The TV adaptation is the third and final part of the ABS-CBN horror anthology series, Sineserye Presents The Susan Roces Cinema Collection, which featured the movie queen’s horror classics.
Susan Roces is the Queen of Philippine Movies.
It’s a fact not too many would dare to refute, even though the movie industry has already seen the rise of several movie royalties, through the years. She worked in 17 films with her husband, Fernando Poe Jr., alone, and nearly five dozen more with other leading men.
Roces is not just a regular movie queen; she received several other royalty titles too. She was in fact, an original horror movie queen, made possible by her many successful horror movies.
Three of those movies were adapted by ABS-CBN in 2008, for its new Sineserye Presents season. The drama-anthology featured TV adaptation of some classic Filipino movies. The Sineserye Presents Susan Roces Collection featured three of the veteran actress’s biggest horror hits: Patayin Sa Sindak Si Barbara, Maligno, and Florinda.
For Florinda, the Diamond Star Maricel Soriano portrayed the title role, which was originally played by Roces in the original 1973 film. The series follows the titular Florinda who is being hunted by the ghost of her mother, Doña Cristina Gonzales. The old matriarch disapproves Florinda’s relationship with Ramil (Jay Manalo). When Doña Cristina dies, the two think they can finally peacefully settle down, but they are wrong as the old woman continued to haunt them even from the grave. On the day of their wedding, Ramil suddenly disappears. Devastated, Florinda bitterly moves on, but the ghost of her mother and Rami’s not showing up at their wedding.
Florinda meets mother-and-daughter, Criselda (Cherry Pie Picache) and Mara (Nikki Gil), whom she remembers from her past. Criselda used to work for Ramil’s family. She welcomes them as new helpers. From then on, more terrifying horrors begin to haunt Florinda and her new home. Death ensues and Florinda thinks she is losing her head. However, a shocking revelation ultimately proves she isn’t, and that the horrors she experienced at the ancestral house are purely staged by the envious Criselda, who later on is revealed to have kept Ramil in a secret part of his own house.
Florinda also starred Roxanne Guinoo, Zanjoe Marudo, William Martinez, and Carla Martinez.
Do you remember the thrills and creeps from this series? Browse through the photo gallery below to see still and set photos from the series. Don’t forget to drop a comment below:
