Maligno (TV series)

Sineserye Presents: Maligno
Format	Horror, Suspense-Thriller
Created by	Celso Ad Castillo
Directed by	Wenn Deramas
Starring	Claudine Barretto, Kim Chiu, Diether Ocampo, and Rafael Rosell
Country of origin	Philippines
Language(s)	Filipino, Tagalog, English
No. of episodes	20 Episodes
Production
Executive producer(s)	Joan Del Rosario
Running time	45 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	ABS-CBN
Picture format	480i SDTV
Original run	April 28, 2008 – May 23, 2008
Chronology
Preceded by	Patayin Sa Sindak Si Barbara
Followed by	Florinda

Maligno (lit. Supernatural) was an ABS-CBN primetime horror-thriller which was the second installment of Sineserye Presents: The Susan Roces Cinema Collection.^[1] The show is adapted from the 1974 movie of the same name which starred Susan Roces who makes a guest appearance in the television program.^[2].

Overview

Origin

It is based on 1974 film starring the Queen of Philippine Movies, Susan Roces, that won her second FAMAS Best Actress trophy.^[3] The 1977 movie was directed by the late Celso Ad Castillo, who also wrote the original screenplay together with Dominador B. Mirasol.

The film stars included Dante Rivero, Celia Rodriguez, and Eddie Garcia.

Synopsis

The Chosen Carrier

After leaving her baby girl at a convent, Selya and her three companions die in succession while trying to escape a satanic cult. Later on, Selya’s daughter is adopted by a wealthy but childless couple and is christened as Angela. However, her adoptive father never learns to love her and becomes more even distant when his wife dies during labor.

Despite her lonely childhood, Angela later becomes a successful newscaster. Her staff even throws a surprise party for her to celebrate the nomination of “Kulam”—a story featured in her news magazine show—for an Emmy Award. But instead of bursting out with joy, Angela is shaken by the news. As it happens, that particular episode makes her feel guilty because the woman who was accused of witchcraft in her scoop was later killed by her neighbors, leaving her daughter alone in the world.

Worse, her show will be reformatted and improved only on the condition that she makes a follow up piece on the story. Still upset by these developments, she retires to her office for some peace and quiet, only to encounter a crazed man whose lusting after her. When she is about to call the guard for help, the man suddenly disappears. Angela quickly brushes the incident off as a hallucination. But when she arrives home, she discovers her maids are dead and she gets raped by the devil himself.

The Cult

A Satanic worship is being emphasized in the story, the cult is believed to worship the devil and does everything their leader tells them, they also believe that the Time of the Birth is coming. The cult also altogether keeps the group a secret, in every death that was believed to be done by the devil, they're the ones who cleans up and make the scenes like an accident.

The Curse of the Son

The son Angela's being taken care of is believed to be carrying a curse, whoever tries to stop the destined life of the child or sometimes for no particular reason, the person dies.

List of deaths from the series that were related to the prophecy, Lucas, Angela, and Angelo.

Character	Cause of Death	Episode
Max	A bus plows in him at a high speed causing him to die.	Episode 1
Larry	Minutes after Max's death, Larry tried to run and hide away from the cult whose chasing them, he hid under a flatter machine, which automatically turned on and flatten him	Episode 1
Gladya	In fear, Gladya tried to kill herself by standing in a train railing but the train turn left and skipped her, unfortunately a 'cross sign' nearby fell and impaled her in the head.	Episode 1
Selya	Selya was killed by a cult member, whilst in the car crying in fear a man surprisingly appeared behind them and cover her in the head with a plastic bag and stabbed her in the head.	Episode 1
The Cortez's unborn son	Precisely, the family who adopted Angela had a baby, but on the birth time, The baby was dead when born.	Episode 2
Angela's maids	It was believed that before Lucas "raped" Angela, he killed all her maids first.	Episode 3
Marissa	Angela's supervisor, whilst she was going home from work, she took the elevator but accidentally the elevator wiring cut off causing it to fall to the bottom floor and kill her.	Episode 4
The Paparazzi	Found dead according to the local newspapers.	Episode 5
Dra. Elena Castillo (Debraliz Velasote)	Angela's OB-gyne. She was killed when she was bit by a poisonous snake. When the cult had reached the spot where the doctor's car was found, they pushed the car into the steep ground, carried the doctor by placing her inside the car, and then crashed the car and the doctor into the ravine.	Episode 5
The Priest	He was supposed to Christen Angelo but was found dead inside a cabinet on the same day.
Belen - The first nanny	Her head was cut off by a wire while she tried to ran away from the devil.

Cast and characters

Credited Main cast

Extended Cast

Cast	Character	Summary
Claudine Barretto	Angela Cortez	A well-known newscaster, Angela is a host of A-List, a popular news show. She didn't know she is chosen to give birth to a demon child and although she tries to escape, destiny catches up with Angela who only then realizes that her son is doomed to become a satanic cult’s chosen one.
Kim Chiu	Elaiza	An ambitious production assistant who goes up the ranks as a reporter to seek revenge on Angela due to her mother's death on the "Kulam" expose.
Diether Ocampo	Hector Salcedo	Hector is Angela's son's pediatrician, Angela and him met since before the baby was born, Hector suspects that the baby Angela is carrying bring curse to everyone who hurts his carrier, even though he knows this he'll do anything to save Angela from being part of this cult.
Rafael Rosell	Lucas Satander	A strange painter who is obsessed with Angela (Claudine). As Lucas Santander, he turns out to be the man destined in a prophecy to be the father of the devil's son.In the end he is successfully stabbed by Angela as the lunar eclipse reaches it,s termination destroying the entire Satanic Cult.
Cast	Character	Summary
Gerald Anderson	Joaquin	Eliza's camera man and close friend, soon to be a love interest.
Carlo Lacana	Angelo Cortez	The birth child of Angela Cortez, some characters suspect that the child was a son of the devil. It was believed that Angela was just chosen to resurrect him into this world and spread the darkness within.In the end he is finally set free from his demonic destiny.
Arlene Tolibas		A creepy nanny who takes care of the child. Arlene Tolibas' character was supposed to be played by Eugene Domingo.
DJ Durano	SPO2 Damien Dumlao	A policeman who was believed to be a traitor and a member of the cult who worship Satan. It was said that he frames the deaths of people to cover-up the cult,At the end he begans to collapse to death along with the entire Satanic Cult due to the death of Lucas.
Empoy Marquez	Charlie	The gay best friend of Angela, he is always there every time Angela needs him, even though he's always near Angela's, it seema he's not being cursed by the child to death

Guest Cast

• Susan Roces as Introducer
• Mylene Dizon as Liz Pascual
• Debraliz Velasote as Elena Castillo
• Rio Locsin as Selya
• Susan Africa as Gladya
• Angel Sy as Young Eliza
• Steven Fermo as Young Joaquin
• Gee-Ann Abrahan as Eliza's Roommate
• Jorge Ochoa as Student
• Jojit Lorenzo
• Bodie Cruz
• Gerald Madrid

DVD release

A DVD containing all 20 episodes of Maligno was released by Star Home Video on June 20, 2008.

References

1. ^ Claudine Barretto returns to primetime television via "Maligno"
2. ^ Maligno (Film) imdb profile
3. ^ :: Malaya - The National Newspaper ::

External links

• Sineserye Presents:
  Maligno at the Internet Movie Database