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