Maligno (TV series)


Maligno is an ABS-CBN primetime horror-thriller which was the second installment of Sineserye Presents: The Susan Roces Cinema Collection.
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, 2008 to May 23, 2008 replacing Palos.

Overview

Origin

It is based on 1977 film starring the Queen of Philippine Movies, Susan Roces, that won her second FAMAS Best Actress trophy. The 1977 movie was directed by Celso Ad. Castillo, who also wrote the original screenplay together with Dominador B. Mirasol.
The film stars included Dante Rivero, Celia Rodriguez, and Eddie Garcia. The film revolves about Angela after being impregnated by an evil force, she fears that her child will be the Evil One's offspring.

Synopsis

The Chosen Carrier

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.

The Cult

A Satanic worship is being emphasized in the story, the cult 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 death that was believed to be done by the devil, they're the ones who clean up and make the scenes appear like accidents.

The Curse of the Son

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.
CharacterCause of deathEpisode
MaxA bus plows in him at a high speed, causing him to die.Episode 1
LarryMinutes 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
GladyaIn 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
SelyaSelya was killed by a cult member while in the car crying in fear, a man surprisingly appeared behind them, covered her in the head with a plastic bag and stabbed her in the head.Episode 1
The Cortez's unborn sonPrecisely, the family who adopted Angela had a baby but on the birth time, the baby was dead when born.Episode 2
Angela's maidsIt was believed that before Lucas raped Angela, he killed all her maids first.Episode 3
MarissaAngela'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 PaparazziFound 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 PriestHe was supposed to christen Angelo but was found dead inside a cabinet on the same day.
Belen - The first nannyHer head was cut off by a wire while she tried to run away from the devil.

Cast and characters

Main cast

Extended cast

Guest cast

A DVD containing all 20 episodes of Maligno was released by Star Home Video on June 20, 2008.