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While nationalism gets a bad rap in the center of world power, it does speak differently within the so-called third world. Bor Ocampo‘s “Moneyslapper” is, undeniably, a film that speaks to the Philippines as a nation without the condescension and humiliation commonly found in filmic social commentary. This journey of a man who has found comfort in wealth pushes for a historical introspection of the vices and malice ascribed to its people.

Moneyslapper is screening at Qcinema

Daniel (John Lloyd Cruz) lives a life of extreme simplicity. He is so feeble-minded that his first thought upon winning the lottery is to escape everybody and live a different life. His return years later is also characterized by a simple mission to give or take paybacks.

But this simplicity has an extremely complicated source. The script penned by Jason Paul Laxamana and transgressive novelist Norman Willwayco frames Daniel within the violence...

Great horror never gets old. The genre was as alive as ever in 2023, with the year's buzziest titles ranging from the large-scale devastation of "Godzilla Minus One" (yeah, sci-fi monsters bring horror too!) to the gnarly indie frisson of "Talk to Me," from the franchise-galvanizing prowess of "Evil Dead Rise" to the surprising earnestness of "Saw X" (and the whatever-the-heck-that-was of "Infinity Pool"). However, many of the year's best horror offerings did not achieve the levels of buzz generated by the aforementioned flicks.

This list compiles 15 exercises in fear and dread from 2023 which were grossly underrated, in that they received mixed or poor responses from critics and/or audiences. We've honed in on the ones that failed to garner the amount of attention or acclaim that their efforts deserved. Some have a lot in common with each other, and some are wildly different, but all of them are worth watching if you're a horror enthusiast.

Jasmine Curtis-Smith is a Filipino-Australian actress, dancer, writer and model. She is best known for her roles in Transit (2014), Baka Bukas (2016) and Siargao (2018).

Jasmine Curtis-smith Biography: Early Life, Age, Family, Education

Jasmine Curtis-Smith was born on April 6, 1994 (Jasmine Curtis-Smith: Age 28) in Melbourne, Australia to Carmencita Ojales and James Curtis-Smith. She has one older sister, actress Anne Curtis, and a younger brother, Thomas James.

She studied at St. Paul College when she lived in the Philippines before moving back to Australia in 2005. Curtis-Smith graduated high school at Loyola College.

In an exclusive interview with uInterview, Curtis-Smith revealed how she started acting.

“Well, I was exposed very early on to the entertainment industry through my sister,” she told uInterview at the Sundance Film Festival in 2023. “She was the one who was discovered first when we were taking a break in the Philippines and so because I was always tagging along on her work,...

Kenneth Dagatan's sophomore feature “In My Mother's Skin” is set in the Philippines during the last months of WWII, following the story of Tala, a young girl (Felicity Kyle Napuli) who strikes a deal with a flesh-eating fairy (Jasmine Curtis-Smith) in exchange for food for herself and her little brother Bayani (James Mavie Estrella), and a remedy for her mother Ligaya (Beauty Gonzalez), who fell sick with a mysterious illness. That this comes with a big price to pay, is no wonder.

“In My Mother's Skin” is screening at Udine Far East Film Festival

Dagatan leans on local legends about ghouls to build the plot, adding his specific touch to it with metaphors about the war and its impact on people's urge to survive and protect their closest ones. Written as the script for a short film in 2015 largely inspired by a self-canibalism story in Marina de Van's...

Midnight screenings are usually exciting affairs, and Filipino World War II-era fantasy-horror flick “In My Mother's Skin” was no exception. Kenneth Dagatan's sophomore feature kept late-night audiences awake during its world premiere at Sundance. In this movie, two children — the brave Tala (played by the charismatic Felicity Kyle Napuli) and her more timid younger brother, Bayani — find that their bourgeois family home at the brink of ruin. Their father has disappeared to barter with the Japanese; their mother has fallen ill; and, on top of all of this, once-trusted family friends knock at their door for gold. Out of desperation, Tala begs a mysterious wood fairy (Jasmine Curtis-Smith) for help. She receives a magical insect that certainly changes her mother's health — but not necessarily for the better.

