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| Scorpio Nights Ang Scorpio Nights (Regal Films) ni Peque Gallaga ay isang pelikulang Pilipinong sinadyang gawin para sa mga manonood sa Manila Film Center. Tatsulok na pag-ibig ang pinakasentro ng pelikula. Isang nagbibinatang estudyante si Danny (Daniel Fernando) ang naiwang mag-isa sa mumurahing kuwarto sa ikalawang palapag ng isang nabubulok na aksesorya sa Binondo. Sa ibaba, may nakatirang security guard (Orestes Ojeda) at ang maybahay nito (Anna Marie Gutierrez) na tuwing nahihimbing ay nakagawian nang bosohan ni Danny. Alam nito ang eksaktong oras ng pag-uwi ng lalaki at sa ganong oras din nagseseks ang mag-asawa. Minsan ay nakapasok si Danny sa kuwarto sa ibaba at sinubukan nitong sipingan ang babae. Dito nagsimula ang malimit na pagtatagpo ng dalawa na humantong sa pagkahulog ng kanilang mga loob sa isa't-isa. Natuklasan ng security guard ang pangangaliwa sa kanya ng dalawa at minsang mapasukan niya ang kanilang pagseseks, binaril niya ang mga ito at habang kinukubabawan ang naghihingalong asawa, kanyang binaril ang sarili. Hayagan ang pagpapakita sa babae at lalaking hubo't hubad na nagseseks. Ipinakita ang bulbol ng babae at matigas na ari ng lalaki gayundin ang walang pangiming galaw at ingay ng nagseseks at pagsasalarawan sa pisikal na pagtatalik ng mga hayok sa laman na dati ay sa mga sineng porno lamang masasaksihan. Subalit naiiba ang pagpaksa ng Scorpio Nights sa seks dahilan sa ginamitan ito ng masining na panlasa tulad sa disenyo ng pelikula lalo na ang pagkakaayos sa ng kuwarto ni Danny sa itaas at kuwarto ng security guard sa ibaba. Ang pag-iilaw at pagpupuwesto ng kamera ay pinagbuhusan ng imahinasyon at pinong-pinong kasanayan ng sinematographer. At higit sa lahat, kaiba sa karaniwang porno, may nagaganap na buhay sa labas ng kuwartong pinangyayarihan ng pagseseks. May munting harapan kung sa saan may isang basketball goal na palagiang gamit ng mga pawisang manlalaro, may maliit na pagawaan ng grill ng bintana at mga batang ipinagpuprusisyon ang isang pusang patay. May pagpapahiwatig din ng paninikil sa panahon ng Batas Militar sa paghahanap ng isang may kapangyarihan sa isang militanteng estudyanteng naninirahan sa kuwarto sa itaas. Kung susuriin, tila gustong patunayan ni Peque Gallaga na ang seks ay lehitimong paksain ng pelikulang ipinapalabas hindi lamang sa kuwarto ng usyosong nalilibugan, mapapanood rin ito sa sinehang pinapasok ng mga responsableng manonood. Maaring basahin ang Scorpio Nights bilang larawan ng lipunang sinarhan ng mga may kapangyarihan, kung saan ang mga taong puno ng enerhiya at pagnanasa ay humahanap ng layang magpapatunay na ang buhay ay dapat lasapin at kung ang pagpapalaya sa enerhiya at pagnanasa ay patuloy na sasagkaan, ito ay nagiging lason at pumapatay. Direksiyon: Peque Gallaga Dulang Pampelikula: Rosauro Q. de la Cruz Sinematograpiya: Ely Cruz Musika: Jaime Fabregas Editing: Jesus M. Navarro Disenyo: Don Escudero Produksiyon: Regal Films Release Date: June 18, 1985 |
12:50 PM
Hi Jojo,
Scorpio Nights is a great, great sex film. It’s also a good film but I think that it’s a bit overrated.
I’m still bothered that the two leads are having wild sex and making loud noises and don’t seem to care that the nosy neighbors might hear them. Not a single mention of that fact.
