Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles
Director: Erik Matti
Writer: Erik Matti
Cast: Dingdong Dantes, Lovi Poe, Joey Marquez, Janice de Belen, Roi Vinzon
Part of: /slash Filmfestival

Plot:
Makoy (Dingdong Dantes) traveled across the country to find and win back his ex-girlfriend Sonia (Lovi Poe) who left him and moved back in with her parents, even though she’s pregnant. Even though he’s not immediately successful, Makoy sticks around – only to find himself pissing off the local aswang population who promptly set out to eat his unborn child.

I was pretty excited to get to see a Filipino movie with a different kind of supernatural beast than is usually used in Western stories. And Tiktik is entertaining enough, though I really didn’t wish that it would have been any longer.

As I said, it was really interesting to see a different kind of beast for once. And Tiktiks are interesting, as much in their differences as in their similarities. There are shapeshifting elements, vampiric ones, cannibalistic ones and it all comes together in a rather fascinating mix.

And the movie presents them nicely. I mean, the CGI is rather bad, in as much as everything looks completely and utterly fake. But it seemed almost an aesthetic choice (and not a monetary one) and it was kinda charming.

The movie’s biggest flaws all have to do with the storytelling though. The plot is completely clichéd, the characters are stereotypes if they have any characteristics at all. And a feminist masterpiece it is certainly not.

It did have a couple of really nice jokes. Especially Dingdong Dantes has really good comedic timing, though even he wasn’t funny enough to make you overlook the faulty storytelling. But it was entertaining enough and I’d watch it again.

Summarizing: Despite its shortcomings still worth seeing – for the cultural change alone.