When was the last time you screamed so loud because of watching a horror film? Do you still remember the face of Lotus Feet in Feng Shui or the saint statue in Seklusyon? Are you fond of watching horror films or just brave enough to face evil spirits, terrifying ghosts, and mysterious creatures on screen? Well, we’ve got something for you.
On October 31, we asked the members of the Facebook group “Film recs for cinephiles” to recommend some of the most exceptional Filipino horror films that will certainly haunt you in your dreams.
We have compiled the most recommended horror films by the said Facebook group and listed down here. The list covers a wide range of horror subgenres and tackles some of the most compelling and intriguing horror plots.
Brave enough to watch these films? Add them to your horror films list now!
1. Seklusyon (2016)
Director: Erik Matti
In 1947, those aspiring to be priests were sent to a remote convent to live in seclusion to shield them from the world’s evil. Their solitude is interrupted when a girl arrives, and they debate whether she was sent by God or by the devil.
2. The Healing (2012)
Director: Chito S. Roño
A faith healer’s power causes paranormal events and a rash of suicides and murders.
3. The Road (2011)
Director: Yam Laranas
Investigators reopen a 12-year-old cold case after three teenagers disappear while traveling along a particularly infamous stretch of road.
4. Feng Shui (2004)
Director: Chito S. Roño
A woman acquires a bagua and her family’s lives become endangered as death follows them at every turn.
5. Violator (2014)
Director: Dodo Dayao
A typhoon is slowly approaching Manila. And in the swelter that accompanies the storm something ominous is hiding which awakens suicidal tendencies and other inexplicable urges in the city’s inhabitants. This surprisingly self-assured and mature directorial debut is a sophisticated portrait of a society into which evil has come a-creeping.
6. Kisapmata (1981)
Director: Mike de Leon
About the incestuous obsession of a retired policeman Dadong Carandang (Silayan) for his daughter Mila (Santos). When she tells her father that she wishes to marry her boyfriend Noel (Ilagan) because she is pregnant, the news unleashes a series of abnormal events that inevitably lead to the family’s doom.
7. Pa-siyam (2004)
Director: Erik Matti
After their mother’s death, a group of siblings gather together in their family home for pasiyam, a nine-day prayer for the dead. They soon realise that her death might have been caused by a malevolent force in the home, instead of natural causes.
8. Ang Manananggal sa Unit 23B (2016)
Director: Prime Cruz
Jewel is a mysterious woman who lives alone in the city. She has a secret which has led her to settle into a lonely existence. That is, until she meets Nico, a broken-hearted, down-and-out guy who also feels unlovable like she does. Jewel is torn between wanting to love him and wanting to save him from herself.
9. Vesuvius (Short Film) (2012)
Director: Erik Matti
An image seemingly that of the Virgin Mary appears upon a man. The image begins to speak to the man in whispers. Since then, the man has not been the same.
10. Di Ingon Nato (2011)
Director: Brandon Relucio, Ivan Zaldarriaga
Life in a remote village in the Visayas turns upside down when villagers are stricken by an unknown disease. As the village chief and doctor try to control the situation, they discover that the dead are rising from their graves.
11. Sukob (2006)
Director: Chito S. Roño
A Filipino couple working overseas return to their hometown to get married; however, a deadly curse follows the couple, based on the superstition that marriage should not take place within a year of the death of an immediate relative.
12. Wag Kang Lilingon (2006)
Directors: Jerry Lopez Sineneng and Quark Henares
It is a twin-bill horror movie. In the first story “Uyayi,” Melissa is a young nurse with a bright future ahead of her. But will the future turn to her favor as strange and violent events occur at the hospital she works for. Together with her boyfriend James, they try to uncover the killer behind the rising number of deaths among the patients in the hospital. But will she be one of the victims? In the second story “Salamin,” Angel is a beautiful young family breadwinner whose only aspiration is to see her family live a better life. When her father left her and her mother and younger sister for another woman, Angel decided to move into a new place. Little did they know the danger that lies ahead. As she discovers an old mirror, she makes a wish at the stroke of midnight by the candlelight-to know her future. Instead, she unwittingly opens a portal of spirits!
