March 30, 2026
Señor Segismundo Corintho (Vince Tanada) ran the funeral parlor in a small town in Pangasinan in 1900. After he embalmed and buried his own wife Milagros (Sarah Javier), Señor ordered his only daughter Isabel (Vean Olmedo), to take over her mother's duties in the business. His two servants, fiercely loyal Meding (Mercedes Cabral) and lusty flirt Oryang (Lily Montelibano), were ordered to keep Isabel in check. However, all Isabel wanted to do was to get married, hopefully with his father's apprentice Lemuel (Johnrey Rivas).
"Ang Bangkay" was first a play written by writer-director Vince Tanada which won first prize in the full-length play category at the Carlos Palanca Awards for Literature back in 2012. That same year, I was able to watch this performed live by Tanada's theater company, the PhilStagers, with Tanada himself playing the Señor, Monique Azerreda as Isabel, Glory Ann Nacional as Miding, Cindy Liper as Oryang and Jordan Labra as Lemuel. I felt that having watched this play before was able to give me a better perspective on viewing this film.
The play was indeed very appalling in the perversity it portrayed onstage. In my review of the play (LINK), I called it "a most scandalous and diabolical series of shocking events ever portrayed in Philippine theater" that I had seen at that point. The intimacy of the venue where the actors were literally at arm's length of the audience, made the tension more palpable. Director Tanada was actually able to adapt this dark disturbing story from the stage onto film with such skill such that the climactic reveal still possessed the same shock value.
The theatrical roots of the film are very evident in the exaggerated acting of the actors, especially Tanada and Rivas, familiar with those who have seen them act on stage in various Stagers plays. The acting was over-the-top, like that of a silent film, only this one also had over-the-top spoken lines. To complement the florid acting style, we also see silk blouses with those outrageous huge ruffles worn and eerie life-like religious icons in almost every room -- everything overdone to absurd levels to emphasize the gothic craziness of the sick story.
Hands down, the best actress of the whole ensemble was Mercedes Cabral. Her standout portrayal Miding was able to balance the insanity she had to project like everyone else, with incredible sense of restraint. She was operating at a different level from the younger female actors here, her expertise in acting honed over the years under internationally-acclaimed directors was very evident. Her Miding was the personification of a woman scorned whose fury was worse than hell. Her Best Supporting Actress award was well-deserved.
The film dared to tackle a controversial topic that is sure to disgust everyone watching. Even just the title, we go in clearly not expecting a feel-good film, hence the surprise of it winning Audience Choice award. Of course, one could point out that there were scenes of gratuitous nudity that could have been edited out or done with more finesse (and I would agree), but clearly, being subtle was not Tanada's intention. The main purpose of the film was to shock the audience with brazenly depraved taboo, and definitely Tanada delivered in that aspect. 7/10
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