Patayin Mo Sa Sindak si Barbara aka Kill Barbara with Panic
(ROSAS PRODUCTIONS; PHIL) 96 min
Like Gerardo de Leon’s Curse of the Vampires (1970), Castillo’s picture writes large what most Western fantasy movies wrap up in various disguises. In this demonic-possession story devised by the director, religious paraphernalia are largely dispensed to allow for a less contorted treatment of hysteria and to more clearly designate the central dynamic of the neuroses at stake in this type of fantasy scenario: sexual jealousy which is, precisely, a matter of possessiveness.
A young woman commits suicide after vowing revenge against her unfaithful husband (Rivero) and his lover (Roces). The rest of the movie chronicles the ghost’s chilling, often gorily physical, persecution of her victims. Although unevenly scripted with wordy and overly sentimental passages, the mise-en-scene of the action is effective and easily matches The Exorcist (1973) while the movie’s approach to the motif of possession is far more intelligent than William Friedkin’s.
Castillo is one of Filipino cinema’s most interesting characters. Originally a writer of comic strips, he initiated the ‘bomb’ genre - the Philippine equivalent of Italy’s giallo movies – with the controversial Nympha (1970) which ended with a nauseatingly graphic depiction of a backstreet abortion and intercut a prayer scene with a lovemaking one, the heroine achieving absolution exactly when the lovers outside her window achieve their climax. He essayed various genres and eventually received international recognition with Burlesk Queen (1977), which was acknowledged as the best Filipino film of that year.
*from "THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HORROR MOVIES"