| Scorpio Nights | |
| Director: | Peque Gallaga |
| Producer: | Lily Yu Monteverde |
| Screenplay: | Rosauro Q. Dela Cruz |
| Cinematography: | Ely Cruz |
| Editing: | Jesus M. Navarro |
| Studio: | Regal Films |
| Distributor: | Regal Entertainment |
| Runtime: | 126 minutes |
| Country: | Philippines |
Scorpio Nights is a 1985 Philippine erotic thriller film directed by Peque Gallaga from a screenplay by Rosauro "Uro" dela Cruz, based on a story written by T.E. Pagaspas and Romel Bernardino. It is about a love affair between a young man and a married woman who become entangled in their uncontrollable urge for sex.[1]
It stars Orestes Ojeda, Anna Marie Gutierrez, and Daniel Fernando in his acting debut while Dwight Gaston, Pen Medina, Angelo Castro Jr., and some of the film's production staff including writer-director Rosauro "Uro" Q. Dela Cruz and art director Rommel Bernardino as the supporting cast and special participation.
Produced and released by Regal Films on June 18, 1985, the film was controversial but played a key role in defining Filipino erotic films of the decade.
The film is set in a shabby apartment where Danny resides above the room of a security guard and his wife. Every day, the husband goes home, eats his dinner, washes the dishes, goes straight to bed, and makes love to his wife. Danny plays Peeping Tom and every night observes through a hole in his floorboard. Unable to control his urges, he goes to the room of the wife where he does the same things that the husband does to her with no resistance. The two perform the act repeatedly until they fall in love with each other. The husband finds out that his wife is cheating on him, when one day he walks in on them while they are having sex, and shoots them both. He then shoots himself while having sex with his dead wife.
The film was one of several funded by the Experimental Cinema of the Philippines, a government-owned and controlled corporation then headed by Imee Marcos.[2]
According to Daniel Fernando when he was interviewed by Boy Abunda in his show Tonight with Boy Abunda, he was a student at the University of the East in that time when he was discovered by a talent coordinator in the audition and he would later introduce to Peque Gallaga, the film's director. To prepare for his role, he participated in the acting workshop for one month including the workshop dealing with scenes that contain nudity where he was already comfortable at.
The film is considered one of the most controversial and important Filipino films of its time. Despite being provocative, it has been commended for its social relevance. Set towards the beginning of the end of the Marcos regime, it portrayed the chaotic economy of those years, when street protests related to Ninoy Aquino's assassination were still ongoing.[3]
In the retrospective review by film critic Noel Vera, the sensual scenes of Scorpio Nights were directly similar to Nagisa Oshima's controversial 1976 film In the Realm of the Senses but Gallaga only outshines Oshima in terms of psychological realism and suspense.[4]
A standalone sequel, Scorpio Nights 2, starring Albert Martinez and Joyce Jimenez. It was produced by Gallaga and directed by Erik Matti under VIVA Films and was released on February 2, 1999.[5] The film earned ₱60 million at the Philippine box-office.[6] Another sequel, Scorpio Nights 3 starring Christine Bermas, Mark Anthony Fernandez, and Gold Aceron was released on July 29, 2022. It was produced by Peque Gallaga and directed by Lawrence Fajardo under Vivamax.[7]
The 2001 Korean film Summertime is based on this movie.[8]