Sa init ng apoy (1980)

... aka: Hellfire

... aka: In the Heat of the Fire

Directed by:

Romy V. Suzara

Young newlyweds Laura and Emiliano Cruz (Lorna Tolentino, Rudy Fernandez) decide to spend their honeymoon in Baguio aka "The Summer Capital of the Philippines." After striking out finding a hotel in the city due to busy Holy Week festivities, the two get a flat tire while driving through the country and stumble upon an old, fogbound, seemingly abandoned home called Casa Morteja. There are both "For Sale" and "Room for Rent" signs out front, so the couple decide this would be as good a place as any. After meeting old, peculiar-acting caretaker Pedro (George Estregan - CRAZY), they should have decided otherwise. The caretaker likes sitting near the fireplace despite the sweltering hot summer temperatures outside yet keeps the home pitch dark otherwise. Though the home has electricity, he never uses it because he claims his eyes are sensitive to bright light. Not only that, but he has no set price on renting a room there and lets the couple decide all of that on their own. Not that it matters any. After they go to look at their surprisingly clean room, the old man has seemingly vanished into thin air and can't be found again. Regardless of that strange introduction, the two decide to stay there for what they hope will be a romantic, relaxing next ten days.

Long before their trip, Laura had been plagued by terrible recurring nightmares of someone trying to strangle her to death in the shower. These caused her to regularly wake up a sweaty, shrieking mess with blood on her hands, presumably from clawing at her own neck trying to remove the hands that were strangling her in the dream. Somehow, she and her psychiatrist determined that if she goes to bed after midnight, she doesn't have the dreams, so she tries to force herself to stay up late every single night. After just one day in the home, Laura starts behaving even more peculiarly than usual. She seems completely familiar with the home despite never having set foot inside it before, keeps seeing a shrouded figure lurking around outside and is drenched with blood while showering but then the blood disappears when she tries to show her husband.

Emil hunts down an orange-haired former classmate of his, Tony Fuentes (Joey Padilla), and his wife Vina (Janice Jurado), who put him in contact with Zacarias (Dick Israel - MAGIC OF THE UNIVERSE), who self identifies as "the best fortune-teller in Baguio." He later reads Laura's tarot cards, which spell death in her near future, so he and Tony decide to help their friend out.

The men pay a visit to Vina's grandfather (Paquito Salcedo), who's been around long enough to remember the entire long, sordid and blood-soaked history of the home. The original owners - Ignacio and Sylvina Morteja - were both found dead in the attic covered in bite marks (supposedly from a dog) and with their hearts ripped from their chests. When the dead couple's adult son, Silvestre, inherited it, a grim fate also befell him and his family when they tried to move in. The wife went crazy and had to be locked up (a skeleton found hidden inside a closet is said to have been her) and both Silvestre and their young daughter, Editha, also reputedly died. But, of course, these are only local legends and, as is usually the case, a detail or two may not be so accurate. These events also explain why the home has remained unsold and vacant all these years later.

As Emil and his buddies try to get to the bottom of things, glutton-for-punishment Laura stays behind by herself to be repeatedly terrorized. Invisible forces bust her mirror and then throw her on the bed and spin her around. She's entranced and starts sleepwalking, seeming particularly interested in going into another small building on the property. One the plot's dumbest points is why the couple insist on even staying there in the first place when it's merely a temporary, week-long vacation rental and they could just pack their bags and leave at any time! It isn't until the night before their scheduled trip back home that Laura finally goes to her husband and asks to leave. Her reasoning? Well, because it was so weird she knew that a key was in a drawer their first day there. With all of the other freaky shit that's been going on, that's what she's weirded out about the most?!

The other character of interest is a nameless old woman (Estrella Kuenzler) who's lurking around everywhere and seems to be stalking the couple. She repeatedly tries to give them a package but keeps getting rejected. When she finally gives up and just leaves it in their jeep, they find a piece of bamboo and a small doll arm made out of ivory inside.

While watchable and not bad overall, this falls just shy of being solidly good thanks to some truly dumb and / or muddy plot points and poor pacing. For some reason, this is dragged out for nearly two hours and there's definitely stuff that could have wound up on the cutting room floor without losing anything of value in the process. The worst bit by far is a bunch of dissolve shots of the couple making out by the fireplace that goes on for three minutes just so the corny love theme song, "Apoy" ("Fire"), can be played in its entirety. There's also quite a bit of travelogue footage thrown in, though at least it's nice to look at.