Rich with folklore, period detail, and of course, gore, “In My Mother's Skin”‘s appeal has reached far and wide. In addition to its Sundance selection,...

In My Mother’s Skin follows the story of a rich Filipino in 1945 who fears the nearby Japanese soldiers and what they might do to get the family’s riches. While the father, Aldo, leaves the family behind to search for help, the mother becomes deadly sick. In search of help, the youngest daughter, Tala, decides to trust the flesh-eating fairy (Jasmine Curtis-Smith) who wishes to eat the whole family.

In an exclusive interview with uInterview founder Erik Meers at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, Curtis-Smith sat down to discuss what drew her to the story.

“First of all, I definitely love horror films,” Curtis-Smith began. “I have made a few in the past and I’ve always been excited, like seeing how doing it on set and how it translates to the bigger screen especially when the audience finally watches it complete with the sound effects and...

Gory, glittery and irresistibly bleak, In My Mother’s Skin represents a stylish, ripe contribution to the folk-horror canon. Not unlike his acclaimed debut, Ma (2018), Manila-based writer-director Kenneth Dagatan’s second feature revolves around a young person who makes a bargain with a malevolent insectoid forest spirit to help her family — with disastrous consequences.

This time round, Dagatan and his team have added a period frame by setting the story on a rural estate in the Philippines during the final days of World War II, just before the defeat of the occupying Japanese forces. Inevitably, that fascism subtext coupled with the creepy-ancient-being stuff strongly brings Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth to mind, at least to a Western viewer’s eyes. But if you’re going to steal, steal from the best. And there’s plenty that’s fresh, frisky and original here. It’s no surprise the global rights were...

Squelching sounds radiate over a dark screen as we fade in on a humanoid creature chowing down on a victim’s throat. After pulling away and exposing an inhumanly long tongue, the creature begins to gag, vomiting up a small black bird. So begins Kenneth Dagatan‘s In My Mother’s Skin, a horror fairy tale that will undoubtedly draw comparisons to Guillermo del Toro’s 2006 masterpiece Pan’s Labyrinth, but has a much more sinister side in store for audiences who are willing to sit through its more deliberately paced plot machinations.

Set in the Philippines at the end of World War II, In My Mother’s Skin follows the story of Tala (Felicity Kyle Napuli), a 14-year-old daughter of a textile merchant who lives in a war-worn colonial house with her sickly mother Ligaya (Beauty Gonzalez) and younger brother Bayani (James Mavie Estrella). Under suspicion of stealing Japanese gold, Tala’s...

Folklore and horror are often two sides of the same coin. Genre filmmakers the world over have either drawn from or created local myths to jangle the nerves of their audience, from “The Wicker Man” in Britain and “The Blair Witch Project” in America to “La Llorona” in Guatemala and “Kwaidan” in Japan. For the latest evidence, look no further than the Philippines and “In My Mother’s Skin” — already picked up by Amazon ahead of its Sundance Mdnight premiere. Writer-director Kenneth Dagatan’s second feature after 2018’s “Ma” (no relation to the Octavia Spencer picture) takes place in the waning months of World War II, as Japan’s occupation of the Philippines is nearing its (un)merciful end. Though that watershed conflict is mostly confined to the background, the film’s very first line of dialogue makes it clear that political and supernatural horrors shall intermingle: “Did you hear...

The first big pickup out of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Deadline reports today that Amazon Prime Video has acquired In My Mother’s Skin, a buzzy Filipino horror movie.

Kenneth Dagatan directed the film, which premieres this Friday at Sundance.

Prime Video has acquired global rights.

Deadline notes, “A Q4 drop date in several countries is currently scheduled.”