Some of the scenes in the compound look stagy and awkward, especially the guy singing with a guitar.
RSE
12:53 PM
i remember in 1985,my older male cousins were all excited about this film,there were stories daw that anna marie had full fontal nudity,which during those times was quite a big deal,dont think sarsi,stella,claudia had done it in their films,except ma. isabel lopez for isla,just not sure kung sino ang nauna sa kanila ni anna marie.
1:08 PM
i've always read that the marcos regime used this film to divert the people's attention from the worsening political situation during those times.anyway,peque was able to come up with a brilliant film,oro,plata,mata would be his best work,as everybody would say,unfaithful wife was also ok,pero what happened to him after those 3 films? his works since were all boring,cant even remember any significant film he made after those 3.
1:17 PM
mike austria was such an eye candy for his brief role here,wonder why he didnt get daniel fernando's part.did orestes ojeda also had a scene with his erect cock? didnt see it on the vcd.
1:41 PM
Scorpio Nights is probably the only great Filipino sex film... nothing else can surpass it's achievements. if you'll notice most of the couple's sex scenes happen in the wee hours of the morning. it seems to me that none of the inhabitants cared about what was going on around them. most of their time was spent playing cards or drinking. the scenes might be stagy at times but i think it worked very well within the films' framework.
1:43 PM
Isla was shown before Scorpio Nights so i can very well say that Maria Isabel Lopez went full frontal first then everyone else followed suit.
1:49 PM
it's true that the Marcos administration tried to divert the public's attention from the worsening political situation in the Philippines by allowing sex films sown to the public in a venue free from censorship. as for Peque Gallaga, Virgin Forest for me still remains to be his best film followed closely by Oro, Plata, Mata and Scorpio Nights. Unfaithful Wife was an excellent drama although it also had some shortcomings. his collaborations with Lorenzo Reyes were mostly successful at the box office but wasn't on par with his earlier works.
1:52 PM
those aforementioned scenes were cut from the DVD & VCD release of Scorpio Nights although an earlier VHS release had them all intact. if you look closely at the screencaps you'll see a close-up shot of Orestes' penis.
6:40 AM
Nice review, Jo. Peque did this film straight from the hospital after his massive heart attack before Christmas of Dec. 1984. Its a tie for me between this erotic classic and his epic masterpiece ORO PLATA MATA followed closely by VIRGIN FOREST, UNFAITFUL WIFE, & ISANG ARAW WALANG DIYOS (with Lore Reyes). Im still waiting for his dream project to see the light of the day LIGAWAN SA PANAHON NG TAGSIBOL AT DIGMAAN.
3:45 PM
thanks a lot Ronald! honestly, i never really liked most of his collaborations with Lore Reyes. i loved his earlier movies but i'm sure you know that Virgin Forest is my most favorite Gallaga film.
1:55 AM
helo jo! was it peque who helmed the manananggal episode in shake rattle and roll,most of the actors there,the ones doing the senakulo were in his other films. so scorpio nights was only shown in the manila film center? did you see it during its run? magkano ba ang sine nun sa film center? mas mahal kesa sa ordinary theaters?
2:00 AM
were the sex scenes in Unfaithful wife bolder than scorpio nights? i only saw it on cinema one so naturally those scenes were cut.the banyo scene in scorpio nights with daniel fernando and the other girl reminds me of the banyo scene with anna marie and gino antonio in takaw tukso where anna marie asked gino,who was in the toilet,"pwede pagamit?".
3:16 AM
hi dexter!
Peque Gallaga directed the Manananggal episode in Shake, Rattle & Roll. he has a stable of actors that appear in his films that's why they all seem familiar. Scorpio Nights was shown at the MFC for a month at P25 a ticket. In mid 1985, the movie had a theatrical run but it was heavily censored.
3:20 AM
the bold scenes in Unfaithful Wife were tamer compared to Scorpio Nights although in the uncut version there were a couple of sex scenes featuring Lala Montelibano. maybe there were obvious similarities in the "banyo scene" although the one in Takaw Tukso was a lot more naughty.
