Author Topic: SCORPIO NIGHTS Revisited (Read 5322 times)

keating · « **on:** Mar 02, 2008 at 10:21 AM »

Is it classic or a porn? 22 years later its still one of the much-talked about erotic film of all time. Straight from the man himself.......my mother never forgive me for doing SCORPIO NIGHTS! Even my family haven't seen it.
When SCORPIO opened at the Manila Film Center I was supposed to give a speech in front of all these people, you know, everybody's saying free from censorship......pu.....ina! Of course we knew they tried to censor the dialogue of Pen Medina in that film, Johnny Litton, Bibot Amador and the one who wrote SOLTERO. The film comes out and everything was there. Nag-panic sila! My God! The adventures.....we had. soooo stupid. I think I'm responsible for removing the missionary position from Philippine society at a certain point. -Peque Gallaga

Jojo Devera · « **Reply #1 on:** Mar 02, 2008 at 11:44 AM »

Scorpio Nights is a brilliant piece of erotic cinema... no other film has come close to its accomplishments.

keating · « **Reply #2 on:** Mar 02, 2008 at 11:48 AM »

It spawned countless imitators. No other film comes close to it.

Jojo who was the writer of SOLTERO? If Peque will make the commentary of SCORPIO NIGHTS on dvd now, it will be one hell of a commentary!

keating · « **Reply #3 on:** Mar 02, 2008 at 11:54 AM »

I believe she's in the US now residing. The last interview that she had was in APPLE PIE, PATIS, ATBP about the Filipinos residing in the US.

Jojo Devera · « **Reply #4 on:** Mar 02, 2008 at 12:00 PM »

Quote from: keating on Mar 02, 2008 at 11:48 AM

It spawned countless imitators. No other film comes close to it.

Jojo who was the writer of SOLTERO? If Peque will make the commentary of SCORPIO NIGHTS on dvd now, it will be one hell of a commentary!

Summertime was the Korean remake of Scorpio Nights, it was not as great as Scorpio Nights tho...

Bienvenido Noriega wrote Soltero...

keating · « **Reply #5 on:** Mar 02, 2008 at 12:03 PM »

The betamax bootleg copy was one of the best-sellers during the 80's. And Peque even admit that he has the dvd sanitized version, the vcd is the way to go. It has all the laway exchange scene.

If you will try to analyze closely, it has a socio-political message. Those narrow rooms where Ana Marie and Orestes made love, the slum-dwellers, the carousing card players to the yowling of the horny cats and the kids breakdancing.

Jojo do you remember the names of Ana Marie and Orestes Ojeda? They were unnamed, right?

Even Peque had a hard-on during the rehearsals in this film.

Noel_Vera · « **Reply #6 on:** Mar 02, 2008 at 02:54 PM »

Scorpio's a great film. Much prefer it to In the of the Senses.

keating · « **Reply #7 on:** Mar 02, 2008 at 09:20 PM »

From a simple narrative structure taken from a news tabloid by Rommel Bernardino & T.E. Pagaspas, the original character of Orestes before was a policeman where he shot a student boarder after he learned that he's having an affair with his wife........they changed it to security guard to avoid the identity of Martial Law repression.

But its still there if you watch it again. Jaime Fabregas musical score was Peque's homage to the porn films from the 70's.

Noel_Vera · « **Reply #8 on:** Mar 03, 2008 at 01:24 PM »

That said, I think Init sa Magdamag is the subtler, more unsettling film...remarkable, considering there's no nudity there. But the cruelty in Init is, well, shocking.

wedge · « **Reply #9 on:** Mar 03, 2008 at 02:07 PM »

I don't know if I asked this question a long time ago, but was it based from an actual police report?

keating · « **Reply #10 on:** Mar 04, 2008 at 06:58 PM »

There's always heat in every Laurice Guillen film from SALOME, KASAL to INIT SA MAGDAMAG.

