EVEN as a child, he knew fear. He lived near it and it found a home in his young imagination.

Gilbert “Bart” Coronel had always found his great grandparents’ house to be foreboding. The old house dominated the compound where he lived and he described it as “a big wooden house full of life-size statues of saints and portraits of my departed relatives. I always had the fear of being trapped there alone at night.”

He never forgot that sensation. The idea of fear struck a chord in him, and even though Coronel had only read one horror novel ever (“Dracula” by Bram Stoker), he became a huge fan of horror movies. His all-time favorite is the recent “The Exorcism of Emily Rose,” a flick he likes more than the classic creeper “The Exorcist.”

But he knew of true horror the day that the Manila Film Center imploded back on November 17, 1981, killing a number of workers that ranged from the official seven fatalities to the rumored 150. Coronel was taking up Marketing Management at De La Salle University when it happened. “I remember the front-page story complete with pictures, but the following day there was no more mention of it.”

The Film Center has since become part of the city’s mother lode of haunted lore, but Coronel experienced the Film Center itself first hand in a different capacity. “My friends and I used to watch R-rated films of the Experimental Cinema of the Philippines between classes,” he recalls.

Amid the stories of eerie happenings at the Film Center, Coronel zoomed in on the subsequent séances held there. He thought of one particular séance: “I followed the séances by the Spirit Questors inside the Film Center and how they were unable to rid the place of its resident spirits. I wondered, what if something or someone was preventing them from leaving? From there, I came up with a plot.”

That plot became the skeleton of Coronel’s most ambitious project, a horror novel centered on the Film Center, a project made even more ambitious by the fact that he had little professional writing experience. “I used to write speeches for my parents,” he explains. “I once wrote to the Inquirer about the need for a motorist handbook and that appeared in the Opinion section. Those were my only writing credentials.”

Serendipitously, he found back issues of Writer’s Digest in Greenhills for just P20. “I just started typing away with my plot about the Film Center. I got excited when I finished one chapter so I went on to the next and so on.”

Starting out in 2003, Coronel finished his first draft in 2004 but found no takers as he went from one publisher to another. Then he heard that rising publisher Visual Print Enterprises (Visprint for short)—home of the best-selling Bob Ong books—was seeking submissions. He sent a cover letter with two chapters and soon was asked for the complete corpus. Weeks later came the call: “Tragic Theater,” the debut novel of G.M. Coronel (his pen name) was going to be published for real. Understandably proud, Coronel remembers the day he got the first copy of his book: “It was like holding your first-born child—you can’t stop looking at it.”

Set in 1999, “Tragic Theater” presents an interesting what-if regarding the Film Center. In it, the Department of Tourism, represented by twenty-something Annie Francisco, wants the Film Center to be freed of its unearthly “occupants” so the building could be used. Annie recruits Fr. Nilo Marcelo to perform the exorcism. But when they go ahead with their attempt, something goes very, very wrong and horrifying events ensue. One character becomes the prize and the battlefield between opposing forces, the past rears its hidden, hideous head and the Film Center becomes a trap in more ways than one. The supernatural avalanche that follows is especially chilling.

“I told my wife when I was writing the manuscript that I wanted a story that will haunt my imagination,” Coronel says. “I hope the effect will be the same with the readers.”

Even though “Tragic Theater” has some truly terrifying séance scenes, Coronel himself has never attended one; he simply did his research. It helps that he admittedly believes in the supernatural and claims to have had personal experiences with it, but these haven’t shaken him. “I don’t get scared as much now. In fact, I enjoy watching horror movies alone.”

When he is not pondering things that make you go boo, the 45-year-old Coronel serves as a Utilization Reviewer for call center Medicall Philippines and is married to Agnes Calalang-Coronel. They have three daughters aged 17 to 7. But he is also absorbing every experience that goes with being a first-time author, particularly at the recent Manila International Book Fair at the World Trade Center, where “Tragic Theater” was launched. “Everything was a first to me. I’ve never been part of a book fair. I never had anyone asking for my autograph before, let alone asking to have pictures taken with me. When you see someone buying the fruit of your hard work, it brings about an indescribable feeling.”

The very idea of books has now become the telltale heart of his creative process. “I like horror films but I don’t think I can ever make a horror movie,” Coronel says. “So I’d rather tell my stories through words. I believe there is still a big market for horror novels.”

For someone who has proven so adept at scaring others, he has never been afraid of the future. “Tragic Theater” is only the beginning for this newly-minted maker of the macabre. “Those who’ve read the book asked me if there’s a sequel,” Bart Coronel reveals. “Yes, there is, and I’m currently writing it.”

Well, after all, the horror show must go on. •

“Tragic Theater” by G.M. Coronel is published by Visual Print Enterprises and is available at leading bookstores.