3:32 AM
SCORPIO NIGHTS had a one time screening at Ayala Cinema in the late 90's sponsored by Director's Guild of the Phils when Peque was still an active member. I was still amazed on the technical craftmanship of the movie and shocked the first time I saw it.
3:45 AM
was it the uncut version? the technical aspects are more effective when watched in a theater most especially the sound and cinematography.
3:50 AM
Yup all the controversial scenes are intact and its in 35mm. The scene of Orestes penis in close up shot should have been cut but was later approve. Peque said "over my dead body if they will allow any cuts on the film...don't show it!"
3:57 AM
i remember the full frontal shot of the two lead actors were cut immediately after the first day it was shown at the MFC. this was the master copy used for the DVD & VCD release. i wonder where the 35mm copy is... hopefully with Peque. there was also a bit of controversy on whether it was really Orestes' penis i remember an article in the tabloid saying to just ask Joey Gosiengfiao.
4:02 AM
Regal Films has the masterprint right? I remember a friend saying the mint copy of the film is in France or somewhere overseas.
4:06 AM
Regal doesn't have the master negative. that's why they released the other version on video.
8:07 AM
Hi jojo -- Been a while since i visited you blog. bus with work etc. now i am catching up. thanks for all the great reviews. Are you thinking of expanding the essays and coming up with a book, ala-- one hundered acclaimed tagalog movies by mel tobias? :) could be a great project, no?
anyway, as for me: scorpio nights is one of my favorite films. even without the cops searching for the radical students it really speaks about the last days of marcos' military rule: the crumbling apartment complex, the repressing, claustrophobic atmosphere of the entresuelo, the singular obsessiveness of the dwellers on basketball, alcohol and sex (because there is nothing else). i loved how the camera almost never wondered outside the gate of the apartment, it brought focus on the microcosmic lives of the dwellers. there are some kitschy sequence (the rain shots with the lovers in cellophane, complete with fabregas' tacky music) but all in all the narrative holds water.
by the way, what struck me then, and more so now, is the gay character that casually cavorts with his lover in front of everyone. he is shown with neither ridicule or condescension. just another human being struggling in that same dark, repressive, crumbling place.
4:34 PM
hello beektur!
glad to have you back! i cannot imagine myself coming up with a book of reviews. honestly, the thought hasn't even crossed my mind. great observation about the movie. the accesoria represented the impoverished Filipinos coping with the struggles of day to day living...
6:15 PM
I finally had the opportunity to watch this movie today. But when I was looking through the length of the film to see if it is the 2-hour version, I found out that it is actually much less than that...80 minutes, or almost 30 minutes of cuts. I didn't even bother watching it. Is the 80-minute version the one that came out on DVD lately? If it is, it's a damn shame.
6:34 PM
80 minutes, really? Scorpio Nights' running time is 2 hours & 3 minutes. the DVD/VCD release did not include the full frontal shot of the two male leads but everything else is intact. your better off watching the DVD...
7:51 PM
I thought it was a little excessive that they would cut that much. I'm adding the DVD to my list and chucking this VHS tape. Thanks a bunch!
8:05 PM
I have the vcd of the film and it looks like very little has been cut. That full frontal scene with Daniel Fernando was there too although it looks like the scene was shortened, no pun intended. The only scene that appears to be missing was the close up shot of Orestes Ojeda's penis.
8:08 PM
Does anyone know whatever happened to Amanda Amores who played Daniel's girlfriend? If I'm not mistaken she did a lot of porno films with George Estregan but seems to have disappeared after that.
2:14 AM
scorpio nights no doubt is the best filipino sex movie of all time. it landed on the top spot of qtv 11's 10 pinaka-hot na bold movies.scorpio nights 2 really pales in comparison with the original,wonder why they bothered to make that one,when they knew that it wont surpass the original movie.
3:20 AM
hi john!
i'm surprised that the VHS tape had a lot of cuts, that's probably the theatrical version. if the two deleted scenes don't matter to you then go ahead and watch the DVD. the quality of which is far better than the original video release.