During the final half hour, this throws a lot of what came before right out the window and opts to go the standard Exorcist route with our female lead becoming possessed, turning green, laughing in a maniacal deep voice, saying crude sexual things (though nowhere near as crude and vulgar as its inspiration or most of the other knock offs!) and puking up green slime. Oh yeah, and she also shoots the same stuff out of her nipples (!), which I suppose is at least something a little different. This also tosses some Omen into the mix with a demon / ghost Doberman prowling the property, which chews out a guy's throat and traps the protagonists on the property when they finally do decide to try to leave.

The two major highlights here are the fantastic supporting performance from Estregan, who's really creepy in his enigmatic role though he unfortunately disappears from the entire last act, and the cinematography from Ernesto Dela Paz, who does an especially great job shooting and lighting the indoor night scenes, which all look really dark but have nice pops and slivers of color a la Bava.

Stars Fernandez (who apparently was popular in his home country at the time but gives a wooden, dopey performance here) and Tolentino (who's much better) would marry in real life just a few years later and stayed married until his death in 2008. The director (who passed away in 2022) has over sixty films to his credit, including a couple of other genre films: Anak ng asuang (1973), which involves a female vampire and appears to be a missing film, and the cheap-looking, digitally-shot Sigaw sa hatinggabi / "Scream at Midnight" (2014).

After its initial theatrical release in its home country, this pretty much vanished (I can't even find evidence of an older VHS or VCD release) until a heavily-damaged 35mm print turned up. It was then digitally restored by ABS-CBN (who have done a commendable job) and given a limited theatrical re-release in its home country in 2018. Amazon, Apple TV and a few other websites now offer this for rent. 

Seeing how film elements from many older Filipino genre movies are probably gone forever, another discovery like this getting a second lease on life through restoration is always reason to celebrate, regardless of the outcome. This one has enough good things working in its favor to merit a look.

★★1/2

Daughters of Satan (1972)

... aka: Satans dotter (Satan's Daughter)

Directed by:

Hollingworth Morse

Before he became a household name in 1980 for playing Hawaii-based private eye Thomas Magnum on TV's long-running Magnum P.I. (which earned the 6'4" mustachioed star a legion of adoring fans plus an Emmy Award in 1984), Tom Selleck was pretty much just your usual working actor doing your usual working actor things. Meaning, he started out doing bit parts (like playing "Stud" in the critically panned Mae West vehicle Myra Breckinridge) and then moved his way up to larger roles in B films while also taking guest spots on popular TV shows and TV movies in between. His popularity would become so great in the 80s that he was also offered quite a few big budget Hollywood movie vehicles to test his box office clout after his hit show finally ended, and he had moderate success there through the 90s. Since 2010, he's been gainfully employed on the seemingly never-ending series Blue Bloods, which I've never watched but must be pretty popular considering it has just recently entered its 14th season. Long before all that, Mr. Selleck was appearing in the likes of Russ Meyer's The Seven Minutes (1971), the sleaze and nudity-filled drive-in film Terminal Island (1973) and this low budget production filmed in the Philippines.

Seeing how I was either nonexistent or too young to remember seeing Tom in action during his peak in popularity, watching this at least made me kind of understand why he caught on eventually. Here, he looks good and has an easygoing, likable personality.

Art dealer / museum curator James Robertson (Selleck) shows up in Manila looking for a rare tapestry to complete a collection back in New York City. He meets up with shady Carlos Ching (Filipino genre regular Vic Diaz, sporting one crazy hairdo) at his "Treasures of the Orient" curio shop and soon realizes the tapestry in their possession is merely a cheap copy. However, something else there catches his eye; a late 16th Century oil painting depicting the burning of three witches in a village square. It's not that he's necessarily into morbid art, but seeing how one of the witches looks exactly like his wife, Christina (Barra Grant), he purchases it.

