Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Studies (JHSSS) ISSN: 2663-7197 www.hsss.org The Supernatural in Contemporary Philippine Horror Films Dennis Primne Corbita1 & Maria Luisa S. Saministrado, PhD 2 1Instructor of English, Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan, Cagayan de Oro, Misamis Oriental, Philippines 2 Professor of English, Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan, Cagayan de Oro, Misamis Oriental, Philippines Corresponding Author: Dr Maria Luisa S. Saministrado, E-mail:
[email protected] ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Received: May 03, 2019 This study examined the supernatural characters in the selected Filipino horror Accepted: June 15, 2019 films from 2004-2009 and how their character traits, appearance, wants and Published: July 31, 2019 desires enhanced the development of the plot through their actions. It explored Volume: 1 as well different Filipino cultural practices portrayed in the films. Using the Issue: 4 New Criticism Approach, the films were viewed several times to familiarize the KEYWORDS researchers with the scenes, observe the supernatural characters’ description, and re-mark key statements to further substantiate the analysis done in the paper. Supernatural characters, The study found out that there are seven different supernatural characters horror films, plot, antihero, present in the films. They are the ghosts, aswang, tiyanak, engkanto, demonyo, Folklore, New Criticism manananggal, and mangkukulam. The ghosts generally appeared with pale faces and dark smudges around their eyes. Although some engkantos looked connatural with the ghosts because of the similarity of their looks, they had reasons possessing pretty faces to lure the human characters. The tiyanaks, contrary to typical child demon, grew from babies to young children.