Director: Kenneth Lim Dagatan
Year: 2018
Country: Philippines
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
Living in the middle of the woods, a young boy finds a mystical tree growing inside a nearby cave and manages to believe the spirits inside when they claim they can bring his dead mother back to life, and when his widowed aunt arrives at their house pregnant sees an opportunity to test it out.
Review:
Overall, this one manages to work pretty effectively. A lot of the film's positives are due to the strong and emotionally powerful storyline that merges together some genuinely strong drama with the horror. Taking the theme of loss and grief to the children who have recently lost their beloved mother which gives this a special realistic bond that carries throughout the film. Seeing these early scenes of the family completely at a loss for how to treat her when she's at death's doorstep and then when she finally passes on spurs their sense of confusion and bewilderment at how to treat it. Being unable to cope with the situation and treating her as a member of the family still that won't eat and doesn't respond to anything they tell her until they're finally forced to turn to the supernatural to deal with it makes a lot of sense. Given that this is mirrored against the Aunt arriving to deal with the final months of her own pregnancy widowed from her husband and just as lonely as the kids manage to parallel these situations rather nicely and has a lot to like.
On top of that, there's also the film's impressive horror atmosphere. The central cave that's so important to the central setup is incredibly eerie and foreboding as the massive size and central location for the ceremony to take place as it's out in the middle of nowhere where it's entirely possible the entire situation might be true or simply made up in his head due to the remoteness of the location. From there, the pregnancy scares that arrive here, from the feelingness of loneliness and sadness at being unable to share such a situation with anyone to the strange hallucinations of the newcomer vomiting up blood and other fluids during morning pregnancy situations or following the spirit of her husband out into the woods nearby where she has her own encounter with the being in the cave give the film some needed horror tension during the lengthy drama interludes. Things do pick up in the finale where there's the fine double-cross by the cave-spirit which causes all manner of fun and chilling action to occur where it goes to the extreme in a great way and provides a bloody, chilling finish.
However, the film does have a few minor issues. The biggest problem here is the sheer improbability of the living condition they live in, where we first meet the mother literally puking and coughing up blood, a situation far more removed than having a sick relative stay at home. No child would be forced to stay in that situation, especially ones the age of the young kids here which granted does the job of getting this going but easily could've been more realistic about doing it. Likewise, the fact that the general pacing to this one is quite slow and tempered, content to slowly build its atmosphere and scenario without going into a full-on charge means this one might come off as far too bland and dull when it's not constantly throwing tons of action at the screen. What's there is well done and really enhances the mood, but it's not often enough for some viewers and will result in this feeling boring at times due to that.
Overview: ****/5
With a lot of strong drama elements and startling horror sequences, this has some great features which is what makes for an enjoyable time over its few minor flaws. Give this a chance if you’re looking for some enjoyable horror-themed dramas or are curious about the film, while those turned off by the flaws should heed caution.
This review was originally published on Asian Movie Pulse and is gratefully reprinted with their cooperation.
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