The year's most highly-anticipated horror adventure Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles is taking the local box-office by storm. With 10.8 million-peso first day take, the film is getting stronger and gathering more stream as it gears up for its second week at the tills.

But then Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles isn't just winning audiences, young and old. It's also been receiving nothing but glowing reviews from reputable sources.

 

"This is a real, honest to goodness genre movie," writer-director Erik Matti says of his masterpiece. "We didn't go out and reinvent the aswanggenre. We also did not resist making it. We worked around the genre, but we pushed it further to make it really work."

 

The country's most-followed online entertainment site Pep.ph posted on October 21: "Written and directed by Erik Matti, this fantasy horror adventure comedy film boasts of stunning visuals and graphic novel-inspired backgrounds that exude a sense of foreoboding."

 

Philippine Star's resident film reviewer Phillip Cu-Unjieng points out that Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles didn't just deliver in terms of innovative special effects. It also has a solid storyline remain equally strong facial points of the film, makking it a timely pre-Halloween release."

 

Unjieng continues: "Two years in the making, the CGIs painstakingly create this nverworld where Visayan folklore malevolently comes to life. But what sets this film apart is the impish tone utilized through three-fourths of the film, where palpable horror and irreverent humor are seamlessly blended."

 

Tiktik's male lead Dingdong Dantes made the right career decision when he took on the challenge of playing a bad boy character with no ifs and buts. "He is very flawed, a hardcore bad boy, who, because of the circumstances that he faced, must learn to trust the goodness still left in him so that he and the people he loves will survive their predicament," says Dingdong of his screen alter-ego Makoy.

 

Pep.ph finds Dingdong's performancee easily one if his best and most iconic. "Dingdong Dantes' performance is adorably annoying enough to be engaging. Wielding his buntot pagi (sting ray tail) as a deadly weapon, Dingdong looks ferocious as a warrior. Through this film, the actor is able to prove that he is more than ready to be cast as an action hero."

 

Graded B by the Cinema Evaluation Board, Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles bears the distinction of being proudly Pinoy-made.Pep.ph believes that the movie upped the ante for local scare flicks. "Filipino viewers have never seen local special effects reach this level of maturity. With 70 animators working on the project for the past two years, this film delivers on its promise of a thrilling roller-coaster ride."

 

Unjieng adds: "Strong on attitude, the film heralds a new benchmark for Filipino filmmaking in the horror genre, and well, deserves an audience."

 

Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles, indeed, found an audience. To celebrate its being a double winner- the huge box-office receipts and the marvelous reviews- the producers behind this must-see movie- Reality Entertainment, Agostodos Pictures, Reality Entertainment's sister companies and post-production arms PostManila and Mothership and GMA Films.