monster and terrorizes their quiet town of Puting Bato with a series of brutal murders, including the wife of townsman (Sid Lucero) who gets wrongly imprisoned for T’yanak’s crime. Among T’yanak’s targets are Julie’s brother (Tom Rodriguez) and his fiancée (Solenn Heussaff). Julie, who has suffered miscarriage after miscarriage in her efforts to have her own child, is unwilling to turn over her adopted baby to the authorities despite the many murders it has committed.

Behind the scenes, Peque and Lore worked energetically with the cast and crew, both deeply engaged in getting the desired shot. While shooting the scene where the widower (Sid) finds his wife dead and reports her murder to the authorities, direk Peque passionately explained to the stars and other talents what emotion and tone he wanted to evoke with an expressive voice and animated gestures. He was behind the camera with the cinematographer, filming alongside him so that the camera was exactly where it needed to move as the scene progressed. He also controlled the lighting to achieve the right ambiance for the scene. Sometimes the directors switched places, one working with the actors and the other with the cinematographer, and other times, they worked side by side. In any case, they seemed to magically know what the other was thinking, managing to always be on the same wavelength. 

Peque and Lore have won numerous awards for previous horror films they directed together, including Hiwaga sa Balete Drive (1988) which won Best Production Design at the FAP Awards and Shake, Rattle & Roll II which also won Best Production Design, Best Visual Effects and Best Makeup at the 1990 Metro Manila Film Festival. In the remake, Peque and Lore hope to take full advantage of technological advancements such as computer-generated imagery (CGI) to bring the film to life, unlike the first version which relied on the use of puppets.

The gala premiere of T’yanak will be announced in the coming weeks. For details, log on to www.fdcp.ph and the FDCP Facebook page.