Twin takes on Pinoy thrillers

Chito Roño

The horror! The horror! Two of the country’s top directors try to figure out Filipino movie fans’ fascination with the macabre.

Says Chito Roño, director of “The Ghost Bride”: “Horror-suspense is one of the pillars of Philippine movies, along with action and comedy. People enjoy horror movies for the cathartic effect of death-defying scenes or sequences, showing characters [that] confront mortal danger. Or as some of my friends would say, they enjoy screaming and scaring themselves in theaters.”

Jose Javier Reyes, director of “Spirit of the Glass 2: The Haunted,” agrees: “I love making horror movies because it tests your mettle … having all the elements at your disposal, to elicit a specific reaction from your audiences. Horror films are much more fun to work on … because you have all these options and toys to work with, in telling a story.”

Jose Javier Reyes

Reyes points out: “Filipinos are not the only ones addicted to the horror genre. There is an entire tradition of Asian horror movies that has even inspired American remakes. Everyone wants to be terrified by something more horrifying and inexplicable than the terrors we live through in everyday life.” —BAYANI SAN DIEGO JR.