Zombie Walk highlights Baguio Festival of Horrors

Photo by Valerie Damian / Inquirer Northern Luzon

BAGUIO CITY, Benguet, Philippines — “Zombies” and other horrific creatures shambled down Session Road on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 27, as part of the Festival of Horrors that concluded a weekend of Halloween activities in the summer capital.

Many of the zombies were volunteers who were dressed up on the spot and given a “creature make-over” for the ninth staging of the Zombie Walk, which was the highlight of the horror festival.

The festival drew children, who lined up for candy treats and participated in a Halloween costume competition on Sunday morning. Some of their parents joined parlor games or sat down for costume changes so they could take part in the parade.

Carl Paolo Corpuz, who organized the first Zombie Walk in 2011, said he was inspired by a similar event he witnessed in Canada.

“We want to inspire people of all ages to be creative,” Corpuz said.

Apart from the instant zombies, teens and children who joined the walk portrayed characters from popular horror movies such as Stephen King’s Pennywise the clown, Jack Skellington from the animated film “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” Frankenstein’s monster and Batman villain the Joker.

Some of the adults contributed to the spooky atmosphere by dressing up as the deformed humanoids from the movie series, “Wrong Turn” and Valak and Annabelle from the Conjuring movie franchise.

On Saturday (Oct. 26), a thousand grade school, high school and college students from the University of Baguio paraded and danced along Session Road, while portraying characters like the Joker and Game of Thrones “white walkers.”

Photo by Valerie Damian / Inquirer Northern Mindanao