A superstitious belief discourages people from watching horror movies during Good Friday, but an ambulance driver and a nurse are stubborn enough to dismiss this, not knowing they have attracted spirits and supernatural creatures.

This is what director Alvin Yapan’s first full horror film, "Ang Tulay ng San Sebastian," explores, while highlighting urban legends and myths that remain popular among Filipinos.

“There’s this superstitious belief that during Holy Friday you do not tell ghost stories to each other because if you do these, ghost stories will actually happen to you because Christ is ‘dead’ and He’s not there to watch over you and protect you from these evil things,” he told Mornings @ ANC.

Yapan said for his first ever full horror film he decided to gather almost all the mythological creatures that are most popular to Filipinos, including the tiyanak and the White Lady.

“I actually gathered together in one film almost all mythological horror creatures that we have in the Philippines, we have a tiyanak, we have zombies, we have the demon, not to give away too much, and we have so many other ghost spirits lurking around the bridge of San Sebastian,” he said.

But the director said while every element required for a horror movie is made present in the film, the obra went beyond the scare.

He said he wants to expose the weaknesses and anxieties of men when they lose control.

"I notice actually with the horror stories that we have, that I put together in this film, all these creatures actually are connected to fears or anxiety of men about their control over society, about their control over women, over their fellowmen," he said.

“As a scriptwriter, as a director, I had to get that in to give the material some depth and that it’s not just a scary movie, it’s actually more of a psychological film towards the end," he added.

Shot in just nine days, Yapan said the film was very difficult to make, as the shootings were held during daytime while 80 percent of the scenes are supposed to happen during night.

“Because we don't have enough budget to bring in all the lights to shoot night scenes. Eighty percent of the film should be occurring during the nighttime and we had to shoot it during the daytime just to get the effect of the lights, then we graded it in post-production to make it look like it happened during the night, it’s very difficult,” he said.

One of the film's main actors, Sandino Martin, said the setup also posed a big challenge for them.

“It’s so hard for us actors to imagine there are ghosts during daytime, or it’s so hard for us actors reimagine things that it’s so dark everywhere and then you’re running, so it should be a conscious effort for us actors to think that it should be night,” Martin said.

"Ang Tulay ng San Sebastian" is an entry to this year's CineFilipino Film Festival, which runs from March 16-22. The film, starring Joem Bascon and Martin, is scheduled for screening at Gateway Cineplex, Shangri-la Cineplex, New Port Cinemas, Robinsons Galleria Movieworld, Greenhills Theater Mall Cinemas, Eastwood Mall Cinemas, Robinsons Metro East Movieworld and Festival Mall Cinemas.