[match ignites]
[haunting music]
[Crispin] Tell us a story, Mama.
[puffs]
All right.
This is the story of the great Datu Talagbusao.
The god of war.
[Ramona] Whose destiny was to lift humanity from its depravity.
And usher it into a new era where all could begin again.
[dog tags clink]
[muffled moaning]
[Ramona] Colonel Wilson Hidalgo.
Commanding officer of the Skeleton Crew.
You have proven yourself worthy of the Talagbusao.
[spits]
[coughing]
I hope you enjoy the taste of their hearts.
I carved them out myself.
My men, you made me kill my men.
Just as you made me kill mine all those years ago.
[suspenseful music]
[phone vibrating]
[Anton] Did you find her?
You were right, boss.
She's got all the fixings for the blood ritual.
[Anton] Surround the place.
But stay out of sight until we get there.
What is it, Papa?
The Sigbin will need our help.
We'll summon the War Council on the way.
Who do we want to call in?
Every last one of them.
[Ramona] He was a hero.
While men committed unspeakable acts of evil against each other,
Talagbusao watched for his true warriors to emerge.
[Basilio] Oh, is this the one with the monkey and the turtle?
-No, my darling. -[squishes]
[splattering]
[Ramona] This is the story of your father and how we met.
[talisman clinks]
He found me in the depths of my rage and despair
and showed me that I could give it purpose.
And he will show you yours when he arrives.
When will he come, Mama?
Soon, my love.
In the meantime, why don't you and your brother go outside to play?
-[bones crack] -[screams, grunts]
-[buttons popping] -[gasps]
[tense music]
[children chuckling]
[in Filipino] Dugo, digmaan, bangon, Talagbusao.
[all] Dugo, digmaan, bangon, Talagbusao.
Dugo, digmaan, bangon, Talagbusao.
[in English] I will kill--
[in Filipino] [all] Dugo, digmaan, bangon, Talagbusao.
Dugo, digmaan, bangon, Talagbusao.
-[knife swishes] -[screams]
-[blood gushing] -[explosion]
-[gunshots] -[groaning]
[growling]
[all] Dugo, digmaan, bangon, Talagbusao.
-[knives slashing] -[blood splatters]
-[whimpering] -[blood squelching]
[talisman whirring, sizzles]
[groaning]
-[Hidalgo screams] -[flesh rips]
-[blood splatters] -[growls]
[ominous music]
[in English] My wife, how I've missed you.
-[blood squirts] -[gasps]
Missed the taste of your blood.
Wait.
There is someone you should meet.
Twins!
That is even better.
More for me to devour.
-[magical humming] -[swishes]
[ominous music continues]
[theme music]
[horns honking]
[heels clacking]
[Dr. Gallaga] I'm leaving the Magna Mall clinic now.
Yes, with your medicine.
Okay, be there in about 20 minutes.
-[light flickers] -[gasps]
-[light switches clicking] -[panicked gasp]
[baby crying]
[nervous breathing]
[indistinct growling]
[baby crying]
[Dr. Galaspa gasping]
[whimpers] I know you're there…
-[flesh squelching] -Please! Please! No!
[groaning]
[pained scream]
[munching]
[blood splattering]
-[loud click] -[creature growling]
[disco music]
[Hank] Hey!
Nobody touches Baby but me.
-[laughs] -[Hank] Hey!
That goes for you, too.
[engine revs]
[ominous music]
[exasperated sigh] Victim's name is Dr. Petra Gallaga.
A dermatologist who runs a string of successful clinics in various malls.
She's known for having a host of celebrity clientele and endorsers.
My sister-in-law keeps telling me to try her soap.
[sniffing]
Why call me in?
[insects buzzing]
This woman was clawed open and chewed throughout her abdomen.
[in Filipino] [Alexandra] Ibunyag ang nakatago.
[warbling]
[in English] The attacker seems to have left a trail.
[ominous music continues]
[Guerrero] Leads to the sewers.
But the pipes are too small for a person to fit through.
Unless it wasn't human.
What about the CCTV cameras? Anything on them?
The owners of the mall won't release them to us.
Probably afraid of a PR nightmare.
I wouldn't worry, Captain.
We've got this covered.
[indistinct chatter]
[upbeat music]
[video game sound effects]
-[clacking] -[clicking]
[in Filipino] Anino ng panginain, magpakita ka.
[electricity crackles]
[in English] Dude!
You could have just messaged me, you know?
Good evening, Jobert, I need to call in a favor--
Yes! My mecha-Tikbalang just leveled up.
Dude, is that Eternals 2.0?
They aren't releasing that until next year.
Please. This is Eternals 4.
-[harsh thud] -[zaps]
I can see that you're busy.
