Dikit (2021)

Dikit is a short horror film written and directed by Gabriela Serrano and produced by her sister Jayne. It was inspired by a lost silent film as well as the isolation incurred during the early part of the covid pandemic.

A young woman watches as a couple move in next door. The new neighbors have no idea what her evenings consist of, if they did, they would turn around and speed away. Yet they, too, are hiding a gruesome secret. One night the attached horrors will collide.

“Female creature who flew into the night hunting for pregnant women…and their wombs…craving the one thing her own body could never produce. For her body feared by many was split in two.”
I had to do a little research to figure out what the intro was talking about and the hints in the film. This was an updated folktale about the manananggal, a usually female creature that fed on pregnant women and/or their fetuses. It could split in half at the waist, leaving its lower extremities behind while it hunted. In some stories it could sprout bat wings and this character did indeed have scars on her back and waist. The screen was split, with the manananggal on the left and the pregnant neighbor on the right. No words were spoken aloud, the music and the action telling their stories. Serrano did a great job of pacing the story so that the viewer could follow both halves as they played out. The music, while simple, also created the perfect mood as both halves’ horrors were revealed.

I found the theme for Dikit hard to follow at first. In fact, I went back and watched it again. As I watched I remembered that a woman is most susceptible to partner violence when she is pregnant. In real life pregnant women’s injuries and deaths are not caused by demons. Unlike some humans who are evil, there are monsters who can transform into heroes.

7 May 2025

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