November 22, 2023
Dean Francisco (Tess Dumpit-Michelina) decided to revive Sinag-Diwa, the long-dormant theater group of her college, with Miss Sandra Gimeno (Louise delos Reyes) as project coordinator. Among the initial group of students to apply were: sensitive Cristina (Ashtine Olviga), hyperactive Ellie (Yumi Garcia), introvert Dianne (Sara Joe), responsible Lee (JD Axie) and pranksters Mark (Ethan David) and Joey (Taneo Sebastian).
However, their rehearsals inside the old college theater Socorro Hall were never peaceful. Someone would always have an eerie experience inside, whether on the stage, or backstage, or in the seats. Elderly school janitor Selmo (Neil Tolentino) told an old story about a dangerous malevolent spirit within named Marita (Rhen Escano), and warned them not to enter Socorro alone, but the Dean merely dismissed this as an urban legend.
This new horror film produced by Viva Films, comes just four months after the sleeper success of "Mary Cherry Chua" last July. They were both named for the angry ghost of a former student haunting an old school with her sinister shenanigans. Both films were written and directed by Roni Benaid, who certainly struck while his iron was hot, and came up with an immediate follow-up with relatively the same formula in a little over four months.
I liked the theater setting of the story, and the reason why Marita became a ghost there was quite original. However, there were plot holes which were carelessly explained away with shallow illogical reasons, such as drunkenness or fear of being fired. The dictatorial order of the Dean in this film was totally unexplained. There should have been a good reason why she was so insistent for the show to go on, despite the obvious dangers to her students.
Like in "Mary Cherry," there was also only one main hostile ghost here. (While there were plenty other spirits around, they had no sinister actions). The jumpscares were mainly variations of how "Marita" ugly white visage would suddenly appear beside the face of an unsuspecting victim accompanied by loud blare of scary music -- then hoping to startle and shock at least one jumpy audience member to get the screaming fun started.
Rhen Escano looked like she had a great time playing the titular ghost scaring all the nervous youngsters, but she also did the flashbacks of Marita's past very well. Louise delos Reyes tended to be over-the-top with her acting, with some dense dialogue, but then again her character Sandra called herself out on her theatricality. The rest of young actors are still quite raw and callow, still needing more workshops to hone their acting skills. 4/10.
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