“Set in 1945 Philippines, at the tail end of World War II, the pic follows the story of Tala, a 14-year-old daughter of a Philippines textile merchant who lives in a war-worn colonial house with her sickly mother Ligaya and younger brother Bayani. When Tala’s father mysteriously leaves once more to barter for his family’s freedom with the Japanese, his family finds themselves alone in their isolated forest mansion, awaiting his return.

“With Ligaya’s condition rapidly deteriorating, Tala seeks out a mysterious fairy who has promised to protect her.

Tagalog-language selection to debut on platform by end of 2023.

Prime Video has picked up worldwide rights to Filipino Sundance Midnight premiere In My Mother’s Skin ahead of Friday night’s world premiere.

Kenneth Dagatan wrote and directed the horror fairytale about a young girl whose duty to protect her dying mother is complicated by her misplaced trust in a bewitching, flesh-eating fairy.

Beauty Gonzalez, Felicity Kyle Napuli, Jasmine Curtis-Smith, James Mavie Estrella, and Angeli Bayani star in the Tagalog-language film – the only entry in this year’s Midnight selection not in the English language.

Prime Video will debut In...

In what reps the first acquisition of this year’s Sundance Film Festival by a streamer, Prime Video is taking global rights to Kenneth Dagatan’s Filipino horror movie In My Mother’s Skin which is premiering in the Midnight section on Friday, Jan. 20. A Q4 drop date in several countries is currently scheduled.

In My Mother’s Skin is the only non-English title playing in this year’s Midnight lineup.

Set in 1945 Philippines, at the tail end of World War II, the pic follows the story of Tala, a 14-year-old daughter of a Philippines textile merchant who lives in a war-worn colonial house with her sickly mother Ligaya and younger brother Bayani. When Tala’s father mysteriously leaves once more to barter for his family’s freedom with the Japanese, his family finds themselves alone in their isolated forest mansion, awaiting his return. With Ligaya’s condition rapidly deteriorating,...

It’s hard to believe that it’s been three years since I was last in Park City to enjoy the Sundance Film Festival in person, which is why this writer is beyond thrilled to be headed back to Utah next week to partake in their amazing lineup of films once again. Sundance 2023 officially kicks off on Thursday, January 19th, and will be running through Sunday, January 29th. And while we’re undoubtedly stoked for the fest’s slate of Midnight titles, there are also a handful of genre films playing in other categories that this writer is definitely going to check out during my time at Sundance as well.

In anticipation of our return to Park City next week, here’s a look at 12 different horror, sci-fi, and genre-adjacent films that are playing at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. As usual, Sundance serves as a fantastic kickoff for the festival season,...

Taking place January 19th–29th, the 2023 Sundance Film Festival will spotlight 99 feature films from around the globe, and we have a look at the full list of movies screening in the eclectic and eerie Midnight category, including the world premieres of Brandon Cronenberg's Infinity Pool and Kenneth Dagatan's In My Mother’s Skin:

From the Press Release: From horror and comedy to works that defy genre classification, these films will keep you wide awake, even at the most arduous hour. Films that have premiered in this category in recent years include Fresh, Hereditary, Mandy, Relic, Assassination Nation, and The Babadook.

birth/rebirth / U.S.A. — A single mother and a childless morgue technician are bound together by their relationship to a little girl they have reanimated from the dead. Cast: Marin Ireland, Judy Reyes, A.J. Lister, Breeda Wool. World Premiere. Fiction. Day One

In My Mother’s Skin...

It’s that time of the year again when the Sundance Film Festival shares all of its horror discoveries that we’ll be seeing in the next few years.

Today they announced the comprehensive slate of independent films selected from the fest that will take place January 19–29, 2023, in person in Park City, Salt Lake City, and the Sundance Resort, along with a selection of films available online across the country January 24–29, 2023.

Bloody Disgusting combed through the entire program this afternoon and pulled out all of the genre films of note, with first-look images and information where available.

What are you most excited to see at Sundance next year?

