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Richard Somes moved to Manila to study, only to work part-time as a props man on Erik Matti’s Scorpio Nights 2 (1999). He soon became the Philippines’ most in-demand art director and production designer, breathing life into Matti’s Prosti (2002) and Gagamboy (2004), Mac Alejandre’s Ang Panday (2009) and Dodo Dayao’s Violator (2014). He founded Strawdogs Studio Production in 2007 to direct his first feature, horror Affliction/Yanggaw (2008), a retelling of the aswang mythology. He has continued to make diverse genre films with female protagonists including Erich Gonzales-starrers Mariposa in the Cage of the Night (2002) and We Will Not Die Tonight (2018).

On the occasion of We Will Not Die Tonight screening at the 17th New York Asian Film Festival, we speak with him about his cooperation with Erich Gonzales and his crew, Phlippine cinema, his future projects and… Metallica

You also work as a production designer. How did your work in...

It is always nice to watch an action/martial arts film that does not hold its punches back, and “We Will Not Die Tonight” does just that, through a violent, dark and “dirty” approach that benefits the category to the fullest.

We Will Not Die Tonight is screening at the 17th New York Asian Film Festival

Kray is a stunt performer whose career is on a downward spiral, since her moves are considered outdated. However, she cannot abandon this line of work, since she has to take care of her ill father, who was also a stuntman. Her financial situation is dire; therefore, when her ex-boyfriend Ramil, arranges a gig for the two of them and the rest of a group of stuntmen, including Jonesky, Rene Boy and Che-che, she agrees to help him, although reluctantly. However, the whole group is shocked to learn that Ramil’s old friend Bangkil...

They say love is the universal language, but after watching the trailer for Filipino horror film Corazon: Ang Unang Aswang, I kinda think the universal language is getting the shit scared out of you. There wasn't a word of English in this preview, but I knew exactly what they were talking about.

Corazon may be the scariest thing to come out of the Philippines since Manny Pacquiao's fists. What starts out as a couple beginning a new family descends into a fight for survival against some seriously scary looking baddies. The film stars Derek Ramsay and the beautiful Erich Gonzales and was directed by Richard Somes. Check out the trailer below, and if you like what you see, give them a like on the Corzaon: Ang Unang Aswang Facebook page . The film premiers on March 14. We'll keep an eye out for information on upcoming Us distro.

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Ownership of TV Sets Falls in U.S.

For the first time in 20 years, the number of homes in the United States with television sets has dropped. The Nielsen Company, which takes TV set ownership into account when it produces ratings, will tell television networks and advertisers on Tuesday that 96.7 percent of American households now own sets, down from 98.9 percent previously.

There are two reasons for the decline, according to Nielsen. One is poverty: some low-income households no longer own TV sets, most likely because they cannot afford new digital sets and antennas.

The other is technological wizardry: young people who have grown up with laptops in their hands instead of remote controls are opting not to buy TV sets when they graduate from college or enter the work force, at least not at first. Instead, they are subsisting on a diet of television shows and movies from the Internet.

Sometimes a kiss is just not enough. After the redundancy and tedium of romancing, fighting, and forgiving that has been the standard storyline of most if not all recent romantic comedies, the pay-off of seeing the onscreen lovers lock lips in slow motion has been quite unrewarding. Tradition demands that the only acceptable conclusion to any romance is a wedding. Veronica Velasco's I Do endeavors to innovate on traditions by telling the tale, which according to her and co-writer Jinky Laurel is based on a true story, of a couple whose attempts at being wed are often foiled.

 

Yumi (Erich Gonzalez) is a hopeless romantic whose mission in life is to find the one to tie the knot with in the dream wedding that she has been obsessing over since her younger years. Lance (Enchong Dee), her Chinese boyfriend, is suddenly faced with the decision of marrying her to...

For Ehryl (Erich Gonzalez), a young TV soap writer, one of the strange pleasures of her otherwise humdrum daily commute from home to work is the opportunity to glance upon a handsome co-commuter who seems to have only one down side - he is deaf-mute. Lucky for her, because her younger brother is also a deaf-mute, she has become very adept in communicating in sign language. When the opportunity presented itself for her to get to know the guy who she believes is the mysterious man from her recurring dreams, she decides to pretend to be a deaf-mute, in the belief that the innocent deceit would facilitate what she wished was a blossoming relationship.

 

Mike (Enchong Dee), the commuter who Ehryl believes to be deaf-mute as well as the man in her recurring dream, as it turns out, can both hear and talk normally. He is a teacher in a special school for deaf-mute children.