March 26, 2021
Married couple Roy (Gardo Versoza) and Lia (Andrea del Rosario) and their daughter Aurora (Via Ortega) were attacked in their provincial mansion by an unknown entity (Mark Anthony Fernandez). This caused the death of Lia who sacrificed herself to keep her family safe. A year later, Roy invited his spiritualist niece Grace (Ella Cruz) to help keep his house safe. With each passing day, everyone experienced more and more eerie occurrences until the climactic confrontation of good vs. evil.
Director Pedring Lopez is just coming from the critical and commercial success of his action film "Maria" (2019), so I was looking forward to this follow-up. He did try his best to keep things tense and spooky with his interesting camera angles and mirror reflections. However, the story was spread out so thin for five days before the events culminated on titular Good Friday. There was not really much the director can do to stretch the limited substance out to fill the 90 minute run time.
I admired Ella Cruz in her award-winning performance in "Edward" (2019). Here as Grace though, Cruz seemed half-hearted in her acting, never really getting fully into her character. She did not look convincing when she was doing her Native American smudging or Tibetan singing bowl rituals, or even when she was supposed to be reading books. Cruz's very casual choice of wardrobe may be an effort to break the stereotype of people with such abilities, but these clothes only made Grace even less credible.
Gardo Versoza can get quite over-the-top hammy whenever his character Roy gets angry or scared, or chopping a cucumber. Mark Anthony Fernandez did look very sinister, but then again anyone with white upper eyelids will have that effect. Via Ortega is being in introduced this film but her Lia did not really have much to do for much of the film but look glassy-eyed or panicked. She was taller and bigger than the petite Ella Cruz so their scenes together looked rather awkward.
The production design and visual effects consisted mostly of the usual scare tactics in Filipino horror films. Events happening during Holy Week, check. The big, darkly-lit mansion in the province, check. Spooky paintings on the walls, check. The creepy religious icons all over the house, including a number still draped in white cloth, check. Quaint folk rituals to ward off evil spirits, check. The number 666, check. Ominous music and jumpy sound effects, check.
However, just when I was about to write this one off, a big shocker of an un-Catholic twist came at the climax on Good Friday. I may not like its ultimate message, but I have to admit that was quite a daring, out-of-the-box ending for a Filipino horror film. 4/10
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