Mikhail Red on the audience reactions to 'Deleter': 'Music to my ears 'yung mga screams nila'

A lot of hard work and creativity went into the top Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) movie “Deleter,” which stars Nadine Lustre and is directed by Mikhail Red.

The award-winning film centers on Lyra, a content moderator who views all online posts and must choose which ones to delete. She deletes this one specific video that causes mysterious things to happen, including this vengeful presence that haunts her. On top of this, Lyra also struggles with her own deep trauma.

In an interview on “Surprise Guest with Pia Arcangel,” Mikhail said that he wanted to explore the “very secretive, shadowy” jobs of the moderators, the exploitation on social media, and the internet age.

“There have been interviews [and] articles on them pero very rarely pa sila na-feature in a genre fictional film,” he said.

“So it’s good na a movie like this can reach a bigger audience. So na-e-explore natin 'yung subject and at the same time, ma-e-entertain natin 'yung mga tao and [it] looks like everyone’s enjoying the film,” he added.

Direk Mikhail said that they were all surprised when the film was included in the MMFF lineup, and what’s even better is the audience’s reactions.

“As a horror filmmaker, you reach a point where [you] need the reaction of the audience diba to know na this is effective, kasi ikaw you know na [the] bells and whistles and everything behind the magic trick,” he said.

When they watched the film during the premiere, their reactions were also recorded.

“I think that's what [got] 'yung interest ng mga tao. It was [parang] music to my ears 'yung mga screams nila, parang ganun.”

“Deleter” is still running in cinemas nationwide. —Nika Roque/JCB, GMA Integrated News