Shake, Rattle and Roll 12 (2010): Movie review

I remember growing up with Shake, Rattle and Roll. I remember hiding under my blanket when I go to sleep. I remember the fear I had when I was still a kid because of the monsters of SRR. Will the 12th installment of SRR renew the fear that I got over with a long time ago? Read to find out.

Synopsis:
As usual, SRR is composed of three episodes. The First episode, Mamanyika, is about a little girl who finds a doll when she visits their dead mother in the cemetery. She takes the doll home and calls the doll mama, little did she know that what thrives inside the doll is an evil spirit. Her elder sister (Shaina Magdyao) discovers what the doll can do and must do everything to destroy the doll. The second episode, Isla, is about a heartbroken girl (Andi Eigenmann) who goes into an island with her friends. The island is home to engkantos called "Lambana" who target virgin tourists. The king of the Lambanas gets attracted to Andi Eigenman and her friends must do everything to protect her before the engkantos will take her to their kingdom. The third episode, Punerarya, is about a private tutor (Carla Abellana) who encounters a weird family who lives in a funeral parlor. She later finds out what the family is hiding and tries to escape, but the family won't let her.

Review:
The first episode focused on surprising the audience instead of scaring them. Originality and creativity is the weakness of the first episode as it is a rehash of  many other movies about evil dolls. We don't need to make more of them. It actually became a laughing stock with the absurdity of the scenes. The second episode is actually worse. Lousy acting from the leads and a very boring, unoriginal plot. The first two episodes are forgettable and not worth an hour of our lives. The movie was saved by the third episode. The story presented was something we're not familiar with and the twist in the end made a lot of sense. It introduced a new type of thrill (you have to watch it for you to know what it is). Kudos to Carla Abellana's very convincing acting. I could have given SRR a perfect rating had they presented a plot as brilliant as Punerarya.

Rating: 2.5/5

DALAW (2010): Movie Review

Being a sucker for horror flicks, I chose Dalaw over other MMFF entries as the first movie to watch. My expectations were high given that the movie's top-billed by none other than the Queen of all Media and the Horror Queen Kris Aquino. I admit I had a little doubt with how the movie's going to turn out with a rookie director (director Dondon Santos) on its helm. Was the movie worth my bucks? Read to find out.

Synopsis (from http://dalaw.starcinema.com.ph)
For the sake of her own son, Paolo (Maliksi Morales), Stella (Kris Aquino) is re-married to to another man, Anton (Diether Ocampo), in the hopes of having a whole and peaceful family life. However, after the wedding, she experiences major haunting that endangers her life and the people around her. All of the clues are pointing to her dead husband. Feeling guilty of her ex-husband's death, Stella tries to save her family from the ghost's wrath. Along the way, secrets start to unravel and Stella is now unsure of who is haunting her and why she's being haunted.

Review:
The first half of the movie will keep you gripping on your seats with its full-throttle horror and very effective acting. Credits to Gina Pareño who brought in the comic relief. As expected, her acting was brilliant. I felt Kris' portrayal to the role's no different from her roles in her previous horror films. I felt like i was watching Feng Shui or Sukob with how she delivered her role (you know, calling out of names, worried look, constant running and stumbling). Diether's portrayal was okay. I didn't expect much from him anyway. Karylle's acting was a revelation. She was very convincing and you can feel her pain in the early part of the movie. I think the formula for our local horror flicks have been exhausted too much that the story becomes predictable. The twist was predictable knowing Star Cinema and how it does its movies. The writers could have thought of a better twist. Another thing, the climax should be the point of great intensity to propel a movie to greatness but ironically, Dalaw's climax was the biggest mistake of the movie. How could you explain a ghost who is as powerful as the devil, who can control the weather, be in two places at once and the most hilarious, a ghost that is solid? Yes, a tangible ghost that you can kick and scratch if you want to. Also, how the problem in the movie was resolved is a BIG JOKE! No kidding, I was like "Huh? Ganun Lang?". Although the movie is a horror flick, the writers could have grounded it on reality (does it make any sense? anyway, you'll get my point) to make it believable.

Overall, the movie is not that good. You know the feeling leaving out of the cinema asking yourself what the hell happened? You'll surely have that kind of feeling after watching Dalaw. The second half of the movie reduced the horror film into a cheap, slapstick comedy. Too bad main stream, "bakya" formula got into Star Cinema already.

Rating: 2/5