San Lazaro (2011)

San Lazaro is a 2011 horror drama film starred by Ramon Bautista (Limuel), Nico Manalo (Biboy) and Wincy Aquino Ong (Sigfried) who also directed the movie. This movie is about a possession of an evil spirit hungry for some secrets.

Sigfried is a hard working employee but he always end up losing his job. One day, his classmate Limuel contacted him asking for help about something. When they met, Limuel told him that he needs help for his brother Biboy who is possessed by an unknown evil spirit. He claimed that his brother even ate their dog alive which horrified Sigfried.

Biboy’s strange attitude started when his girlfriend left him for another man and he didn’t even discover who it was. Limuel was alerted when Biboy once called his daughter and told her that he will visit on the girl’s birthday and eat her. When Limuel discovered from the caller ID that it is Biboy who called her daughter, he seek for help on how to cure or stop the spirit from conquering Biboy’s body.

He started to search for help and discovered about San Lazaro, the place where the great paranormal expert lives who happened to be Sigfried’s uncle.

After that, they decided to bring Biboy to San Lazaro to get some help from the paranormal expert. San Lazaro is aslo well-known for horror stories about some who died after going there. Along the road, they experienced a lot misunderstanding and later settled for their purpose. They even met a guy who tried to rob them but was killed by Biboy out of hunger. Biboy craves for blood which made him very dangerous if get out from the car.

Since San Lazaro is very far from the city, Sigfried called his uncle and ask for help to neutralize Biboy while they are still on the road. This time, they used salt and made it as a necklace for Biboy to let him lead the way to where the spirit is located.

Later, they arrived to Sigfried’s uncle’s house and immediately started to ritual to set Biboy from the evil spirit but something unfortunate happened when his neck was bitten by Biboy. His vocal cord was damaged so he cannot speak and do the ritual anymore.

Sigfried took over and later discovered from his uncle that the spirit is hungry for a “dark secret” which was related on Biboy’s past when his girlfriend left him. Sigfried asked Limuel to whisper him a dark secret that no one knows. Limuel then whispered that he is “Captain Barbel”, the name of the guy in the cellphone whom Biboy was left out for by his girlfriend. This is where the spirit set free from Biboy’s body and everything’s back to normal.     

Mang Kepweng Returns (2017)

Mang Kepweng Returns is a 2017 pinoy horror comedy movie starring Vhong Navarro as Kiefer whom his nickname is derived from his father the original Mang Kepweng.

This movie is a remake of the 1979 film originally starred by the late comedian actor Chiquito.

Kiefer is a hardworking guy despite the strange things that is repeatedly happening to him. He usually see ghost wherever he goes – at work or home. With these instances, he still survived the daily routine in his life.

His mother, Aling Milagros (Jacklyn Jose) has been secretive about Kiefer’s origin especially about his father. Besides the circumstances, she already knew that the strange things that Kiefer saw are part of his destiny. When she had finally decided on letting Kiefer know his roots, they went to the province to see Zach (James Blanco), his step brother of the same father.

Later, he discovered that he is the destined one to use the magical handkerchief which is an inheritance from his father. The handkerchief contains unexplained power that could heal diseases and fight bad elements. The fairies also oriented him about the power of the handkerchief and handed him the book of knowledge that could help him in healing and fighting bad elements.

When he started to wear the handkerchief to his head, it indicates the return of Mang Kepweng, the great healer (albularyo). He first healed Zach’s wife who was possessed by the witch.

This incident alerted the witch and immediately sent his allies to spy on Kiefer. He wanted to know if it’s really true that Mang Kepweng had returned and was later confirmed. Kiefer’s friends also came to visit him and later decided to stay. Kiefer also met Allysa (Kim Domingo) which at first he has no interest but later fell in love with her.

The witch started to send someone to seduce Kepweng but did not succeed. With such despair, he sent some food which poisoned Allysa that serves as his puppet to kill Kiefer.

With this, Kiefer faced the bad healer witch and almost got defeated but with the help of his father’s spirit and the prayers from her mother, he had survived and killed the witch.