December 30, 2022
Me-ann (Heaven Peralejo) was the kept woman of a policeman she called Chief (Ian Veneracion). One day, she was picked up by Chief's driver Mang Boy (Jan Urbano) and driven out of town for a secret rendezvous at a remote mansion up north. She was made aware of where the house was located. She was not allowed to take any selfies (but she did). Phone signal was spotty so calls kept getting dropped.
That night, their tryst was interrupted by a middle-aged male intruder (Mon Confiado) who seemed to be out of his right mind. After killing Mang Boy, he tied Chief and Me-ann up and held them hostage at gunpoint. The man, who introduced himself as Soliman, was claiming that Chief was holding his two kidnapped daughters Love and Joy somewhere in the house, and demanded them back or else.
Writer-director Shugo Praico put together a taut and tense crime-thriller set inside the confines of single big house with many rooms, doors and windows. To make the situation feel even more closed-in, this particular house had to have chains and locks on its doors and even its front gate. However, as things would unfold in this film, there seemed to be no logical reason to have these excessive security measures at all.
The contrived story actually followed the Vivamax formula to a T only with sleeker production values. It starts with pleasurable sex romps in the first act, which eventually turn into violent bloodbaths at the final act. However, the main difference here is that the sex part was very tame despite the lurid sugar daddy scenario. Peralejo's skimpiest was a 2-piece bikini, while Veneracion kept long-sleeved shirt and pants on at all times.
Ian Veneracion playing against type as a character with a sinister streak, a feat that already won him the Best Actor award. Mon Confiado can play a mad hostage taker with his eyes blindfolded, but his character flitted in and out of sanity illogically. Heaven Peralejo was convincing as a shallow money-grubbing mistress even as her Me-ann made some of the most foolish and head-scratching decisions. 6/10.
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