Impakto – review

Director: Don Escudero

Release date: 1996

Contains spoilers

A return to Philippine cinema with Impakto. The film is actually about a tiyanak, which Bane describes thusly: “This vampiric demon from the Philippines is the offspring between a woman and a demon, but it can also come into being when a child dies without having been baptized.” Impakto translate roughly to evil spirit but, as per the subtitles, it is used here as ‘monster; and, indeed, the central threat is physical and not a spirit. Normally aswang is used as the overriding classification of monster (as well as being a creature type in its own right).

The film starts with a woman (we discover later the nanny) running through the grounds of a large, Gothic looking house. She is screaming and is chased by something, in pov, but when she gets to the large gates they are locked and the attacker reaches her.

Gelli De Belen as Doray

Rhodora, known as Doray (Gelli De Belen) arrives at the house in daylight and sees the mistress of the house, the stern looking Salve (Daria Ramirez), looking down at her. She is interviewed by Dr Sagrado (Ernie Zarate, Shake Rattle and Roll 9 & Vampira) who seems concerned that she appears rather young for the nanny position, but she is licensed and comes from a family of nannies and so he offers the job as nanny for his son Junjun (she does misidentify him as the grandfather). There are rules, however…

prepared bottles

As his wife is infirm, Doray will care for the son who will sleep most the day but, when he cries, she will feed him with pre-prepared bottles. She will not leave the room he is in (and certainly not take him outside as he is susceptible to infection and develops rashes in the sun) but she must not stay in the nursery after 6PM, even if Salve has not relieved her and even if Junjun is crying. The other staff are Hermie (Antonio Aquitania), a young gardener and he and Doray are attracted to each other, and Melba (Candy Pangilinan) who is a cook but she wanted the nanny position (its better paid) and is loud and nasty.

bitten by Junjun

Doray is told off on her first shift as it is getting to six and she hasn’t left the nursery. Then, when the parents go out for the day (to take body parts into the forest), she takes Junjun outside and bumps into Hermie’s mother, who won’t come close as he is impakto and we see his face become monstrous and he bites Doray, leaving a nasty bite mark and leading to a dream later of the wound rotting, which is prescient and she needs the wound healing with holy water. The film does not attempt to pretend Junjun is anything but what he is. Doray questions why some of the bottles for the infant are red and is told they contain medicine, but we know it is likely blood. The Doctor is feeding patients to his son and one does wonder why they have staff who are clearly going to realise.

Daria Ramirez as Salve

It was the explanation for the tiyanak that, within its convoluted logic, lost me – simply because it is preachy and very Catholic. The Doctor, it seems, made his money conducting abortions but to appease God forced his son, Anton (Mike Austria), to become a priest. On a return home, Anton met his mother’s maid Noemi (Cherry Pie Picache). She became pregnant and the Doctor forced her to have an abortion due to the scandal of it – then she was sent from the house. Salve saw the foetus move once removed and took it to the forest to bury it but passed out when it opened its eyes.

wounded

Anton left the priesthood but could not find Noemi or the baby and killed himself but Salve was suddenly pregnant and gave birth to Junjun. So there is a plethora of Catholic proscribed sins going on; abortion, suicide and a priest breaching his celibacy. Indeed the blooming forest area where the foetuses have been buried is actually teeming with tiyanaks and they attack the Doc when he goes to dispose of a body at night, leaving him scratched and battered. The climax of the film occurs when a couple come for an abortion.

melting in sunlight

I get that the Philippines is a Roman Catholic majority country and therefore the storyline would fit into the culture but, from a non-Christian perspective it became ultra-preachy probably because they threw a kitchen sink of sins at it. The tiyanaks can therefore be dealt with via Catholic trappings (crucifix and holy water) and sunlight – the sunlight causes them to melt (though it just caused Junjun to be bitey earlier). There is an assurance that they are angels who have been mistreated and so being reunited with their mother allows the tiyanak to break the cycle and go to heaven. Getting a priest to bless a foetus mass-grave helps also.

Tiyanak

This was ok. The preachiness annoyed me, but others may take that in their stride. The tiyanak can kill and so there is a threat (it also moves like greased lightning apparently). It isn’t the greatest horror film in the world but if you are a part of that culture I’m sure it hits harder than it hit me. The tiyanak puppet was effective for its time but looks a little cheesy nowadays – suspend disbelief before going in. 5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.