Director: Rico Maria Ilarde
Year: 2000
Country: Philippines
Alternate Titles: Ang babaeng putik
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
Trying to start his writing career, a student rents out a small shack in the wilderness in order to write his newest story only to come under the seductive spell of a beautiful woman that needs the blood of others to survive and tries to save his friends from the deadly being.
Review:
For the most part, this one wasn't too bad. What really really for the film is the intriguing and enjoyable storyline here involving the appearance of the fictional creature. This is a common enough storyline that has appeared numerous other times involving a figure unwittingly summoning something malicious to destroy him through a ceremonial setup. While utilizing that storyline, this generates the kind of old-school morality scares that's usually associated with someone slowly being overwhelmed by the oncoming horror of the newcomer in his life. As he slowly comes around to the idea of who he's really hanging out with, that drives the film's strong horror scenes of the creature taking out his friends and others around him. From the seductions of the different friends to the transformation sequence in the woods to showing it killing the curious local by the waterfall, this has some incredibly strong sequences. Included in that is the fantastic finale where it includes the battle in the house with the demonic creature and a final battle in the woods which has some great action that picks this up nicely.
The cast is also a rather impressive feature. Carlos Morales as our lead Mark comes off really well as our troubled hero. Understandably whipped by the gorgeous beauty in front of him, his descent from an honest, upstanding student with a moral code into a devious, sex-craved recluse is a fine turn and sells this nicely. Klaudia Koronel as the human form of the creature, nicknamed Sally, gives a decidedly one-note role as the mute figure who's nude ninety-percent of her screen time. She's asked to be seductive or secretive which is fine for this type of role without much to do or clothes on for her role. The other big role here is Joanne Miller as Maite, the sweet neighbor who gets caught in the central romance. She's a genuinely sweet presence that's seemingly a perfect match yet gets thrown to the side due to the creature and the resentful nature she has in the middle is a fun counterbalance to her earlier self. Combined with the demonic creatures' makeup and a nice amount of gore, these hold it up over the few minor flaws.
Among the film's biggest flaws is a wholly disjointed and chaotic storyline that has way too many ideas in place. The opening here goes on way too long with just getting him to the central shack which could've been accomplished rather economically, and then comes the idea of how he suffers from writers' block which really consists of him around the cabin fixing up broken parts or sitting around staring at nothing. Coupled with a romance of the neighbors' daughter and the utterly unneeded storyline about the rebel soldiers hanging around, these issues simply cause the film to run on far longer than necessary and hold it back from what it could've been. There's no reason for this one to even introduce the fictional woman until the forty-five minute mark, and to then go until nearly the hour point for her to even get birthed as the plot brings these features out far later in the running time.
Aside from the pacing, the other really troubling issue is the low-budget look of the movie. While this maintains a naturalistic look with its remote woodland village where it's set, the fact remains that this one is still not blessed with all that much of a budget. Many of the in-camera tricks, from the mirror gags and the different hunting scenes where they're out in the forest looking on over the shack, are all rather obviously done on the cheap in a real location. The small-cast also doesn't help much sense we don't get all that many people involved which furthers the whole low-budget feel. However, it's all setup by the actual monster costume which looks really weak and distracting the more it's on-screen which is thankfully kept to a few brief snippets yet doesn't diminish the fact that it looks quite hokey. These issues here keep the film down.
Overview: ***/5
As the film comes off with a sense of fun and not too many flaws overall, this is certainly a decent enough Philippino horror effort. Give this a chance if it sounds like it might appeal to you or are curious about exploring the country's genre fare, while those who are somewhat put off by the flaws should heed caution.
This article was originally published on Asian Movie Pulse and is gratefully reprinted with their cooperation.
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