But how about you show me the CCTV feed
from the Magna Mall parking area from last night,
and I don't cut off your hand this time?
Okay, okay.
[keyboard clacking]
Can you freeze that?
[Alexandra] She was on a call.
Her name is Dr. Petra Gallaga.
See if you can pull up who she was talking to.
[keyboard clacking]
[Jobert] Okay. Got it.
It seems like Dr. Gallaga was calling a "Maria Villarosa",
AKA, "Nova Aurora."
[gentle music]
The Nova Aurora?
The… the Shining Star?
Box Office hottie of the moment.
Her last movie was so good I saw it five times.
[chuckles]
The guy she was dating, though. [groans]
They are just friends.
All she wants is to focus on her latest movie and her charity work.
So what's the connection to Dr. Gallaga?
[Jobert] Further internet stalking shows
Dr. Gallaga is a childhood friend of La Aurora
and president of her fan club, the Novanians.
I suppose you'll want me to track Nova Aurora's phone
to tell you where she is right now?
Send it to the boys
along with any other information you can pull up.
[door opens, closes]
Ugh.
This is going to give me nightmares.
[trunk slams]
[chuckling]
[groovy music]
[spray hisses]
[repulsed groan]
[twins coughing]
[Crispin] It smells like durian.
[Alexandra] Open the windows.
-[Basilio] How does this thing work? -[thudding]
-[Crispin] Try pulling it. -[Basilio grunting]
-[metal clanks] -[Crispin] Basilio broke his.
[Hank] You little shit!
[in Filipino] Come here, you son of a bitch!
[insects chirping]
[tires screech]
[gates clank]
[in English] [Nova] I'll get it in five.
[PA] Right this way.
[indistinct chatter]
Uh, Miss Nova will come see you after she is done with the set up.
Thank you.
So why do you think Nova Aurora is connected to the death of Dr. Gallaga?
She might not be.
But Dr. Gallaga was on a call to Nova at the time of her murder.
So it's worth looking into.
-[Crispin] What is it, bossing? -[Alexandra] Don't move until I say so.
[tense music]
I know you're there.
[earth rumbling]
Good evening, young Trese.
[Amang Paso] Not very many people can be sure whether my people are hiding
among the flora and fauna.
Forgive us for barging in.
We did not know that this was your dwelling.
[Amang Paso] Oh, please, iha.
I am Amang Paso, elder of the tribe of the Red Earth.
You are in the dressing room of my familiar, Nova Aurora.
I wasn't aware that the duwende dabbled in showbiz.
Eh, what can I say? I love all things beautiful.
Shepherding Nova might be my best work yet.
[panting]
Amang Paso, it was on set calling out to me.
No one else could see it.
No one believes it's real.
It is all right, my dear, you are safe here.
Please help her.
Miss Aurora, my name is Alexandra Trese.
Can you tell us what you saw on set?
[moaning]
Red eyes in the shadows following my every move.
[weeps] I… I can't take this.
I need my medicine.
Why hasn't Petra come?
I'm sorry to have to tell you this,
but Dr. Petra Gallaga was murdered last night.
[Alexandra] We've come to see you because you were the last person
she was in contact with.
No!
Well, she was fine when we spoke.
[objects clattering in distance]
[panicked screams]
I'm sorry, but it might be best if we go check what's out there right now.
Amang Paso, we will need your help.
Hank, you stay here with Miss Aurora.
I'm a fan.
Not a weird stalker-y one, just a regular fan.
[tense music]
[earth rumbles]
Do you know of anyone who would wish to harm Nova or her friends?
[Amang Paso] When Nova got this part, all the other actresses in town hated her.
I wouldn't put it past them to hire someone to lay a curse on her.
[Alexandra] There's a lot of ground to cover.
Amang Paso, please take the outside perimeter
with your Laman Lupa, and we'll search the buildings.
[tense music]
[zipper rasps]
[Nova] This is all too much for my nerves.
[chair creaks]
[Hank] Here, Maria. I mean, Nova.
Maybe this will make you feel better.
I haven't been called that in years.
My Grandma Nena made this by hand.
[Nova] She used to embroider my initials on everything.
My mother died when I was born, so she raised me.
Your grandmother sounds like an okay lady.
Grandma is dead now.
But the words she used to whisper to me every night at bedtime
helped me become who I am today…
[light chuckle] …The Shining Star.
[sobbing]
Oh, I'm so scared.
What if that creature comes here?
Okay, stay right here.
Lock the door and don't open it until you hear my voice.
[insects chirping]
[Alexandra] Anything from Jobert yet?
Signal is pretty bad here, bossing.
[clanks]
[suspenseful music]
-[irked groan] -[Alexandra] Nuno?
What are you doing here?
