Direk Yam lives his scary dreams

Director Yam Laranas just had to make a clean breast of it. He felt uncomfortable making bold films and "telling stars to shed their clothes." To ease those guilt feelings, he’d make it a point to inject a dash of the sublime in his shots. He would, for instance, include what he calls are "Amorsolo shots" in one sexy film.

But he need not do that, at least for his forthcoming project, Sigaw, an entry to the Metro Filmfest. This one is not a flesh fest but a scream fest. calculated to, in the director’s words, "make you feel scared of being alone – at home, in the movies, in the comfort room, anywhere."

Direk Yam says exactly what he wants to happen: "I want sweethearts to huddle together. Gusto ko magkatakutan. If they do, my efforts will have been rewarded."

After all, he adds, the best critic of the horror film is not the learned scholar mouthing complex movie jargon with the drop of the hat. It’s still good old reliable Juan de la Cruz.

"The horror film," direk Yam declares, "is the most interactive genre there is. The response is immediate." And because it is that instantaneous, the director – with producer Mother Lily Monteverde’s consent – looked into every detail to create just the spooky effect he wants.

Money was secondary.

"We spent millions to renovate the old Avenue theater in Manila and turn it into an apartment building, complete with furnished bedrooms and a working elevator," says Mother Lily.

The abandoned place assumed a gothic feel, its cobwebbed walls screaming horror every inch of the way; the suspicious cracks conjuring many tales of terror.

The eerie feeling grows by leaps and bounds as the movie’s stars recount their experience while shooting Sigaw. At the second floor of the abandoned theater where they usually shoot, air blows hot and cold, sending beads of prespiration down their brows and chills through their spine. Lights flick on and off. Doors and windows fling open and shut down without anyone moving anything.

Richard Gutierrez, star of the movie, interprets these as the workings of unseen spirits on the loose.

The sound of fear is everywhere. As filming reached its homestretch, Direk Yam asked line producer Roselle Monteverde-Teo if the soundtrack could be mastered using the Dolby Digital 5.1 sound system, the current world standard. Result: The spine-tingling sound haunts you, coming as it does from five different sources in the theater.

You end up feeling trapped with Richard Gutierrez, Angel Locsin, Jomari Yllana, Iza Calzado and the other Sigaw stars.

It comes as no surprise that Mother Lily ended up producing her most expensive film to date.

In exchange, direk Yam is aiming high. He wants Sigaw to make it to the list of the Top 20 Most Scary Films in the Philippines.

Sorry folks, but this one has no special effects. Roy Iglesias’ story about hauntings in the old apartment building Richard’s character unwittingly buys is expected to sell the film. It’s the story that will carry the day, the ordinariness of the characters (they can be you and me) that will make moviegoers cower in fear.

Direk Yam draws a lot of inspiration from his idol, director Chito Roño, whose Patayin sa Sindak si Barbara happens to be the former’s favorite local horror film.

"The dialogues are minimal. It’s the images that bring in the chills," explain direk Yam.

But much as he adores horror films, this winner of a National Geographic grant hopes the current trend will not only focus on the scary film genre. The more variety, the better. This much filmmakers owe the audience and themselves.

He also dreams of the day when top-quality films are shown, not only during annual Metro Filmfests, but at other times of the year. It would be great, for instance, to have a filmfest in August, in time for the Quezon City day celebration (the Film Academy of the Philippines is looking into this possibility).

And oh yes, the first-time dad might just make a film on fatherhood. He’s learning fast as the father of one-month-old Elias Lukas, or Elki, as he and his writer-wife Gene de Mesa call their first bundle of joy. Now that would be an exciting project to look forward to, as exciting as the year-long stint that awaits husband and wife when they buckle down to work for their hour-long National Geographic docu in 2005.