Movie review: ‘T’yanak’, take two

At its most basic level, “T’yanak” is a remake of the 1988 classic (not to be confused with the 2007 sequel “Tiyanaks”) that starred Janice De Belen as Julie, a young mother who finds out the hard way that the child she has chosen to raise as her own is more than it seems.

In the 2014 edition, Julie is played by primetime stalwart Judy Ann Santos, whose maternal instincts and common sense find themselves at odds as bodies start piling up in the small town of Putting Bato. As Julie’s brother Mark (Tom Rodriguez) and his bride (Solenn Heussaff) find themselves the targets of the child’s malevolence, and with a revenge-crazed widower (Sid Lucero) thrown into the mix, events will come to a head.

At the helm are the original's Peque Gallaga and Lore Reyes, once again splitting directorial duties. This time around, the duo have taken full advantage of their opportunity to revisit a past project, aided by the advances of nearly 30 years of moviemaking technology. Case in point: nowhere to be found are the dodgy analog attempts to portray the titular creature, replaced here by a computer-enhanced beastie that, while technically more impressive, lacks some of the charm its hand-puppet (really!) predecessor.

The story follows much the same route as the original and, while original star De Belen plays the role of Julie’s mom, the real star of the show is Santos. As the focal point for most of the film’s happenings, Santos makes solid use of her trademark relatable vulnerability and likeability to portray a woman who has wanted nothing more than to have a child.

Of course, while on some level we want to empathize with Julie, the time it takes for her to accept what’s going on with (the ironically named) Angelo would strain even the most saintly of temperaments. Thankfully, Santos is up to the challenge of keeping the audience (more or less) on her side.

Less successful is Heussaff (who also starred in Gallaga’s 2013 comeback film, “Seduction”) as Julie’s sister-in-law-to-be Madie, displaying far too much of the garden-variety descent-into-madness in the face of the adopted child’s (obvious) evil. Faring better is Lucero, whose character lost his wife to the creature, channeling various levels of vengeance-seeking rage to keep things simultaneously lively and tense throughout.

Whether it’s the baby in “Rosemary’s Baby,” Damien from “The Omen,” or the just-plain creepy twins from “The Shining”, there is something almost primal in our tendency to fear children with an air of the supernatural about them.

Let’s face it: We’ve been conditioned to expect a certain level of innocence from our young that skews pretty much far as can be from the demonic shenanigans the aforementioned films showcased.

Societal conditioning to be afraid of things that act outside our preconceived expectations notwithstanding, there really is just something inherently terrifying about children acting as bearers of death and despair. As such, the mere notion of the t’yanak as a mythological creature is a strong enough concept on which to pin any number of horrifying scenarios, rather than the series of jump scares we are presented with here.

On the whole, “T’yanak” is a solid, if unremarkable, entry from one of the great directing duos of Philippine cinema. Sure, there are deviations from the source material and, to be fair, there are deviations from the original. At the end of the day, however slickly shot though this remake may be, one can’t help but think how much better everyone’s collective skills would have been had they been applied to original material rather than something they’d already done, and done well, 26 years ago.

Put simply, it’s hard to imagine “T’yanak” will enter the Philippine public’s pop culture consciousness the way the original did. To wit, it’s highly unlikely that “oh my God, ang anak ni Juday!” will ever enter the vernacular in anywhere near the same way (if at all) that “oh my God, ang anak ni Janice!” did back in the day and, for all the talent and star power assembled for 2014’s “T’yanak”, that’s a crying shame. — BM, GMA News

Part of the Sineng Pambansa Horror plus Film Festival, “T’yanak” is one of four films screening exclusively in SM Cinema branches and select Walter Mart cinemas nationwide until Nov. 4.