Ang Aswang (1933)

1933 – Ang Aswang (Manila Talkatone)

[Release date 1st January 1933; the first optical sound film in the Philippines, also released with the English title “The Witch”]  

Director/Producer George Musser Cinematography Charles Miller Sound William P. Smith   

Cast Celia Xerex-Burgos, Luis Ayesa, Arturo Swanson, Matias Garcia, Monserrat Garcia, Mary Walter, Monang Carvajal   

HORROR  

Info researched and compiled by Isidra Reyes ANCX, and posted on Facebook's "The Aswang Project"

The very first movie photographed in the Philippines with optical sound was Manila Talkatone Studio’s Ang Aswang (1933).

This was also the first feature film produced by Manila Talkatone Studios which took a year to complete. According to Nick de Ocampo’s Film, American Influences on Philippine Cinema, George Musser (the Director) did not devote all his time to making the film and only shot on weekends and holidays. 

Despite its Filipino language title, the dialogue of Ang Aswang was in Spanish and English, perhaps to reach a wider audience abroad, particularly the United States and Latin America. Ang Aswang even had an English title, The Vampire, perhaps for non-Filipino viewers unfamiliar with this Philippine mythological creature. Starring in the film together with the actress Mary Walter and “Queen of Horror Pictures” Monang Carvajal were newcomers Monserrat Garcia, Arturo Swanson, stage veteran Matias Garcia, and the beautiful Celia Xerez-Burgos who was entrusted with the leading female role. 

Aswangs in various forms and guises have long fascinated Filipino filmmakers and moviegoers. The very first Tagalog horror photoplay was Jose Nepomuceno’s Tianak (1926)*, starring Rosa del Rosario and Rogelio de la Rosa, which was a huge moneymaker. Jose Nepomuceno followed it up with Ang Mananaggal (1927) with Mary Walter in the title role. 

Still photo from George Musser’s Ang Aswang (1933) showing a levitating aswang. (Source: CCP Encyclopedia of Art, Second Edition, Vol. 6-Film)

* Tianak was in fact released in 1932 and not in 1926, thus making Ang Mananangaal (1927) the first Filipino horror film. 

Ang Manananggal (1927)

A young Mary Walter

1927 – Ang Manananggal/“The Vampire” (Malayan Films)  

[Release date unknown]  

Director/Producer Jose Nepomuceno  

Cast Mary Walter 

HORROR  

NOTES: Malayan Films’ Ang Manananggal (1927), a silent picture directed by Jose Nepomuceno, was the first Tagalog horror movie. “Even with the crudest equipment, Nepomuceno was able to conjure camera tricks. In one scene where Mary Walter, in the title role, and her fellow manananggals appeared to be half-bodied before a coffin. Don Jose had a portion of the ground excavated. The actors and actresses who portrayed manananggals, therefore, were filmed buried up to the waistline. Subsequent editing made them appear limbless to terrified moviegoers…” (Jose Quirino, A Movie Album Quizbook by Jessie B. Garcia, quoted on the Video 48 blog)

Sumpa Ng Aswang (1935)

1935 – Sumpa Ng Aswang/“Curse Of The Aswang” or “Curse Of The Vampire” (Filippine Films)  

[Release date 12th December 1935]  

Director Agapito R. Conchu  

Cast Rosa del Rosario (Lydia), Pedro Tembong Cruz [as Tembong] (Alfredo), Rudy Concepcion (Fernando), Patring Carvajal, Pedro Faustino (Don Telesforo), Juanita Angeles (Mother) [IMDB also lists Monang Carvajal, Mary Walter]  

HORROR/COMEDY  

The Tribune [Manila], 12th December 1935, p.8

THEATRICAL

PHILIPPINES - released at the Fox Theatre on 12th December 1935

HAWAII - released by Consolidated Amusements and screened initially on Jose Rizal Day [30th December] 1935 at the Waipahu, then at the Palama in Honolulu on 14th January 1936, the Wahiawa on 15th January, and at the Empire on Hilo, Big Island on 14th to 15th January 1936