October 2, 2026
Marcel Soriano (Sassa Gurl) was a queer college student from Baguio City. She was now staying in a reported haunted dormitory called La Santa Muerte run by Ms. Heidi Nalang (Mae Paner), together with her BFFs Suzy (Pipay) and Jamba (Gaia Poly). She creates vertical romance video series "Never Say Die" on the side. The main male character on her videos is based on her childhood best friend and crush, Miguel (Joao Constancia).
After several years of being away with no communication, Miguel returned to Baguio City one day to stay in the same dormitory as Marcel. As they met each other everyday now, the two friends rekindled their long-buried attraction and affection for each other. One night, the two were supposed to meet each other for dinner, each one intending to tell something to the other. As cruel fate would have it, that date never happened.
This LGBT-themed horror-romance-comedy film was written and directed by Rodina Singh, known for her past two acclaimed films "Mamu: and a Mother Too" (2018) and "Dreambois" (2025). This film was about how a ghost in the afterworld kept trying for 40 days to accomplish her unfinished business to confess her true feelings to the man she loved. While the intention was all good, the execution of that vision into film turned out too unwieldy and confusing.
Sassagurl and Joao Constancia both had a strong screen presence and they knew how to play it up. Sassagurl smartly played Marcel as sweet and sensible, not loud and hysterical. Singh seemed to have directed Constancia's scenes with an eye to titillate the gay audience, shooting him in intimate angles and provocative posturing at the camera. Fortunately, the two did have good chemistry with each other, which worked in the film's advantage.
Singh devoted a major part of the film to over-the-top LGBT-ness which tended to be intentionally too gaudy and noisy. There were four flashy and flamboyant lost souls -- Judith (John Lapus), Gloria (Iyah Mina), Chona (Phi Palmos), Azon (Inah Evans) -- who taught Marcel how to get through to Miguel via haunting, poltergeisting, manifesting, communing and possessing. Sounds interesting, but frankly these scenes did not really make much sense
There was also an angle about a video game Miguel constantly played called "Zombie Bride" which was given prominent screen time. It was also the reason why Miguel got into a fight with dorm bully Doglas (Buboy Villar). When it broke down, Miguel had to bring it to a repair shop where it was first checked by a weirdo Technician (Christian Antolin), and later by her sister Rudy (Kaladkaren). What all this had to do with his relationship with Marcel, I had no idea.
Despite my mixed personal observations, this film still won the Audience Choice Award, likely from its largely Gen Z target audience. I am also not sure how it won the Puregold Always Panalo award, supposedly for films that best embody the brand's core "Always Panalo" spirit. It also won for Ricardo Rico's half-sentimental, half-ghoulish Production Design, yet it is now hounded for supposedly using generative AI to achieve its special effects. 5/10
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