Midnight: From horror and comedy to works that defy genre classification, these films will keep you wide awake, even at the most arduous hour. Films that have premiered in this category in recent years include Fresh, Hereditary, Mandy, Relic, Assassination Nation, and The Babadook.

Kenneth Lim Dagatan’s horror thriller In My Mother’s Skin is set to be revealed as the first co-production between the Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan.

Scheduled to start filming in mid-June with actress and Instagram star Beauty Gonzalez, the project is set to be announced tomorrow (May 21) by Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (Imda) and Film Development Council of the Philippines (Fdcp) at their joint pavilion in the Riviera’s International Village.

The story follows a girl who trusts a flesh-eating fairy to save her dying mother when they are left behind in an isolated mansion, near the...

Following the success of his debut feature “Violator” in 2014, Philippine filmmaker Dodo Dayao spent several years working out the details of his hotly-anticipated follow-up. By the time he managed to secure a deal, he found himself reworking the short film “The Way the Light Falls” into a feature-length version, enhanced with a veneer of political commentary on horrors faced in local society, which has made Dayao one of the brightest names in the Philippine indie scene at the moment.

“Midnight in a Perfect World” is screening at Neuchatel International Fantastic Film Festival

In the near future, Manila is an almost utopian city but they still believe in ghost stories. One involves people disappearing after being caught out in mysterious electrical blackouts that happen at random parts of the city after midnight. For those unfortunate enough to find themselves out of their homes, their only refuge is special safe houses installed by the authorities.

Exclusive: North American rights to Filipino Oscar entry Transit have sold to 7th Art Releasing, which will set a theatrical run for later this year. Stargate producer Dean Devlin‘s Electric Entertainment is still selling international on the Phillippines’ official 2014 Foreign Language Oscar entry which caught Devlin’s eye after a festival run last year. Hannah Espia makes her directorial debut with the Tagalog- and Hebrew-language drama about Filipino immigrants in Tel Aviv. Irma Adlawan, Ping Medina, Mercedes Cabral, Jasmine Curtis-Smith and Marc Justine Alvarez star in the story of a domestic worker with an expired visa who tries to hide […]...

Transit, The Philippines' Submission for the Academy Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. U.S. : None Yet. International Sales Agent: Electric Entertainment. It will screen at the Palm Springs Film Festival this January.

Storytelling is a matter of perspective. The artist deliberately chooses who is the protagonist and the role the secondary characters play in that individual’s narrative. Every incident is explored, for the most part, from a singular point of view. But what if the same story were told from the perspective of those in the periphery? What if everyone had the chance to display his or her own unique reaction to the same events? Would this place all the characters on the same level of importance and create a democratic retelling of the occurrence? Hannah Espia’s Transit attempts to decode a highly controversial subject by means of multiple vignettes that follow the same period of time as seen through the eyes of every member of a family. In this touching and skillfully edited piece, the director tackles a deeply relevant topic for Filipino nationals thousands of miles away from the Southeast Asian archipelago.

While most developed countries struggle with creating immigration policies, the right to citizenship by birth (jus soli) is perhaps the most divisive issue. The U.S. and Canada are the only two advanced economies that grant the privilege without objections; the rest of the world deals with the increasing globalization in distinct, sometimes morally questionable manners. In 2010, Israel approved a policy that would allow the government to deport small children of migrant workers who were born in the country, speak Hebrew, and have never seen their parents’ homelands. Espia’s film focuses on two of these children at risk of being separated from their loved ones.

Conscious of this threatening possibility, Moises (Ping Medina), a Filipino single father who works as caretaker for an elderly Israeli man, hides his 4-year-old son, Joshua (Marc Justine Alvarez), forbidding him from leaving the apartment they share with their compatriot Janet (Irma Adlawan), and her teenage daughter Yael (Jasmine Curtis). Both of their children were born in the Jewish state but are still considered foreigners which creates in them a fragmented identity between their environment and their heritage.

