Aswang

Unmarried and pregnant, Kat (Tina Ona Paukstelis) agrees to give up her baby to Peter Null (Norman Moses) and pose as his wife Janine in order that he can fulfil the conditions of his inheritance.

With Kat approaching the end of her pregnancy, Peter takes her to the family estate to meet his wheelchair-bound mother Olive (Flora Coker). Also there are Peter's "touched" sister Claire – who resides in a cabin in the grounds – and the family's loyal Filipino servant Cupid (Mildred Nierras).

At dinner, the Nulls seem especially keen for Kat to drink some of Cupid's home made cider and, after reluctantly agreeing – she shouldn't be drinking in her condition after all – Kat finds herself having a strange dream.

The next morning whilst out walking the Nulls meet Dr Roger Harper (John Kishline), who had earlier uncovered what appeared to be the bones of an infant on their land. Peter is angry at Harper's trespassing, while Kat is more understanding and invites the doctor for dinner, much to her husband's chagrin.

After dinner, Peter and Roger chat, the subject turning to the paintings of scenes from the Philippines that hang on the walls. One in particular intrigues the Doctor. It is that of an Aswang, a kind of Filipino vampire that sustains itself by sucking the life out of foetuses.

Back at his cabin, Harper is attacked by an Aswang. Will Kat realise the true nature of her new husband and his family before they feed on her unborn child?

This 1993 horror entry from co-producers, writers and directors Wrye Martin and Barry Poltermann was the first horror film to be screened at the Sundance Film Festival, where it did well enough to secure a brief video release, albeit in a cut R-rated form, as The Unearthing.

Having been more or less unavailable for a number of years, the original unrated directors' cut of the film under their preferred Aswang has now been released on DVD courtesy of Mondo Macabro.

While the film-makers have looked further afield for inspiration in terms of their monster – one imagines that most fans, if told what the Aswang was and asked to name its director would hazard a guess at Filipino horror specialist Eddie Romero – the influences and references that show up on screen are largely of native origin. Touches of Rosemary's Baby are apparent in the basic situation, along with The Evil Dead in some demons-eye view shots and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in the obligatory chainsaw attack, the whole mix topped off with a liberal dash of Lynchian weirdness.

Aswang sports some reasonable gore and effects work, even if the inherent gross-out value of the Aswang as an idea perhaps proves more squirm-inducing than anything shown for the hardened splatter fan. It is also well enough directed and acted – the broadness and awkwardness of the certain performances contributing to the atmosphere – for a low-budget independent film.

The main problem is that, once the basic set-up is established and the Nulls have shown their true nature – though the name sounds, like Louis Cypher, to belong to the sort of individuals one ought not to get involved with from the outset – the film runs out of ideas and degenerates into an extended series of pursuits, fights, captures and escapes. (The same could perhaps be said of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, but Martin and Poltermann's film just isn't quite in the same league as Tobe Hooper's classic.)

The writing is decent, with some amusing asides on right-wing Republican values – something like a US version of Hammer's Plague of the Zombies or The Reptile with Peter Null as Dan Quayle – being undercut by the sense that certain scenes needed some rewriting, particularly with regard to the Dr Harper character. There is a hint that he is a Vietnam veteran or ex-military type who knows something of the aswang and may even be a vampire-hunter type, but the ease with which he is dispatched runs counter to this.

Weaknesses aside, Aswang emerges as an honest attempt to do something a little different within the confines of low-budget horror that deserves its second chance at finding an audience courtesy of DVD.

Having been shot on 16mm and blown up to 35mm for its original release, image quality on this Region 0 NTSC disc from Mondo Macabro is inevitably rather rough and ready. The transfer is free from artefacting but does exhibit a touch more damage than one might expect for a comparatively recent film, while a fair bit of grain is visible in most scenes.

Audio-wise, there is a choice of the original mix and a new 6:1 track, the latter certainly welome for the home theatre audience but perhaps also a touch too overwhelming in combination with the visuals.

The extras are impressive. We get two different feature length commentaries instead, one with the directors moderated by Pete Tombs, the other with cast members Norman Moses, Tina Ona Paukstelis, John Kishline and Flora Coker; a 27 minute retrospective documentary "Different from Hollywood: The making of aswang", and a selection of outtakes, screen tests, trailers and promotional materials.

The directors' commentary illustrates the realities of low-budget independent feature production – such as the decision to open with a puppet scene establishing the idea of the Aswang when a four or five minute sequence in the Phillipines proved too expensive, or dealing with the biker colony next door to your main location – along with insights into the particular thoughts going through their heads and of the film-makers and other figures who had influenced them, conciously or otherwise, including Two Thousand Maniacs, Douglas Sirk, The Beverley Hillbillies, Scooby Doo, George Kuchar and Peter Greenaway.

The actors commentary presents a chatty mix of detail on the film from the performers' perspective, combining insights into the practical experiences of stage actors on a low budget screen piece – where less is generally more and there was no time for long rehearsals to get into character – along with MST3K type comments:

"One of the books I just happen to have with me on my vacation – it's the book of exotic Filipino monsters…"

"Now coming up yet another horror movie cliche…"

"Ah, that's who she is – she looks different with a big gash in her head…"

The new making of documentary by Boum productions reminds one slightly of American Movie (on which Barry Poltermann co-incidentally performed as editor) without the guilty 'laugh at the losers' aspect of that film. While maybe not saying much that isn't in the commentaries, it provides a useful summation/triangulation function, forming a kind of "official version".

These retrospective analyses are nicely counterposed by the screen test and promotional material from the time of the shoot, while the outtakes shed further light on some of the changes that had to be made for budgetary reasons.

All told, Aswang is a decent example of its type that is given extra value here by the extensive extras.