13. Itim (1976)
Director: Mike De Leon
Jun is a photographer whose family estate is in the countryside. One day, he brings his new girlfriend Teresa (Charo Santos) to visit the family. Psychic flashes about Teresa’s missing sister pop into her mind from time to time, and during the visit to Jun’s father’s house, many more arise.
14. Magandang Hatinggabi (1998)
Director: Laurenti Dyogi
A group of young people who are overtly fun-loving and death defying adventure seekers decide to take a quick break from their impulsive road trip but ghastly things start to frighten them for real. A gruesomely deformed man named Fatman (Noni Buencamino) starts telling them three sets of hair raising stories: the first story is about a family of four members who travel with their newly purchased second-hand van. They realize that the van is haunted by a family whose members have been killed inside the van by the lunatic father. Now the vengeful souls are out to take their lives too. Second story is about a meek young lady from the province who decides to pursue her studies in the city, as a young man gets captivated by her simplistic beauty he finds himself obsessively drawn to her. And he begins to realize that the mysterious girl who he falls in love with belongs to a family of flesh eating monsters. The last story is about a group of young people who are bound into a series of grotesque adventures under the hands of a mysterious man named Fatman. They have to find the way out or else all of them will perish when the clock hits 12 o’clock in the midnight.
15. Dalaw (2010)
Director: Dondon Santos
Strange things start happening when a family moves to a new house. The mother soon learns that they are being targeted by a supernatural visitor, and she must find a way to keep it from causing her family harm.
16. Sunod (2019)
Director: Carlo Ledesma
It centers on a woman who’s desperate to find the cure to her daughter’s illness. She takes a job at a call center, only to be haunted by the ghost in it.
17. Shake Rattle and Roll 8 (LRT) (2006)
Director: Michael Tuviera
Three separate tales of terror: a party takes place on a forbidden floor, a naughty child learns that her nanny is a vampire, and a monster stalks accident survivors.
18. Bliss (2017)
Director: Jerrold Tarog
After involving in a film production accident that leaves her crippled, Jane Ciego, a successful actress, slowly transitions into madness after experiencing horrors and torture in her own home.
19. Yanggaw (2008)
Director: Richard Somes
An unknown infection in a young girl affects her body, which results in her turning into a monster.
20. Clarita (2019)
Director: Roderick Cabrido
A young woman is held against her will when police suspect she has been possessed by a demon.
21. Kuwaresma (2019)
Director: Erik Matti
A family is haunted by what appears to be the ghost of the youngest daughter.
22. Shake Rattle and Roll 10 (Class Picture) (2008)
Director: Topel Lee
Ten students spend the night inside their campus in preparation for an exhibit as a requirement for their graduation. Unfortunately, their exhibit has been haunted by the ghost of a nun, Sister Maria Belonia (Jean Garcia), who has come back for a terrible oath she had done in the past: to kidnap three girls from the group, in order to complete a picture of her class, with three students missing. Can Joy (Kim Chiu) and Louie (Gerald Anderson) stop the nun from destroying their exhibit and killing their classmates?
23. Eerie (2019)
Director: Mikhail Red
The unexpected and gruesome death of a student threatens the existence of a Catholic school for girls.
24. Sundo (2009)
Director: Topel Lee
Seven passengers on a trip to Manila escape death and their respective “sundo” by a twist of fate. Soon, they realize that the price they have to pay for gambling with the spirit of tragedy is the hardest and most ruthless battle they will ever come to face.
25. Ouija (2007)
Director: Topel Lee
Several girls accidentally trap a murderous spirit.
26. Txt (2006)
Director: Mike Tuviera
A dead man (Oyo Sotto) reaches out from the grave to keep his still-living lover (Angel Locsin) for himself.
You can watch and support some local films on MOOV, Cinema Centenario’s video on-demand online channel.
