Topic: Patayin Mo sa Sindak si Barbara/Celso Ad Castillo

[Noel_Vera]

Just took a look at this film again. It's battered and bruised, a lot of the scare moments just look silly, and the acting is pitched just this side of hysterical (with maybe Rosanna Ortiz crossing the line a half dozen times).

But about an hour and fifteen minutes into the film, when the action moves to the vacation house, it starts to become great. Celso uses silence, uses shadows and there are moments here that recall Hitchcock (Walters' ultimate fate, the little slashes made at Roces), and moments that recall Gerardo de Leon (the apparition popping up out of nowhere).

Most impressive is Roces' climactic soliloquy, when she dares Ortiz to come out and face her, pit Ortiz' love against hers. You realize that the problem is Ortiz all along, and her all-consuming, jealous love which is more obsession than love. Ortiz might be likened to the Furies, which harry the object of their anger to death without actually killing him or her. Not a perfect movie, but a substantial and (at least for long stretches) extremely well-made one.

[keating]

The final climactic showdown between Susan and Rosanna Ortiz is a spine-chilling one. I think Mike Relon Makiling was least credited for the film.

Celso's genius is very evident throughout the film working without production designer and editor. From the opening shot of Susan arriving from the airport going to the wake of Rosanna up to the finale. They should have toned down the melodramatic moments in the movie.

[Noel_Vera]

Some of the gimmicky editing was embarrassing. Better yet are the moments of sustained tension--how not to cut a shot until the audience is begging for relief.

[rse]

I saw this recently.  Not a fan.  I actually like the remake (Chito Rono's) better.  It's too noisy, clumsy, and overly dramatic and the actors deliver their kilometric lines ever so slowly.

[Noel_Vera]

I saw Rono's after this one. I liked one shot--Dawn Zulueta standing at the edge of what looks like Hell. It's brooding and massive where this one is at a more intimate scale.

Celso's has serious, serious flaws, and I agree with your points, absolutely. But I do think there's a moment where the filmmaking settles down and starts using silence effectively; maybe some twenty to thirty minutes of it is great, thankfully it's towards the end, and Celso manages to sustain it (another element of suspense in his films is wondering if he's going to fall apart, which he as often as not does, and if he does, whether or not he'll recover. In a way he's like Brian de Palma, only loonier).

[rse]

I've seen Rono's a long time ago, so I might not even like it when I see it again.  
My main problem with The Kid's version is that I already gave up when some of the good bits arrived.  Also while watching it I wasn't even thinking about Rono's remake but Mike de Leon's excellent "Itim" and Lino Brocka's equally great "Bukas Madilim Bukas" in "Tatlo, Dalawa, Isa".  Maybe an unfair comparison....That said, it's not without merits...

[Noel_Vera]

I wouldn't call Itim horror, properly; maybe supernatural Gothic drama. Very beautiful film. I think Tatlo Dalawa is very much Gothic drama, in the Faulkner tradition.

Did you see Patayin on the big screen? It had a visceral impact on everyone when we saw it, years ago. I mean, we laughed at the melodrama and hysteria, but when it hunkered down and got serious, we were very, very quiet.

It's not high art; pulpy melodrama with plenty of sordidness and not a little black humor thrown in, I think. More Larry Cohen than Jacques Tourneur.

[rse]

No, I haven't seen Patayin on a big screen.

[Noel_Vera]

Lemme qualify my claim, then: I think on the big screen it's the most frightening Filipino horror film ever made, and say that's different from being the greatest Filipino horror film ever made (that would be Itim, among others, and above all (in my opinion) Kisapmata). 

[keating]

Vilma Santos on BURLESK QUEEN:

"Five times na-pack up yung death dance sequence. It was shot in a theatre in Cubao kung saan naiwan yung mga nanonood tlga ng burlesk show during that time. Hindi nila sinabi na ako yung lalabas after matapos sumayaw yung mga dancers. First day, ok, pack-up. 2nd day ok pa rin, 3rd day, ok pa din sabi ko kay Direk Celso, the Kid, Direk hindi ko pa kaya. 4th day Direk hindi ko pa din kaya pinainom ako ng wine....hindi na ngumingiti si Celso. 5th day, nagdala ako ng pagkain sa set with matching dedication pa....thank you for understanding. Pinagalitan na ako ni Celso....alam mo me pinirmahan ka kontrata, whether you like it or not...we will shoot the scene! Malaki na nalulugi ng producer. Five camera set-up ang ginawa nila nasa taas si Celso. By the time na sumigaw siya...ready na si Vilma?! Rolling....action! Suicide tlga yung ginawa ko!"

[Godzilla-2000]

Hello guys

I'm new to this forum, very interested in old (pre-1990's) Philippines films, especially those
with fantastic content.

One of my goals is to find reliable informations about which old Philippines films are really considered LOST, and which ones do EXIST but are not available, and of course, the ones that actually are available on DVD, VCD, VHS.

I recently managed to see Celso Ad. Castillo's "Patayin mo sa sindak si Barbara" after searching for it for years. Like Emmanuel H. Borlaza's "Dugo ng vampira" (1969), it definitely makes me want to see MORE old Tagalog horror films.

Is this thread still alive?