Valentina, Darna's snake-haired arch enemy, is trying to take over the Phillipines through subliminal messages on religious TV shows. Darna has her own problems, however, as she has lost her magic pearl and with it the ability to transform into her scantily clad super self. Trapped as her alter-ego, the plucky reporter Narda, she must try to regain the pearl and foil Valentina's plans.
An English-speaking manananggal (a malevolent, blood sucking monster) spreads terror in Manila. The manananggal is a Philippines mythical creature described as scary, often hideous, usually depicted as female, and always capable of severing its upper torso and sprouting huge bat-like wings to fly into the night in search of its victims.
The first team-up of Richard Gomez and Carmina Villaruel, playing Ardo and Rosel in this action flick, which is at the same time Ishmael Bernal's last film that is an attack on the religious establishment. Together, they become a part of Manila's petty underworld. After all the ordeals they encounter, they realize that they lost their innocence as they brush with evil and corruption. But they still survive the ordeal and make a new life somewhere else.