It was based from a real police report, wedge. They have to change it to avoid some political identity.

viperkid · « **Reply #11 on:** Apr 21, 2008 at 08:04 AM »

Still one of the best erotic movies in Asia.

d4nu65+3R · « **Reply #12 on:** Apr 29, 2008 at 11:19 AM »

is there any chance of seeing this released on a legit dvd, uncut, restored and remastered of sorts. i'd get one if it did.

keating · « **Reply #13 on:** Jul 08, 2008 at 05:58 PM »

If you're lucky enough the vcd is the way to go , its the uncut one.

What was the title of the song being sung by Mike Austria, Lore Reyes & company before the bloody finale?

Battousai · « **Reply #14 on:** Jul 09, 2008 at 12:15 AM »

Any idea where to get the VCD of the uncut film? I haven't seen any. Thanks.

Mr. Hankey · « **Reply #15 on:** Jul 09, 2008 at 12:22 AM »

You know, I have the VCD that was released in local stores years ago, and it's definitely a CUT version, slightly different from what was shown at the ECP and from the version that was widely available on pirated Betamax tapes in the 1980s. I don't know if there was more than one release for this title on VCD locally.

Is the DVD even more cut than this VCD, keating?

syoti · « **Reply #16 on:** Jul 09, 2008 at 12:24 AM »

i used to see the vcd at Astro but that was years years ago... i was able to buy a dvd of it though in the streets.. i think it was the uncut version digitalized from a betamax copy..

keating · « **Reply #17 on:** Jul 09, 2008 at 05:46 PM »

Quote from: Mr. Hankey on Jul 09, 2008 at 12:22 AM

You know, I have the VCD that was released in local stores years ago, and it's definitely a CUT version, slightly different from what was shown at the ECP and from the version that was widely available on pirated Betamax tapes in the 1980s. I don't know if there was more than one release for this title on VCD locally.

Is the DVD even more cut than this VCD, keating?

Hey guys, PQ is reading this thread.

Its funny and weird because I have both the dvd and vcd versions..... and the vcd released 2006 was the uncut one, Mr. Hankey. It has all the laway exchange scene, the dvd is the mangled one. They took that away and shortened the final encounter between Ana Marie & Daniel Fernando plus the penis shot of Orestes Ojeda.

They released probably both the mangled and uncut on vcd and the mangled one was the one that you got. It might be the same cut versions on dvd and vcd.

Mr. Hankey · « **Reply #18 on:** Jul 09, 2008 at 07:47 PM »

Quote from: keating on Jul 09, 2008 at 05:46 PM

Hey guys, PQ is reading this thread.

Its funny and weird because I have both the dvd and vcd versions..... and the vcd released 2006 was the uncut one, Mr. Hankey. It has all the laway exchange scene, the dvd is the mangled one. They took that away and shortened the final encounter between Ana Marie & Daniel Fernando plus the penis shot of Orestes Ojeda.

Okay, my VCD is the same as my VHS version, which I purchased a few months ahead of it... in 1999, according to the copyright stamps on the backs of both.

That must be the different version! Is "2006" stamped on your VCD packaging, keating?

PQ is Peque G? Hey PQ! You really made an impression during career day at La Salle Greenhills in my senior year in high school. To this day, I remember you were telling us about your camera angles, how you said you wanted one particular shot to look like it was "from the point of view of a vagina about to be raped." You could hear the collective gasp in the audio-visual room as the jaws of our teachers all simultaneously dropped to the floor!

Ah, the minor details that people remember after more than 20 years...

keating · « **Reply #19 on:** Jul 12, 2008 at 10:32 AM »

The 1999 vcd released was mangled, Mr. Hankey. I also got even the bootlegged copy of that one. The cover was good quality though.

Yup, 2006 was stamped at the back of my vcd and the cover art is not good as compared to the 1999 vcd released.

