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Maledicto is coming up this May 1st, pretty close if you think about it. It’s the first production supervised by Hollywood giant 20th Century Fox and done locally by partner Cignal
Entertainment, Fox Original Productions and Unitel. It stars Tom Rodriguez, Jasmine Curtis, Miles Ocampo, Ynah De Belen, Eric Quizon, Martin Escudero, Franco Laurel, Nonie Buencamino, Liza Lorena, Menggie Cobarrubias and a whole throng of character actors. A horror suspense genre based on a script made in 2015, a lot of things happened before this became a reality. Fox is glad this will show next month, a first locally made film with local actors, talking about the colorful and creepy world of exorcism in the Philippines.
SVP and GM for FOX Philippines Jude Turcuato says “Maledicto is a latin term from Male, for us this is a horror thriller after looking at a ton of scripts and we wanted to do if Fox can really produce a Hollywood pedigree film to be shown May 1st. I personally don’t get scared easily but when it is more real, then I’d be more convinced with the supernatural. A place where science and religion intersect, that’s where I am more afraid. This is part of the production lineup of 20th Century Fox. We needed to fulfill standards to make sure the staff and stars were safe, it’s what we did before we shot it all.”
Tom added “Father Xavi was a psychiatrist, but was groomed to priesthood. He wanted to understand why his sister passed and not just mental problems. I remembered shooting in an abandoned school that burned down but heard something cracked, a huge burned branch fell from out of nowhere and the trees were actually meters away from where the shoot was, that was weird.”
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Writer John Guillermo said “I came up with Maledicto in 2015, way past when movies blew up in the west and here. We wanted to go in depth with possession, a horror flick but more procedural. I wanted them to see exorcism and an ancient phenomenon how to do this in this day and age. I want this to differentiate how this story is different from what the others have come out with. We realized for the characters to be compelling, we had to do research everything and go hispanic, even localize it further. When we got together, we still wanted it to be original, not strictly taken from Philippine folklore, but more based on our colonial experience as well. I am skeptic but when I was doing this I had to look for exorcism videos, the writing team felt freaked out about the unreal stuff we got. We took precautions before, during and after the shoot.”
Ynah de Belen “No I didn’t ask advice from Mom when it came to this horror thing. I have my own identity and didn’t want to live in the shadow of my folks. I was always called Anak ni Janice but hopefully after doing this I’d be remembered by my own name. I am playing the role of Mara, very close with Father Xavi and our relationship is a catalyst on how this story came out. I have heard of possession stories, but not first hand, but there are a lot of scary stuff out there.”
It made Tom wear charms and protection, scared people a bit while they were making this all. Now watch it unfold on May 1, it’s an in depth look at the process, while it may not be the exact prayers, it will make you think, or squirm in the dark corners of the movie house. Watch it if you like creepy stuff!
