Aswang ng Quezon City (2006) [pinoy] [tagalog]

There isn't really any story to speak of. What is shown alternates between two perspectives. The first is a jaded police officer, speaking directly to the camera, talking about the vampire killer, or aswang, that has been stalking through the streets of Quezon City the past few months, raping and disemboweling young women. The second is long sequences of rape, torture and humiliation of said women, often with no soundtrack, overlaid with Hammond organ music, dogs barking, warning sirens, compressors or other random sounds. There is very little actual dialogue, mostly the policeman talking.

The torture scenes are quite graphic and involved. The women are sodomized with crucifixes, made to eat filth from the floor, and forced at gunpoint to fellate the killer, to name just a few of the tamer examples. (No, really.) Several times, the killer's erect penis is fully visible, (here's hoping it's a prosthetic) including during the forced fellatio, though no female nudity is shown. Details of the killer's youth are revealed obliquely through flashbacks, and we see that he was abused by his mother (she whipped him while he held Bibles up in his hands and balanced a candle on his head) and kicked dogs to death for fun. No attempt at empathy or even explanation is made. He is never named (neither is the policeman) and it's probably just as well.

This is not a typical serial killer film, in which the troubled yet driven detective tracks down the twisted murderer. This is a full on torture film, whose main focus is degradation of women. There are no police procedural scenes. No interrogations. No philosophical reflection. Almost no plot. Just rape, murder and cannibalism. Hostel has nothing on The Vampire of Quezon City as far as brutality goes. This is not to say that Khavn (he seems to prefer to be known by his first name) is lacking talent. For a zero budget movie with a three day shooting schedule, things look remarkably good. The film is a grainy, shadowed black and white. The camera work is inventive and disorienting. Symbols and unrelated images are flashed on to the screen at intervals. Much of the film is from the point of view of the killer, giallo style, though this idea is subverted when the same POV like camera work is used when the killer clearly is not present. The performances are gonzo strange, but compelling, like the rest of the film. This is an exercise in intentional discomfort.

But to what end all of this creativity and style? The better to degrade women? The most apparent theme to come out of this film is hate, of pretty much everyone but the female of the species most particularly and intensely. It is significant that the only audible female dialogue is from the abusive mother as she is whipping her son the killer. This isn't a subtle undercurrent of distaste. This is a high pressure stream of hatred, with few of the standard filters between the audience and the film maker, such as say plot, characterization, etc. Vampire of Quezon City is almost unbearably difficult to watch, but it is the work of a talented auteur, with heavy dollops of genius mixed in. As such, it is a challenge to review this film. Should it be recommended? If perhaps Khavn had pulled back somewhat from the graphic brutality, implied instead of shown full on. If he had revealed the killer to us through an actual story, if he had couched the unfolding events in any kind of coherent narrative, that might be possible. But he didn't. This film is the equivalent of an eloquent yet emotionally unstable speaker standing in front of you in the subway and shouting in your face, explaining in intricate detail that you are a despicable person. It's all emotion with no intellect. This is one to rent, at most. And that with some trepidation.