Taking the painting home, the typically carefree, perky and none-too-bright ("Sometimes I think I've got a mind full of meringue!") Chris is immediately outraged and disturbed by it: "Why would you bring a psycho thing like that home?!" Even though she considers it "creepy" and "sadism at its purest" she somehow also knows exactly what's being depicted in the painting and the exact year the events took place. Later that night, she hears voices calling for her from outside their home. The following day she's paid a visit by a lost Rottweiler named Nicodemus and the image of a similar dog in the painting seems to fade from the painting as a response.

The stern Juana Rios (veteran actress Paraluman, who was once considered "The Greta Garbo of the Philippines") turns up out of the blue claiming to be answering a wanted ad looking for a cook / housekeeper. Chris doesn't remember putting up such an ad, but Juana soon makes her real intentions known and refuses to leave. She's there to help Chris fulfill her "destiny." Juana is also a dead ringer for one of the other witches seen burning in the painting; an image that also fades soon after she arrives. Also worth noting that this emissary from hell housekeeper character seems to have been borrowed wholesale for the later hit The Omen (1976), right down to their false claims to gain entry to the home and having the demonic dog in tow for protection.

With his wife starting to mentally spiral, the dog becoming a frequent nuisance and he too starting to have images of things that disappear before his very eyes, James decides to start investigating matters. An address on the dog's collar leads him to a funeral home where the mortician (Paquito Salcedo - THE BLOOD DRINKERS) takes photos of, and sings to, topless female corpses. He's then redirected to the antique shop, where he finds the dealer dead with a dagger in his chest. Two assassins come after him, but he manages to escape and goes to visit university professor Dr. Francisco Dangal (Vic Silayan - THE MAGIC CURSE) for advice. As he's unloading his unusual story, a panicked Catalina "Kitty" Duarte (Tani Guthrie) barges into his office talking about "the power" and ends her brief rant with the proclamation "I don't want to take part in a conspiracy to murder!" And, wouldn't ya know it, Kitty looks just like the third and final witch depicted in the painting.

Normally a devout Catholic who attends mass every single day, now any time Chris removes her cross necklace, she falls into a trance, becomes evil and attempts to murder her poor husband, first with a dagger, then dropping some Alka Seltzer-like tablets in his water to create "suffocating gas." Dr. Dangal decides to spend the night with the couple and, when the painting comes to life and starts showing the real witch burning, he's able to stop it by holding up a Virgin Mary statue. Yet that doesn't stop him from dying in a fiery car crash later that same evening.

The rest of the story trots out predictable reincarnation and revenge angles as it plods along in a dull, talky, faintly competent, almost entirely bloodless, visually disinteresting manner. None of this is too surprising considering the director otherwise spent his entire career working in TV, racking up numerous episodes of Lassie, Shazam!, McHale's Navy, Flipper and H.R. Pufnstuf in the process. Of course that meant he was right at home also making this low budget Filipino exploitation film, right?

On the plus side, there's a fun amnesia twist at the end, a few mildly amusing Satanic scenes and seeing a young Selleck at work is of some interest. The most entertaining aspect of the film though is the over-the-top camp performance delivered by the sharp-cheekboned Guthrie, who enthusiastically lays into her role as the gleefully sadistic head witch. Decked out in a caplet, crab and lobster themed (!!) leotard and purple pantyhose, she seems to really enjoy whipping disobedient topless female cult members over a bed of spikes until they can "repeat the nine names of the principle powers of darkness." She also has a hilarious scene accusing Selleck of trying to "lay" her right after a funeral before she turns the tables on him, strips and unsuccessfully tries to seduce him herself. The scenes featuring her are notably more lively than what most of the rest of the film has to offer and she really seems to be into her part, which is always appreciated.

Producer Aubrey Schenck had previously co-founded the independent company Bel-Air Productions, who were responsible for a number of 50s genre films like THE BLACK SLEEP (1956), The Girl in Black Stockings (1957), PHARAOH'S CURSE (1957) and VOODOO ISLAND (1957), then branched out with his own namesake production company and produced such films as FRANKENSTEIN 1970 (1958) and Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964), which was since gone on to become a cult classic and is likely the best of all of these films.

This played theatrically on a United Artists double bill with Super Beast (1972), another U.S. / Filipino co-production, which was directed by the producer's brother, George Schenck. It then enjoyed decent distribution on home video and TV thanks mostly to the presence of Selleck. In 2018, there was a Blu-ray release from Scream Factory. Germany also received a BR on the Explosive-Media label.

★★