Rachel (Christine Bermas) lived and grew up in Baguio City. She was an anthropologist, very proud of her cultural heritage. She has a black belt in martial arts and used it to protect the rights of indigenous people. She was about to fly to Melbourne to take up her masteral studies for two years. She also wanted to get together with her mother (Yayo Aguila) who had emigrated there years ago, after her father (Lander Vera Perez) met a violent death.
One night, Rachel joined her girlfriends Sidney (Chloe Jenna) and Hannah (Alexa Ocampo) to meet up with three men from Manila -- Julius (Felix Roco), Dennis (Arron Villaflor), and Vince (Sid Lucero). After dancing in the club, they all went over to the house of an artist pal of theirs Elijah (Mark Anthony Fernandez). When they got there, aside from more booze, drugs also got served. What happened next was not what anybody in that house had planned.
The build up of Rachel's character was very good. She's an authority in her field, and passionate with her advocacy. She had even tattoos of indigenous design adorning her upper torso. A big deal was made about the return of a stolen headhunters axe back to the Philippines, and Rachel was there to receive it. Vivamax viewers will already suspect at this point that this axe was going to figure prominently in the violence later on.
The entire Act 2 was just so difficult to watch, even for die-hard Vivamax fans. All that beast-like brutality did not really deserve this much screen time. These scenes just went on too long, too painful, too triggering, too maddening. Viewers do not need that much detail of beastial behavior to hate those damned rapists. Villaflor's Dennis and Fernandez's Elijah were just the worst of the lot there, pure evil was just burning in their eyes.
From "Siklo" to "Relyebo," Christine Bermas had already proved that she was the best actress among the Vivamax bevy of sirens. Bermas was so convincing as smart and independent Rachel in Act 1, such that it was hard to believe why she allowed herself to get trapped in that dangerous situation at all. There were red flags aplenty since the club. When Hannah was already vomiting like crazy, and Rachel still accepts more booze right after -- really?
The final scene of axe-wielding Rachel in black walking to her car and the uncertain fate of all but one of the bad guys seems to promise a Part 2. We are game for this sequel to see more of Bermas's fighting skills, however director Law Fajardo should innovate things in order to distinguish his film from being yet another "Angela Markado." We already see one more kill in a mid-credit scene. The sequel should not just be more variations of the same scene. 3/10.
Another stupid movie by this moron director. No more sequel, forgodsake.
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