If you aren’t aware, there’s an excellent HBO Asia Horror anthology series that drops a brand-new episode every Sunday. It’s Folklore Season 2; and on Dec. 5, the episode "7 Days of Hell", comes from the Philippines, directed by Erik Matti. I’ve had the fortune to watch the first two episodes, that came from Taiwan and Japan respectively; and liked how it’s horror that isn’t reliant on jump scares, but gradually builds up the tension and menace, while portraying events from everyday life.
The episode from Taiwan had to do with a cursed wedding and the couple involved in the wedding; while the Japanese episode was a ghost story set in the world of pop stars and the recording industry. The one from Japan also had the distinction of being the directorial debut of Seiko Matsuda - herself an iconic J-Pop star, whose fame shone brightest during the 1990s and early 2000s.
To drum up awareness about this forthcoming episode from the Philippines, HBO Go arranged a virtual presscon, inviting director Erik Matti (who was in Europe at the time), and two of the main stars of the ep, Dolly de Leon & Mon Confiado, to face media, and help us know what to anticipate come Dec. 5.
As Direk Erik explained, the episode will deal with the ‘mangkukulam’ phenomenon - invoking the supernatural and placing someone under a curse or spell. Dolly de Leon plays Lourdes, a police officer and single Mom who practices tough love; and what she goes through to help her son who’s suddenly ill, with no rational explanation. Mon Confiado is a fellow officer who accompanies her on her journey to get to the bottom of what’s happening to her son.
Dolly mentioned how they filmed in the countryside to enhance that feeling of helplessness and futility, and how the location became a ‘character’ in itself. Mon talked about how our Filipino belief in the ‘mangkukulam’ is especially interesting, as it dates back to pre-Spanish times.
Erik praised Dolly in particular for the arc she portrays in the course of the episode. From a police officer, trained to deal with logic and evidence, her rigid, unbendable personality is forced to submit to the plausibility of the supernatural as the explanation for what is transpiring with her son and their lives.
He then spoke about this colorful culture of witchcraft and how it blends into our everyday lives via superstitions and belief in lucky signs and their opposite. The episode treats this black magic or voodoo not as some myth or figment of the imagination, but as something woven into our perception of reality.
During the Q&A session, Erik joked about the rich irony that he’s been more active during the pandemic, than he was in the years right before. Just earlier this year, his On the Job: The Missing 8, gifted lead actor John Arcilla with the Best Actor award at the prestigious Venice Film Festival.
Knowing it would get a rise out of him, I asked him which he thought was the more powerful horror story - 7 Days of Hell or The Missing 8. He laughed heartily, saying while he was here to promote Folklore and would have to say 7 Days, the real horror story is Missing 8.
And fortunately for us, this well-received film of Erik is also available on HBO Go. If you haven’t seen it, do yourself the favor and stream it - it’s totally entertaining, funny and tense, while holding a mirror to our society today.
As for Folklore, be sure to get ready for a journey into darkness and the supernatural, Filipino-style. 7 Days of Hell, a production of HBO Asia, drops on Dec. 5.