The Real Horror

Nov 1, ’06

Ever since I was kid, I’ve loved watching horror flicks and documentaries. This is probably due to the invalid belief that I have a third eye. I felt so at home with these horror documentaries.

But yesterday was a different kind of realization…

Magandang Gabi Bayan was known for its really scary horror episodes during Halloween. Each year, I always try to watch its Halloween episode. Knowing that people crave for this kind of episode, MGB had a special Halloween episode last Sunday (an MGB episode just for the Halloween). It’s apparent that Bayan Productions is aware of the number of MGB followers during Halloween.

There’s nothing new about the show. Perhaps, except for the new host – Albert Martinez. It was the usual Halloween episode that provided horror stories – mangkukulam, sanib, white lady, and the likes. These were the same stories with different personalities involved though. I must admit that the stories are still scary but not as creepy as the episode back early 90’s (a black lady in the mirror – it’s really freakin scary).

MGB won a lot of followers for their Halloween episodes (I guess even for the special episode aired last Sunday). It was effective in sharing a lot of frightening urban legends that created Goosebumps among a lot of people. But, it failed to challenge the society with all these terror. I guess being a public service show, it should have provided thought-provoking rather than entertaining (err, frightening) episodes.

I believe that GMA7 is good at this – horror stories with social relevance, not purely entertainment. While the Reporter’s Notebook Halloween episode provided tales of horror -- mambabarang, aswang, and devil’s mountain, it didn’t forget to provide the viewers with thought-provoking horrifying realities.

Mambabarang Story

Due to urban legend, people have stereotyped all the people coming from a certain town in Leyte as mambabarang. Consequently, the people here are having a hard time to be involved with trade as people from other towns. Sadly, that town is among the poorest in the country. While the people there struggle to make their lives better, the prejudices of people from other town hurdle them.

Aswang

This segment of the episode served as a venue to make people realize how wrong education or lack of education place people in vain. People in one town of Capiz are constrained to believe that whenever they are afflicted of disease, “naaaswang sila.” Thus, instead of seeking a medical doctor’s advice, they would usually visit a quack doctor. Of course, another factor for trusting the quack doctor is the reality that people in the town are poor. They couldn’t afford a doctor’s fee. Alas, the doctor’s fee is only 50 pesos!

Devil’s Mountain

The mountain is really a devil’s mountain beyond the alleged existence of horrifying malevolent supernatural beings. It is a devil’s mountain because of the unfortunate situation of the community in the area. People’s access to basic needs is very limited – the hospital is too far etc. Furthermore, young people are constrained not to go to school and instead work in order for their family to survive.

These are the real horrors behind each “supernatural horror story.” These are daunting realities that couldn’t be simply exorcized. Hindi na kailangan ng mananawas upang malaman ang ganitong kamalignuhan sa ating lipunan. Hindi tulad ng aswang na maaari mong labanan sa pamamagitan ng bawang, ang malagim na katotohanang bumabalot sa ating lipuna’y hindi madaling talunin…

These are the facts that we should be aware and be alarmed of. Don’t these real-life horrors give you more Goosebumps?