Word in the tunnels was that there was a ruckus at the studio.
What else are they saying? Any word on what we are dealing with here?
Kulam from a rival actress, perhaps?
That is a page from Amang Paso's playbook.
He'll do whatever it takes for his familiars.
[scoffs] You met the guy, right?
That is not what is happening here.
I haven't seen it myself.
But you'll know what it is pretty quickly, when you go by the vents.
[Nuno] It likes to make a nest before it goes hunting.
[exhales]
Got to go before that stage duwende finds me on his turf uninvited.
[clanks]
[vent creaks]
[ominous music]
[cloth rustles]
-[footsteps] -[Crispin] Jobert sent a video.
[dramatic music]
[exhilarating music]
-[swishes] -[leather squeaks]
[rifle reloads]
[phone ringing]
[Alexandra] Hank, the creature is a tiyanak.
Feral goblin that inhabits small corpses left in the woods.
We think it killed Dr. Gallaga and now it's after Nova. Is she with you?
[suspenseful music]
[hesitates] She's in the bathroom.
I have to call you back.
Why would the tiyanak go after Nova?
It's a reanimated baby, Basilio.
Babies only want one thing.
-[whooshing] -[Crispin] Their mom.
[suspenseful music]
[rapid crawling]
[light switch clicks]
[rapid crawling]
[suspenseful music]
[bones cracking]
[high-pitched shriek]
[gunshots]
-[groans] -[slashes]
[gunshots]
[ominous music]
Yes, I can hear you.
[Nova] I'm coming for you.
[tiyanak groaning]
Do you hear it calling for me?
[groaning continues]
I've heard that sound in my dreams.
Unless you want to turn this into a nightmare,
we need to get out now.
[high-pitched shriek]
He's here.
You are so kind to want to protect me.
But I think I know what it wants.
[ominous music]
[cooing]
[squelching]
When I was a child, my Grandma Nena
would whisper these words in my ear every night.
[Nova] I didn't understand them then, but…
-[coos] -…seeing you here,
I do now.
You may have come from me, but you are worthless.
And I want nothing to do with you.
[tense music]
[Hank] Nova, don't!
-[flesh piercing] -Take that, Petra!
Couldn't even do the job right when I had her leave you in the mountains.
-[blood splatters] -[grunts]
Wasn't it enough that you disfigured me for nine months,
and then clawed your way out of my body?
Oh, I've done my part.
I won't let you take from me anymore.
I won't! I won't!
-[Alexandra] Enough. -[shard clinks]
[ominous music]
[chuckles]
How was I? Not too much?
I just improvised that caress at the last minute.
I think it worked.
[Nova] And to think the critics said I wasn't believable in my last movie.
[indistinct chatter]
[rumbling]
[Amang Paso] You have my many thanks, young Trese.
I think we shall all sleep soundly tonight,
now that my beautiful Nova is safe.
My people will take care of removing the remains.
Do not lay one finger on the tiyanak
unless you are prepared to take the place of your familiar
and face the consequences for its death.
It was all in self-defense.
She was being hunted down by a monster.
It was a tiyanak who was only acting on the instincts of its host.
Stop! My hair is a mess. Come hold this for me.
[sighs] It's done.
Video proof like you requested, Nova.
-[thunder rumbles] -[baby crying]
[panicked breathing]
Your familiar left a defenseless baby to the elements,
and then killed a tiyanak.
[Alexandra] All with no remorse.
[Amang Paso] Oh, iha, how to explain this to you.
A child out of wedlock would have killed her career.
Don't you dare try to spin this.
We both know the truth.
She is the monster here and you are the accomplice.
I have no tolerance for liars.
[Alexandra] Do not cross my path again.
You should know, though, that a tempest is brewing.
[Amang Paso] And there are liars amongst your allies
who would conspire against you.
It would be prudent to find out who they are…
before it is too late.
[earth rumbles]
[suspenseful music]
[cloth rustles]
[flames roar]
[ominous music]
[beeps]
[growls]
[crackles]
[whooshes]
[low mystical humming]
-[light switch clicks] -[faucet running]
[towel rustles]
[bed creaks]
[Nova] Oh, the press is out and Hollywood is calling.
[low static]
[tense music]
[gasps]
[switch clicks]
[clicking, crawling]
[high-pitched shriek]
[suspenseful music]
[Nova screaming]
-[blood splatters] -[light switch clicks]
♪ There are times at night ♪
♪ Restlessness comes to me ♪
♪ Feels as though ♪
♪ I've committed a grave mistake ♪
♪ Undeniably grueling ♪
♪ Your legacy will never go to waste ♪
♪ Little by little ♪
♪ I'll keep my promise ♪
♪ I fear no one ♪
♪ When I feel you next to me ♪