3:25 AM
i also have the Scorpio Nights DVD which is exactly the same version as the VCD but i don't recall seeing Daniel Fernando's frontal shot. this version was the one shown at the MFC when ECP decided to delete those scenes after the first day of showing. Amanda Amores starred in quite a number of pene movies as well. i really have no idea what happened to her. hopefully she's doing much better than the rest of her colleagues.
3:35 AM
i only saw parts of Scorpio Nights 2 and never got to watch the movie in it's entirety. i don't know why they even bothered to make it. i guess the people behind the project thought they would be able to surpass the original, unfortunately, it wasn't even half as good as the first one...
5:44 AM
Jojo I'm currently looking for the print that has subs of SCORPIO NIGHTS. MY friend said it was shown at the Toronto Filmfest back in the 90's and Regal Films still keep it. I have to find out soon. The one that they shown at DGPI in Ayala Cinema has no subs, but uncut though.
7:05 AM
I think that Scorpio Nights 2 was not that bad just not as good as the original. Joyce Jimenez really looked great as the colegiala. Its hard to believe that the MTRCB gave it a double X rating considering the sex scenes were so tame and the nudity scenes were darkly lit. I thought that maybe the film was heavily cut but I remember seeing an interview with Peque Gallaga saying that the only scene that was shortened was the lesbian sex scene.
Hey jojo have you ever scene Ishmael Bernal's Scotch on the Rocks? A friend of mine who use to work at the film center says that Rita Gomez had a full frontal scene and this was before Anna Marie or Maribel Lopez. Didn't Rita also went bold in Pagdating sa Dulo?
9:28 AM
Hi Jojo,
I recently saw the Korean remake called Summertime. It doesn't hold a candle to the original. It's mildly erotic. The biggest mistake it did was to make the two leads fall in love and even had a baby together. Sacrilegious! It also added some unnecessary flashback sequences.
Regards,
RSE
3:26 PM
i haven't seen Scotch On The Rocks To Remember, Black Coffee To Forget I've heard so much about it though. Rita Gomez played a bomba star in Pagdating Sa Dulo but she hardly had bold scenes in the movie. Rita had a breast exposure in Bernal's Gamitin Mo Ako...
3:30 PM
i'ver always wanted to see the Korean remake... so Summertime wasn't as good as Scorpio Nights? i think i'll pass...
thanks Ron!
12:47 AM
Everybody is fixated with the sex scenes. No one noticed the basketball court and what basketball means in the movie. Watching the movie means looking at the hidden nuances. Sabi nga ni James Fenton, Filipinos see things hidden to most people. Yung nangongotong. Yung nagyuyugyugan sa kawayan sa Rizal Park.
12:52 AM
Ang galing talaga ni Jojo.
1:30 AM
Hi Jo, just got to read this now. Good job.
Great Filipino sex film is a tough title to bestow, there are quite a few candidates--Boatman comes to mind, so does Takaw Tukso, and Private Show.
I'm thinking quality of the filmmaking, not just explicit sex scenes. If you want explicitness, well, the uncut Bed Sins had hardcore porn in it, more than anything in Scorpio, and some of it's still pretty bad.
That said, I prefer Scorpio even over the legendary In the Realm of the Senses, for several reasons: one, it has a tension that Realm never had (they just lounged about, screwing); second, I never bought the psychology of Realm (passive male, possessive, castrating female). It's too esoteric a scenario to really hit home.
Scorpio hits home. And while we're talking of scenes besides the sex, I'd mention the scene where Ana goes all aggressive on Orestes, and Orestes starts weeping. That's maybe the subtlest bit of storytelling Peque's ever done (why's he crying?)--maybe the only bit of subtle storytelling.
For the record, my vote for greatest Filipino sex film is Init sa Magdamag (ever reviewed that, Jojo?)--and it doesn't even have a second of nudity.
