June 17, 2022
It was semestral break at St. Benedict's School, and everyone has gone home. Lance (Marco Gumabao) and Ellie (Ryza Cenon) organized a party at the rooftop with the other four students who have decided to stay behind: Chris (Andrew Muhlach), Jessica (Rhen Escano), Martin (Marco Gallo) and Wave (Ella Cruz). They convince the two maintenance men Mang Ben (Allan Paule) and Paul (Epy Quizon) to grant them access to the forbidden area.
However, their night of drinking and carousing came to a sudden end when a prank goes horribly wrong and someone fell off the edge of the building into the grounds below. The friends began arguing among themselves as to who was to blame and whether to report the tragedy to the police or not. They decided to keep the whole accident a secret until the morning when the cook Caring (Lui Manansala) came in. Then, the body began to move.
Director Yam Laranas is known for his atmospheric horror films, like "The Echo" (2004), "The Road" (2011) and "Aurora" (2018), all of which he also did the remarkable cinematography. His camera skills for creating claustrophobic terror was still very evident in this latest work of his, though not exactly to the level of those aforementioned films. As with the usual formula, the hauntings were subtle at first, soon escalating into deadly confrontations.
Cenon's enigmatic Ellie was supposed to be the level-headed girl, but she was the main proponent of the rooftop party and the prank gone wrong. Gumabao played up the stereotype of the rich spoiled jock Lance, while Muhlach was his willing wingman supplying the booze and the drugs. Escano stood out with her party girl vibe, but Gallo did not convince as a religious nerd, while Cruz was wasted as a simpering freshman.
Epy Quizon adds to his array of quirky characters with his portrayal of Paul, the shy over-aged Agriculture student who worked as a maintenance man on the side, a ripe target for naughty privileged brats. He spent the majority of his onscreen time wearing creepy prosthetic make-up, with his skull caved in and his right eye popped out of its socket. Even so, he seemed to be enjoying his whole time as the vengeful spirit who terrorized his heartless bullies. 5/10.
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