Staff Picks: 'Pa-Siyam'

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WHENEVER SOMEBODY ASKS which Filipino horror film is the quintessential Halloween night viewing, I oscillate between the savory answer (Mike De Leon's Itim comes to mind, a pick that feels rightful and won't raise eyebrows) and the unsavory one (Peque Gallaga and Lore Reyes' 2014 film, T'yanak, a modern reimagining of their leaps and bounds superior and more seminal work from the late '80s (Opens in a new window)). Suppose I give into my natural proclivity for recency bias, and I would say Kenneth Dagatan's excellent period horror, In My Mother's Skin, is worth every Filipino's time. For all other times, my default answer would be the 2004 film and Erik Matti's best horror film to date, Pa-Siyam.