Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles 2012

Makoy, an arrogant and ill-mannered playboy from Manila, travels to the provincial town of Pulupandan to try to make amends with his pregnant girlfriend, Sonia. Sonia’s mother, Fely, is furious at his arrival and immediately asks him to leave, while Sonia herself hopes to end the relationship and raise the child on her own. Desperate for a second chance, Makoy phones a friend in Manila and stirs him to give reconciliation another shot, even as the storekeeper Pacing explains Sonia’s background.

Makoy returns to Sonia’s home, where her father, Nestor, is warmer and invites him to stay for Sonia’s birthday and to help with household errands alongside their helper, Bart. In the town marketplace, Bart suggests buying a pig from his cousin, Ringo, who claims he can offer a discount. The two men travel to the next town to meet Ringo, and a small group of rowdy kids, led by Kulot, harasses them. Ringo intervenes, rebuking Kulot, and refuses to budge on the price. The news that Sonia is pregnant reaches Kulot, who tries to lower the price again, but the deal is completed without Kulot, with Mutya and Kulas Kulas handling the transaction in the background.

Back at Nestor’s house, Nestor welcomes Makoy for Sonia’s birthday, but both Sonia and Fely rebuff his efforts at reconciliation. After dinner, Makoy, Nestor, and Bart unwind with a few drinks, and they are unsettled by strange noises that recall old tales of the Tiktik—a variant of the aswang. The tension rises as the pig turns out to be a Tiktik that attacks Sonia while she sleeps. Makoy and Nestor fight off the creature, which collapses into the body of Kulot, the misbehaving boy’s true form. Bart recognizes Kulot as his nephew, which fuels tension as Makoy accuses Bart of being an aswang, binding him up as the danger escalates.

Ringo learns of Kulot’s fate and dispatches Kulot and his kin, including Kulas and Mutya, to investigate. Ringo confronts the humans after learning their secret, demanding a swap—Makoy’s unborn child for the safety of Nestor’s family. When the request is refused, the aswangs launch an assault. Makoy seizes Bart and drives off to throw the attackers off their trail.

At a nearby military checkpoint, Makoy and Bart seek help. The soldiers hesitate, but Ringo and his kin revert to human form, and the soldiers are overwhelmed in a clash that ends with Ringo and his group wiping out the soldiers. Makoy and Bart hijack a military vehicle, crash it into Kulas, and hurry back to Nestor’s house as garlic and salt are spread across doors and windows to keep the Tiktiks at bay.

Just then, Rex and his son Abel arrive at the house with more salt and protective items they bought at the market earlier. Seeing Kulot’s corpse on the doorstep, Rex balks at entering, but the Tiktiks break in and attack, killing Rex while Makoy saves Abel. Hilda and Cedric are sent to breach the house, finding an entry through a window that lacks garlic or salt. Cedric strikes Fely and Sonia heads into labor as Makoy intervenes, killing Hilda and saving Sonia, while Nestor kills Cedric, mortally wounding Fely in the process.

A new elder group, led by Tatang, arrives and Ringo apologizes, but Tatang slays him anyway to protect the town’s secret. Tatang vows to finish off the humans unless their presence is hidden, then empowers his kin, making them more resistant to garlic and salt and enabling them to gradually infiltrate the house.

Makoy convinces a grieving Nestor to help move Sonia to safety and even to join him in Manila afterward. He addresses Nestor as “dad,” and Sonia’s resolve softens in response. Bart’s final act comes as he takes Molotov cocktails to draw the aswangs away, mortally wounding himself in the process while the others slip away to safety.

The group seeks refuge at Pacing’s store, where she lends them a set of stingray-tail whips—touted as potent weapons against aswangs—and helps deliver Sonia’s baby, who is named Mackie. Sonia, [Pacing], and Mackie head to a salt farm while [Nestor], [Makoy], and Abel hold off the remaining threat. Tatang tracks Mackie down, transforming into a winged aswang, but Sonia hurls salt and Makoy strikes Tatang with the whip. Sonia catches Mackie as Tatang is destroyed, and the family decides to move to Manila, embracing Makoy’s transformed life as a partner and father, hopeful for a future where they can start anew.