2/25/11

Ramon Bong Revilla should learn from his father how to make movies: Lumaban Ka Satanas aka The Killing of Satan

Maybe it was because my mother insisted to watch The Filipino Channel's Agimat: Kapitan Inggo that I suddenly had a craving for the movie which starred Jolo Revilla's grandfather Ramon Revilla - former Philippine senator and the first ever actor-senator I saw humiliated on the floor of the senate (with the humiliation featured on TV news) when another senator (was it Sen. Maceda?) called on Revilla's failure to identify which of the two government positions (Congressman and Mayor?) holds the most power, to which Revilla sheepishly replied, "Sa aming lugar kasi, mas maraming nagagawa Mayor" or something to that effect.



Ramon Revilla Sr. is a Filipino actor, former Senator of the Philippines, father to thousands of illegitimate children and author of the "Revilla Bill."



"An amendment to the Family Code, enacted into the law on February 2004, states "The illegitimate children may use the surname of their father if their affiliation has been expressly recognized by the father through the record of birth appearing in the civil register, or when an admission in a public document or private handwritten instrument is made by the father."

"The child should not suffer the stigma of his illegitimacy," the senior Revilla was once quoted as saying."


He reportedly also possesses super human powers because he is able to know if a child is indeed his or not by merely touching the kid's head.


"...sabi ni daddy, ‘Hindi kita anak', so ‘yun. Kasi kay daddy, hawakan niya lang ang ulo, alam na niya kung anak niya. May ganun siya eh. Hawakan niya lang ang ulo, alam niya kung anak ka niya o hindi... [Kasi] kung anak niya di naman niya itatanggi e."



Ramon Revilla is also the father of Ramon "Bong" Revilla - a current Philippine senator, a somatic narcissist and who - according to the anecdotes of two reliable friends - is allegedly too lazy to read a film script (what more Senate-related documents?).




He also allegedly invited his male friends to watch him on a movie set where he was shooting a scene with Assunta de Rossi. The scene required that the actress be nude. When the scene was through, he reportedly placed the bathrobe/towel at the far end of the set and demanded that the wardrobe staff or any of the actress' assistant not be available thus prompting Assunta to walk nude all the way to the wardrobe rack.



Ramon Revilla Sr. is also the star of the movie my father took me to the theater to see when it was released back in 1983: Lumaban Ka Satanas! aka The Killing of Satan. I was 7 years old.

The synopsis on its US-DVD reads:

“The Killing of Satan” is a Filipino-made horror-fantasy movie about a man who is chosen by his dead uncle to battle the forces of evil. He fights a man called “The Prince of Magic,” who shoots ray beams from his hands, makes heads spin around and hypnotizes people. Eventually, he finally faces Satan himself and engages him in a battle of magic for the soul of his virgin daughter, the pledged Bride of Darkness.”




At that time, I remembered that the theater was packed and everyone in the audience took the movie dead-seriously with its religious connotations - specially the Santo Nino and Satanic icons / images - unique Filipino folklore and violence. The year the movie was shown was the same year Beningo "Ninoy" Aquino was assasinated.


But what I remember most from it now were the brazen nudity and R-rated edginess when it was supposed to be a horror / Agimat movie meant for the whole family to see. Or was it?

Imagine a movie like that being made for the Metro Manila Film Fest now.

Enteng Kabisote and Panday 2010 would be put to shame. It is also sad that kids now are being fed with movies which promote the ways & manners of how to grow up lame.




Why is this Classic not being shown in Philippine free or cable tv anymore? Does it not deserve to be viewed at least once a year? Either during Holy Week or November 1?


Why is it only available in You Tube? And dubbed in English too! Which removed most - if not a lot - of its seriousness and horror (or maybe time and good sensibility did).


And why is it easily available for purchase in Amazon.com from at least 10 US suppliers and not in Quiapo or Makati Cinema Square?



Apparently, Paragon Video made the film available in the US for the viewing pleasure of Americans who think that it is best seen in the background during a wild drunken party.

Some YouTube comments:


"he bitch-slapped the SHIT outta that snake"
noisydope






"We need a badass filipino like that to save the world from spandex satan."
blazethunda





"this looks like the best movie ever!"
Adom

"Awesome clips from Dragonball evolution!!!!! =D"
link000000

"Is this the new Harry Potter movie?"
ttasd1

"That cannot be real... Is it a real video?"
colflori



Sadly, unfortunately, they do not make films like this anymore.


So what if it had shades of popular mainstream movies: Indiana Jones,





Star Wars' the (power of the) Force,





and Marilyn Monroe's The 7 Year Itch (the subway air vent scene)?





The movie was and still is distinctly Filipino. Not like the ones made by Ramon Revilla's son which are blatant Xerox copies of Hollywood movies, e.g.

Resiklo (2007) aka 3rd rate, trying hard Transformers copy cat!

and another forgettable movie which copied almost to a T a desert-and-riding-on-a-horse scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.


Revilla Junior, learn from your father. Revilla Senior, teach thy Junior to be original.

Also, Jr, could you please teach your Jolo that there are tons of facial expressions other than startled?


This is Ramon Revilla Sr.'s grandson - & Bong Revilla Jr.'s spawn - Jolo Revilla


pretending to be angry:




pretending to be aroused:




pretending to be God's gift to women:




pretending to be gay:





Lumaban Ka Satanas / The Killing of Satan is so underrated it deserves to be a Cult Classic.


Plus, who knew Pipoy from Ok Ka Fairy Ko could be such a bad ass.

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