4:14 AM
maraming salamat Frank! you're absolutely right, Scorpio Nights had a lot of hidden nuances in it. as Beektur pointed out in an earlier comment, the dilapidated accesoria represented the slow crumbling of the Marcos administration...
4:14 AM
I wonder if there was political angst in this film considering it was made during the Marcos Regime.
4:26 AM
hello Noel!
Scorpio Nights is a work of erotic art the way Eu Te Amo was. the film pushed back, in the Philippines the frontiers of what is oermissible in film. graphic representation of the sex act in a movie utilizing the services of a director and cast normally associated with commercial features, Scorpio Nights being the first Filipino feature to bring the porn genre out from the underside of legitimate filmmaking.
4:31 AM
hi Ronald!
the role of MFC as a venue for films like Scorpio Nights tied the issue of eroticism in Filipino filmmaking with the political maneuvers of the MArcos regime. the economic and political crises that have shaken the regime since Aquino's assasination were an inescapable and eloquent context for the rapid proliferation of erotic representation in film, all it did was buy time for the Marcos regime.
4:47 AM
Did Mother Lily interfere while Peque was doing this movie, Jo? Looks like he allowed all the visions of Peque in this film.
5:01 AM
she didn't interfere at all... Peque had overall creative control.
12:51 PM
great job jojo!
nakakabilib ka, ang galing mong promotor!haha...
very good movie review, ang dami kong natututunan...
keep it up!
love it :)
6:03 PM
thanks a lot Cathy Rose!
keep on reading...
8:53 PM
Sir Jo,
I think "Hubo sa Dilim" got Ma. Isabel Lopez's first frontal shot before "Isla"?..
Correct me please??
"Hubo sa Dilim" is with Michael de Mesa.
3:40 PM
Isla was the very first sex film shown at the MFC and it is where Maria Isabel Lopez shower all her full frontal glory on the big screen. Hubo was shown a year later...
12:14 PM
Hello I read all the reviews about Scorpio Nights.The movie was really tremendous! btw, where can I buy a dvd of this..please let me know or please do e-mail me at bboy_bgurl16@yahoo.com.. I would be delighted if someone will e-mail me..
10:23 AM
Kumusta Jelo!
You can order Scorpio Nights DVD at regal films.com
Maraming salamat!
10:30 PM
To ALL Kolboys Out There,
I am horny. Malibog ako. Gusto ko good sex at gwapo ang sex partner ko. Choosy ako. Discreet. Ayoko nang kung sino na lang.
I am willing to pay up to 5K basta worth it ang makakasex ko. Kung interested kayo, send me your pictures. Dapat kita ko ang mukha, ang titi ninyo at ang puwet ninyo.
Eto mga gusto ko:
maganda mata. chinito is a plus
maputi
kung moreno man dapat makinis
gwapo, pogi, boy next door type
malaki ang titi. malinis
matambok ang puwet. yung nakakagigil
at higit sa lahat, yung nangangailangan ng pera para di maarte.
Email me sa scareyou.often@gmail.com
o kaya send mo sa facebook ko. Hanapin ninyo lang ang email address na yan.
Thanks.
10:30 PM
To ALL Kolboys Out There,
I am horny. Malibog ako. Gusto ko good sex at gwapo ang sex partner ko. Choosy ako. Discreet. Ayoko nang kung sino na lang.
I am willing to pay up to 5K basta worth it ang makakasex ko. Kung interested kayo, send me your pictures. Dapat kita ko ang mukha, ang titi ninyo at ang puwet ninyo.
Eto mga gusto ko:
maganda mata. chinito is a plus
maputi
kung moreno man dapat makinis
gwapo, pogi, boy next door type
malaki ang titi. malinis
matambok ang puwet. yung nakakagigil
at higit sa lahat, yung nangangailangan ng pera para di maarte.
Email me sa scareyou.often@gmail.com
o kaya send mo sa facebook ko. Hanapin ninyo lang ang email address na yan.
Thanks.
4:06 AM
this movie is simply awesome and after reading its review i guess, it's worthy to watch . ^_^
Jervis
11:21 PM
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