And yeah, PQ is Peque. He has both the vcd & dvd of this film.

angelos · « **Reply #20 on:** Sep 02, 2008 at 02:41 PM »

Yeah. Kinda surprised that a Filipino film being remade by a Korean film. pINOY FILMS OF THE 80's were really something.. I can really smell the scent of Martial Law in this film.

keating · « **Reply #21 on:** Sep 08, 2008 at 12:55 PM »

I wonder where's the 35mm print now with English subs? Peque along with Lore Reyes, Jessica Zafra, Ambeth Ocampo and my friend Joven saw it at the LVN studio before it was flown to Toronto Filmfest back in 1994.

The man checked the print if its still in good shape.

Fat Makoy · « **Reply #22 on:** Sep 09, 2008 at 04:50 PM »

oh man, to be honest, i haven't seen this movie yet! mga older utols ko hid their copies pa nung kausuhan
nito.

can someone kindly pm me on where to buy a copy of the uncut version. would appreciate it a lot!

salamat narin po in advance!

rse · « **Reply #23 on:** Sep 10, 2008 at 12:16 AM »

The latest DVD release from RegalFilms.com (delivered in a very thin DVD case) has English subtitles, but, severely cut.

ninjababez® · « **Reply #24 on:** Sep 10, 2008 at 01:42 AM »

me too ..

keating · « **Reply #25 on:** Sep 21, 2008 at 11:42 AM »

Interesting tidbits on the film from Peque Gallaga.

1. Was it Sta. Cruz church in the opening scene of SCORPIO NIGHTS?

It's either Sta. Cruz church or Binondo -- I haven't seen Scorpio in a while, so I'm not completely
sure of either, but we shot all the establishing shots for the title credits in and around the Sta. Cruz
area and Chinatown, so it's definitely one of the two churches.

2. Did Mother Lily gave you a freehand at all in making the movie?

Totally. Completely. I just had a heart attack and she wasn't even sure if I was going to live or die long
enough to finish the movie. Basta, we had a really, really small budget (which is one of the reasons I
decided to do the whole thing in one location) so she didn't care what I did... she figured that whatever
I came up with -- and she had no idea of how far I would take the thing -- had some sex in it, so she
was going to get her investment back. But to be fair to Lily, in those days, she had enough respect for
her directors to leave the artistic and creative work to us... it was only when her idea to do Mano Po
was realized did she get delusions of artistic grandeur (like many of the present day female producers
both on TV and cinema) and started to get involved in the directorial process.

3. Why is it that Anna Marie and Orestes are unnamed in the film?

Because it wasn't the story of two specific people. Because they were a metaphor. Because they were units
in microcosmic study of a cultural sink phenomenon. I think that's proof that from the very beginning we
had higher motives for Scorpio other than purely gratuitous ones.

keating · « **Reply #26 on:** Dec 14, 2008 at 01:38 PM »

A remake is currently brewing. Peque just came to Manila to do the pre-prod and he's not keen anymore on doing any horror flick.

Stay tuned.

Huddaf · « **Reply #27 on:** Dec 15, 2008 at 12:37 AM »

Quote from: keating on Dec 14, 2008 at 01:38 PM

A remake is currently brewing. Peque just came to Manila to do the pre-prod and he's not keen anymore on doing any horror flick.

Stay tuned.

I still prefer the original one.

jackryan · « **Reply #28 on:** Dec 15, 2008 at 06:07 AM »

Quote from: Jojo Devera on Mar 02, 2008 at 12:00 PM

Summertime was the Korean remake of Scorpio Nights, it was not as great as Scorpio Nights tho...

Bienvenido Noriega wrote Soltero...

http://www.kfccinema.com/reviews/drama/summertime/summertime.html

keating · « **Reply #29 on:** Dec 15, 2008 at 11:22 AM »

I've seen SUMMER TIME, the sex scenes are hot but actually it lose the claustrophobic atmosphere and feel of the original.

The production design was a downer on SUMMER TIME, no match to the gritty set done by Don Escudero in the original.