Mallari is a re-imagined story about the real-life serial killer, Juan Severino Mallari. The movie follows a modern-day doctor who returns to his childhood home in search of a way to prevent his fiancee's death. Instead, he finds out about his family's occult history and how it links to the 19th century killer, his ancestor, Mallari.
This movie is jam-packed with storytelling and folklore. It follows 3 different timelines and the 3 different generations of the Mallaris - Jonathan Mallari de Dios (2020s), Jonrey Mallari (1940s), and Juan Severino Mallari (1810s). To make it easy, we'll talk about the different aspects of Filipino mythology in this movie in chronological order and put our notes in italics.
Juan Severino Mallari in 1810s
Juan, accompanied by his mother Doña Facunda, arrive in Magalang to become the town's priest. Their servants, led by Maria Capac, practice magical rituals and lure Facunda into a secret room to transform her into a monster, later revealed to be a manananggal.
Maria Capac is a mangbabarang, or a malevolent witch. Their family has been participating in rituals to rid of "bad" people in the town. She chose Severino to continue to do their bidding. She shows him his ill mother and tells him the only cure is for her to eat human flesh. He eventually agrees and kills a corrupt landlord and prostitutes in order to feed their entrails to his mother. Facunda recovers, unaware of her transformation.
Later, a man resembling Severino appears to Facunda claiming to be a future descendant. He later warns Juan that he will be remembered as a murderer. They fight until the Civil Guard and a witness arrive to arrest Juan. During this time, Maria hides Facunda.
Ignoring the cheesy way manananggal was portrayed, there's really not much to say about the creature. Manananggal supposedly like to eat the innards of humans, so in order to keep Facunda alive, she would need a supply of them somehow...
Jonrey Mallari in 1940s
Johnrey, a filmmaker, visits his ancestral home in Magalang during the Hukbalahap Rebellion. He encounters victims of an aswang attack, but his boss dismisses it as CIA operation. Suspecting a connection to Juan Severino, he decides to investigate in town and in his ancestral home.
Johnrey dreams of going back in time to 1812, encountering Severino, Doña Facunda, the ghosts of Severino's victims, and a boy named Jonathan who claims he is his grandnephew from the future. He wakes up, holding Jonathan's blanket, and realizes they have the ability to astral project and time travel.* Johnrey goes back to 1812 to film Severino and Facunda for Jonathan to find in the future.
When he awakes in his time, Johnrey encounters an elderly Maria Capac and his servant Conching, who is revealed to be her granddaughter. They have both his wife, Felicity, and Facunda hostage, threatening to kill Felicity unless Johnrey agrees to participate in the killings like Severino before him. Facunda, now aged due to her refusal to eat human flesh, is unable to die,
Returning to his time, Johnrey encounters an elderly Maria Capac and his servant Conching, who is revealed to be her granddaughter. They are holding his wife Felicity hostage, along with an aged Doña Facunda. Facunda refused to eat human flesh since Severino's arrest and continued to grow old unable to die. Maria and Conching threaten to kill Felicity unless Johnrey agrees to become a vigilante like Severino and allows Facunda's powers to be transferred to Felicity.
After Facunda pleads with him to let her die, Johnrey swallows a black chick living inside her instead of Felicity. Facunda disintegrates into ashes and Johnrey transforms into a werewolf, killing Conching and Maria. Reverting to human form, Johnrey tells Felicity to bury him alive in order to end the curse.
Whew, that's a lot! We've already linked our notes on the CIA operation, so let's talk astral projection.
The Visayans believe in the concept of dungan, similar to the Western soul. However, the dungan can act separately from the body. It is believed that if one is mistreating their body, the dungan can leave the body, and the body cannot wake up until the dungan is back.
There is also a folk legend that in 1593, a Filipino soldier fell asleep on his post in the Philippines and woke up in Mexico. The day before he was transported, Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas was assassinated. When questioned for his foreign uniform, the soldier relayed information of the assassination and that he was from the Philippines. He was jailed. Some months later, news of the assassination arrived in Mexico. One of the passengers in the galleon recognized the soldier, saying he was there the day after the assassination. The soldier was then released to go home.
We haven't happened across any stories about time travel, so we have no notes for that.
Now, what about the black chick? It is believed that one can become an aswang by eating a black chick. This has its own variations, like holding a fertilized egg over your belly until it is "transferred" inside the person. Stories of becoming an aswang by means of chicks, however, usually meant the individual was willing. In the case of Facunda, she would not have become an aswang since she was forced. For Johnrey, if the stories are to be believed, he would have become an aswang since he was willing.
One thing I'd like to note about this is the loose manner of which the movie portrays aswang. For many, the aswang is not a specific creature, but an overarching term for many of the creatures of Filipino folklore. But why was Facunda a manananggal and Johnrey a "werewolf"? (Johnrey may have been another shape-shifting being of Filipino folklore, but we as the audience only see a shadow that looks like a werewolf.) Perhaps the writers wanted to showcase more creatures...or maybe even separate a male and female aswang.
Jonathan Mallari de Dios in 2010s