Under the Skin of Mother

The emerging Filipino director Kenneth Dagdan's "Nightmare" was selected for the Sundance Film Festival and the International Fantasy Film Festival. It is set in the Philippines at the end of World War II. They live in a remote family. Because their mother is seriously ill and there is no food at home, the sister and brother go through the forest to find food in a neighboring village. They unexpectedly meet a fairy to help them in an abandoned church. They follow instructions and let a cicada crawl into their mother's body to help cure her illness. The mother does recover, but it seems that she is no longer her mother. The film is full of strong Filipino characteristics. It combines local legends, religious beliefs, war and colonial history, and uses the horror techniques of body mutation and brain-piercing soundscapes to create a dark and unsettling fairy tale.