lent

In the winter of 1959, a single mother and her young daughter arrive in a rural French town, where they open an unusual chocolate shop that disrupts the moral fiber of the strictly Catholic townsfolk and mayor.

Fact and fiction collide in this exploitation flick that employs documentary footage depicting the bizarre self-flagellation rituals of the fanatical Catholic sect known as the Penitentes. Mixed with those truly disturbing sequences is a story concerning a killing in New Mexico, itself inspired by the murder of real-life reporter Carl Taylor as he worked on an article on the Penitentes.

In rural Louisiana, 11-year-old Sabine's widower father misses Ash Wednesday Mass, so she pushes him to give up drinking for Lent. He breaks his vow, evoking the wrath of the ROUGAROU, a mythical bayou beast who punishes bad Catholics. Now Sabine has to step up to save him from the monster or risk losing her only living parent.

It's the Holy Week, the end of Lent, a popular time for Filipinos to have a vacation. A young couple travels to Baguio to escape the Metro's summer heat. But before they reach the city proper, their jeep breaks down. Fortunately, they find a transient house with a room to spare. The housekeeper is a mysterious fellow, warm but dreadfully awkward. The couple doesn't mind him though and they even make it an adventure to find out more about their host by asking locals what they know about the house and its keeper. Come Good Friday, the day God dies, they will discover that adventures and vacations don't go well together all the time.