Image: Facebook/Erik Matti
For filmmaker and producer Erik Matti, getting the chance to make a horror film is always a blessing. He just recently debuted the first promotional poster for his horror film “Kuwaresma,” which stars Megastar Sharon Cuneta and John Arcilla.
Matti shared watching films from the horror genre was one of the reasons why he wanted to make movies ever since.
“Growing up I’d watch cowboy westerns, shaolin movies, man-on-a-mission movies and lotsa horror films,” he said via Instagram on April 16. “From the elegant ‘The Changeling’ to the schlocky Italian horrors to the campy Chinese ghost erotica horrors.”
“I didn’t grow up watching avant garde European films,” he added. “Any chance I have to make a horror film is always a blessing. And when I say horror, I mean, real horror.”
It’s clear Matti personally knows what constitutes a horror film, as he shared what does not. For him, real horror is getting a proper terrifying reaction from the audience, adding that subtlety does not truly work entirely in the genre.
“I don’t pitch art films disguised as horror films where the idea of horror is a stranger writhing in pain in an empty street naked,” he said. “I always am up to the challenge to do a horror film that can get a proper terrifying reaction from the audience.”
And for “Kuwaresma,” he shared he is nothing short of proud of it.
“I am pretty proud of #Kuwaresma. It has all the ingredients I love of a really fun horror movie,” said Matti. “Ghosts, mystery, whodunnit, human frailties, crazy characters, Azarel the devil and a dead dog that comes alive.”
The cast and film production crew shot scenes for “Kuwaresma” in Baguio. It is produced under Matti’s production company Reality Entertainment and is slated to open in cinemas on May 15.
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