Under the new regulations, Janet’s daughter might be able to become a resident since she is in school and meets the age requirements. Nonetheless, the underlying issue is the turbulent mother-daughter relationship between them. Yael considers herself Israeli, while Janet is adamant about making her see that she does not truly belong with the majority but with her suffering Filipino countrymen. The makeshift family increases its already dysfunctional operations as it receives Tina (Mercedes Cabral), a new immigrant, who will stay with them until she saves enough money to live on her own.

Divided into five segments, one for each of the main characters, the film repeatedly revisits the same interactions as each individual slowly reveals his or her own motivations and contribution to the situation as a whole. On the one hand, Yael is in a relationship with a Jewish boy who sees her as an equal despite their ethnic differences. Still, knowing that Joshua, whom she considers a brother, is in danger of being deported, she can’t entirely find her role within Jewish society. In the same manner Moises’ friendship with his boss testifies of the important services workers like him provide to a country that doesn’t offer them the chance to become a part of it. Unable to speak Tagalog and eager to learn about the Torah, Joshua is essentially like any other kid born in Israel, but to the government he was born in "transit" to immigrant parents. His existence is caught up in between the country where he lives and an unknown homeland.

Thought provoking and carefully constructed to expose the complexity of the matter at hand in an encompassing fashion, Espia’s film delves into a defining part of the modern Filipino identify, one that affects those abroad and in the island nation. Giving each of the participants a particular voice paints a broad picture which questions the morality of the policy at the center of the story. With a proficient ensemble cast and a meticulous attention to its narrative structure, Transit is a poignant exploration of national identity in the increasingly globalized world we all live in today.

Read more about all the 76 Best Foreign Language Film Submission for the 2014 Academy Awards...

Exclusive: Dean Devlin’s Electric Entertainment has acquired all worldwide sales excluding the Philippines to the country’s official Oscar submission.

Hannah Espia makes her debut on the Tagalog and Hebrew-language film about the plight of Filipino immigrants in Israel.

Espia and Giancarlo Abrahan co-wrote the screenplay and Paul Soriano and Ernest Escaler produced.

Irma Adlawan, Ping Medina, Mercedes Cabral, Jasmine Curtis-Smith and Marc Justine Alvarez star in the story, which weaves together the lives of Filipinos in Tel Aviv as a new law threatens deportation.

Electric Entertainment’s new sales division led by Sonia Mehandjiyska will commence talks with buyers next month at the Afm.

“As someone who is both Filipino and Jewish, I was particularly moved by this film, though the themes of this film are truly universal and can be applied to almost every culture in the industrial world,” said Devlin.

“The filmmakers have taken a complex subject and have created an incredibly moving...

At the center of Mike Alcazaren's Puti (White) is Amir (Ian Veneracion), a counterfeit painter who leads a reclusive life with his son, Jaime (Bryan Pagala). His wife died a couple of years back. Other family members are abroad. His social interactions are limited to Nika (Jasmine Curtis-Smith), a young arts student who assists him in his forgeries in exchange for some lessons, and the art dealer (Leo Rialp) who peddles his replicas to wealthy collectors. Brooding and perpetually in a state of unkempt, Amir is a man resigned to his wasted fate. There is little joy in his life. The craft that destiny has chosen for him forces him to view the expensive works he copies upside down. He admits to Nika that the...

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Hannah Espia's Transit deals with the struggles of an extended Filipino family living and working in Tel Aviv after the Israeli government passed a law forcing children of overseas workers who are below five years of age to be deported back to their homelands. Joshua (Marc Justine Alvarez), who has lived all his life in Israel, is a few months shy of his fifth birthday. Moises (Ping Medina), Joshua's father, aware of the risk of his son being deported if caught, keeps Joshua indoors. Janet (Irma Adlawan), Moises' sister, takes care of Joshua while Moises is out to work as a caretaker for a wealthy retiree. She also has to manage Yael (Jasmine Curtis-Smith), her teenage daughter from an Israeli former flame, who now has...

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