It's Me, Gracee: Ang Manananggal sa Unit 23B review

Ang Manananggal sa Unit 23B: The most daring & challenging role of Ryza Cenon

Ang Manananggal sa Unit 23B Thursday, October 20, 2016

There are different kinds of aswang. One of which is what we call manananggal. The ‘Manananggal’ is one of the most famous mythical creatures in Philippine folklore. Almost everyone have heard about the Manananggal, either from stories by older relatives or seen them featured in movies and television shows.

The name Manananggal comes from the Tagalog word “tanggal” which means detach. Manananggal literary means “one who detaches.” It is believed that they split or separate half of their body, to hunt for food.Since they are a kind of aswang, they hunt for same food, fresh blood, fetus, human organs especially heart and liver.

Many have claimed that they have indeed seen a "Manananggal" but none really showed any evidence of it. Since then, a lot of movies and tv shows used this as their main subject especially come Halloween season.

Ang Manananggal sa Unit 23B is produced by IdeaFirst Company of Direk Jun Robles Lana and Perci Intalan. It is part of this year’s Quezon City International Film Festival or QCinema which will be held from October 15 to 22.

Unlike any other horror movies, Ang Manananggal sa Unit 23B features a lady (Jewel - Ryza Cenon) who not only transforms into a Manananggal but also have a soft heart that she only opened to Nico (Martin Del Rosario). Jewel used to be reserved and just silent but when she met Nico, they shared a lot of things in common which includes having a pet turtle. Nico named his turtle Dumbledore while Jewel named hers Edward.

They've been constantly hanging out to the point where Jewel finally got close with Nico's Grandmother and she was treated like part of the family. Until news break out about mysterious killings in the metro and the big similarity with all the dead bodies are: They all have a missing heart. It was a bloody kill and most of them were Male and had a big poster of "Pusher Ako" with them.

During our interview with the lead stars of Ang Manananggal sa Unit 23B, both Martin and Ryza shared how they enjoyed filming the movie. According to them, filming a horror movie always bring the excitement in them but for this movie, the spotlight is on Ryza since she has a lot of daring scenes in this movie. It's a whole new Ryza Cenon.

Ryza portrayed not just a typical manananggal but a manananggal that is triggered by sexual urges, the aftermath is that she transforms into a manananggal then the rest is history. Although it was not really mentioned in the movie how she became like this, most manananggal stories got this in their bloodline which also explains how

Jewel became one.

According to Ryza, when they shot those delicate scenes, she needed an hour before the shoot so that she can condition herself. She said that it was needed in the story which is why she gave them her go signal. It terms of being typecast and getting more sexy and daring roles after this movie, according to Ryza, for as long as the script is good and it will help the movie, why not but she still needs to review the material. For me, she perfectly nailed the role and with her sexy and fit body, I think girls will be more inspired to achieve the bod of Ryza Cenon, indeed she is one of the most beautiful and talented actress in the industry. I just hope she'll get to portray more "bida" roles in the future, let the girl get her own spotlight because she deserves it.

Martin on the other hand portrays a different role in this movie compared to his usual roles in his past projects. In this movie, he is the typical boy-next-door. A guy who takes very good care of his grand mother and is recovering from a bad break up after her girl friend ditches him for someone who is much powerful and has a lot of money. Martin can very well portray any given role, from bida to kontrabida, name it, he can very well deliver it.

Do Martin and Ryza believe that Manananggals exist?

Ryza said she believes that they do, she've heard a lot of stories about it. Martin said that he wanted to believe that they do exist but he needs to see it first before he can totally believe that they really do exist.

Watch Martin & Ryza's interview here: