I caught this indie film on TV last night. I did not see the very beginning so I had no idea what genre this film was at first. I did not even know the title.
The first scene I saw was Karissa (Meryl Soriano) minding her sidewalk barbecue stand with her friend Anton (Ping Medina). She was expressing her admiration for her frequent customer Carlos (Albert Martinez) and his wife Portia (Maricel Soriano). The scene was bright, and Meryl was so happy, I thought it was just a charming film about an adolescent crush. Little did I know that it was a total opposite of my first impression.
When there came a scene of blood dripping down on Anton's face from Karissa's handkerchief, only then did I know that I was watching a horror film. It turns out that Anton's grandmother (played by a wizened Estrella Kuenzler) is a practitioner of the traditional black magic known as "Numbalikdiwa". This was a rite that involved preparing and eating another person's flesh in order to possess that person's soul. Yes folks, this film actually dealt on cannibalism!!!
However, the sequence of events that led to the lives of Karissa and Anton being literally intermixed with those of Carlos and Portia was very well-told and executed by the director and writer Bobby Bonifacio. The basic love story plot of Karissa and Anton was still evident there amidst the occult rites and the innards. The casting of Meryl and Maricel Soriano was a stroke of genius given the developments in the story. The very natural acting of the leads, especially Meryl and Ping, still made this film compelling to finish, despite what it is about.
It went a little bit overboard with the gore. It could have been more subtly done. And I felt it also overextended the ending sequences. I thought it could have done without the last scene. Otherwise, I thought this was a pretty good indie film. The story and the story-telling was not choppy nor was it boring, which happens in a lot of local indie films. The acting talent of the cast also made this one rise above the ordinary. Definitely, this is not for everybody because of the gruesome subject matter. But since you have already read this far, consider yourself warned.
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