| Genre: | Drama, Horror, Suspense, Gothic Horror, Thriller |
| Runtime: | 30-45 minutes |
| Creator: | ABS-CBN Studios Celso Ad Castillo |
| Director: | Wenn Deramas |
| Executive Producer: | Joan Del Rosario |
| Starring: | Claudine Barretto Diether Ocampo Rafael Rosell |
| Country: | Philippines |
| Language: | Filipino |
| Network: | ABS-CBN |
| Company: | Dreamscape Entertainment Television |
| Num Episodes: | 20 |
Maligno is an ABS-CBN primetime horror-action-thriller which was the second installment of Sineserye Presents: The Susan Roces Cinema Collection.[1] The show is adapted from the 1977 movie of the same name which starred Susan Roces who makes a guest appearance in the television program. It premiered from April 28 to May 23, 2008, replacing Palos, was replaced by My Girl.[2]
This series can be streaming on Jeepney TV Youtube channel every 8:00 & 8:30 pm replacing !Oka Tokat.
It is based on 1977 film starring the Queen of Philippine Movies, Susan Roces, that won her second FAMAS Best Actress trophy.[3] The 1977 movie was directed by Celso Ad. Castillo, who also wrote the original screenplay together with Dominador B. Mirasol.[4]
The film stars included Dante Rivero, Celia Rodriguez, and Eddie Garcia. The film revolves about Angela after being impregnated by an evil spirit,she fears that her child will be the evil one's offspring.Besides that she and her family are hunted down by a cult and coven of satanists and witches attempting to rob her soul.
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 even more 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 who is 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 is raped by the devil himself.
A Satanic cult and a coven is being emphasized in the story, the cult which comprised an elite group of dark witches and warlocks and satanists 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 supernatural serial killings that was believed to be done by the devil, they're the ones who clean up and make the atrocities appear like accidents.But in the finale after Angela makes a final effort in saving Angelo from the devil's curse the cult was completely destroyed and annihilated killing Lucas and the rest of his followers.
The son Angela's been taking 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 tries to run and hide away from the cult who is chasing them, he hid under a flatter machine which automatically turned on and flattens him. | Episode 1 | |
| Gladya | In fear, Gladya tries to kill herself by standing in a train railing but the train turns left and skipped her. Unfortunately, a "cross sign" nearby fell and impaled 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 1 | |
| Mrs. Cortez | Died after childbirth | Episode 1 | |
| Eliza's mother | Murdered by the cult after accusing her of witchcraft | Episode 1 | |
| Angela's maids | It was believed that before Lucas raped Angela, he killed all her maids first. | Episode 1 | |
| Marissa | Angela's supervisor while 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 | Angela's OB-gyn. She was killed when she was bit by a venomous 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. | Episode 6 | |
| Belen - The first nanny | Decapitated by a clothesline while she tried to run away from the devil. | Episode 7 | |
| The Bullies' mother | Body contorted by Lucas | Episode 10 | |
| Episode 12 | |||
| Episode 12 | |||
| The Chaffeur | Mysteriously dies in the car | Episode 19 | |
| Joaquin Valderrama | Stabbed in the Back | Episode 20 | |
| Hector Salcedo | Impaled in the back by a flying knife after failing to kill Angela at the ceremony site. | Episode 20 | |
| Lucas Santander | Stabbed in the back by Angela with a dagger causing him and the entire cult perish and reduced to ashes. | Episode 20 |
| Cast | Character | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 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 but in the ending she successfully kills Lucas causing the rest of the Cult to perish and be destroyed. | |
| 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 brings a curse to everyone who hurts his career, even though he knows this he'll do anything to save Angela from being part of this cult. | |
| 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 its termination, destroying the entire Satanic Cult and thus putting an end to his reign of terror and his atrocities. | |
| Cast | Character | Summary | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eliza Catacutan | 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. | ||
| Joaquin Valderrama | 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 | Lagring | A creepy nanny who takes care of the child. Arlene Tolibas' character was supposed to be played by Eugene Domingo. | |
| SPO2 Damien Dumlao | A policeman who was believed to be a traitor and a member of the cult who worships Satan. It was said that he frames the deaths of people to cover-up the cult. At the end he begins to collapse to death along with the entire Satanic Cult due to the death of Lucas. | ||
| 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 seems he's not being cursed by the child to death. | ||
A DVD containing all 20 episodes of Maligno was released by Star Home Video on June 20, 2008.
Malaya - The National Newspaper ::