08 Saturday Aug 2020
Posted in Movie Reviews, Video Essays
Tags
cinemalaya, cinemalaya 2020, experimental, fatigued, Horror, independent film, james mayo, psychological, short film
Fatigued offers a glimpse of a bleak and horrifying dream. It brings the viewers in what looks like a simulation game where they have to interact with what is happening on the screen.
29 Friday Nov 2019
Posted in Essays
Tags
Asian cinema, bea alonzo, Charo Santos, Eerie, Horror, Michael Red, Movie review, Netflix, philippine cinema, Western horror
The genre of horror has always been looked down on in the international film scene. Critics look at horror films as crass and informal, not worthy of ‘serious’ analysis and examination. Often, they are categorized as either niche films or B movies. But for a third world country like the Philippines, where cultural workers serve as social critiques too, horror films are successful in the box office and with the critical audience. In fact, the longest-running film franchise in the country, is Shake Rattle and Roll, a horror film with 15 installments as of 2014. In this video essay, we examine a Filipino horror film that made rounds in the international film scene through its Netflix release – the 2018 film Eerie directed by Mikhail Red. We discuss how Eerie failed to fulfill two known categories in the horror genre.
14 Sunday Feb 2016
Posted in Movie Reviews
Tags
Burr Steers, comedy, film review, Horror, Jack Huston, Jane Austen, Lily James, Movie review, novel, parody, Pride and Prejudice, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Sam Riley, satire, Seth Grahame-Smith
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies puts a dark twist on the beloved classic tale by Jane Austen. Based on Seth Grahame-Smith’s parody novel of the same name, the romance-action flick retells the highs and lows of the Bennet sisters’ respective love stories as you’ll remember them from Pride and Prejudice. Also woven into the plot is the looming threat of a zombie apocalypse.
18 Monday Jan 2016
Posted in Movie Reviews
Tags
2016, action, Antonette Taus, Benjie Paras, Bob ong, Candy Pangilinan, Christine Reyes, comedy, Herbert Bautista, Horror, Jason Gainza, Lumayo Ka Nga Sa Akin, Maricel Soriano, Movie review, Paolo Ballesteros, parody, philippine cinema, philippines, romance, viva films
Lumayo Ka Nga Sa Akin brings to the big screen a myriad of tales mocking the rotting aspects of Philippine cinema. Its imitation is flattering. But as it further immerses itself into the quicksand of clichés, expected endings, and unconvincing editing, it loses its grip on its real purpose. The film ironically ended to be just like the materials it ridiculed and laughed at.
17 Thursday Dec 2015
Posted in Movie Reviews
Tags
2015, cesar montano, film, Horror, maria ozawa, meg imperial, metro manila film festival, mmff 2015, Movie review, nilalang, Review, thriller, viva films
As an official entry to the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF), Nilalang claims that it is offering something new to the table. It declares that it can even pass international standards of filmmaking (relatively, though, to the MMFF trends from previous years). In all fairness, Nilalang truly knows how to please a crowd. It has blood, sex, and Maria Ozawa. The problem however is, when you strip it off of its appealing veneer, we see a half-baked, run-of-the-mill paranormal action film that admires itself as something more than it actually is. A work of art that gives too much labor on one of its elements while overlooking the others, then regards itself as excellent, is arrogant to say the least.
