Director: Khavn
Year: 2007
Country: Philippines
Alternate Titles: Tatlong araw ng kadiliman
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
Trying to live their lives together, a group of girlfriends struggling to make it through the daily grind in Manila awake to find themselves stuck in the biblically-prophesized 3 Days of Darkness and must rely on each other and their faith to make it past the demons and darkness outside waiting for them.
Review:
For the most part, the film is pretty enjoyable. This one tends to bring about tons of atmospheric flourishes throughout the first half as the ensuing darkness approaches and everything gets spelled out. As we go through the empty house and get an idea of what they’re going to be living in for the rest of the film, it brings a strong ambiance that’s in play throughout their time stuck inside. The strong undertones of their religious practices, not only with the ever-present candles and paraphernalia but the visit to the priest and numerous discussions they engage in throughout the day adds nicely to that feel with the rainclouds and blowing winds outside creating even more of a biblical presence. When the main days of darkness start and the girls are aware of what’s going on, there’s a lot to like here where the religious hysteria adds nicely to the general chaos and confusion they’re experiencing. Since those explanations make sense yet still find themselves as reaching for something to rationalize the strange situation, that nicely escalates into some great scenes where they’re forced to confront their past as well as their feelings for each other. Turning into sensual lesbian couplings between each other or frantic strange creature attacks in the darkness, the finale is enjoyable and holds this one up overall.
While the film has some enjoyable elements, there are also a lot of flaws. The most obvious factor here is the useless time-wasting filler padding out an incredibly weak and simplistic storyline. The visit to the house party showing the group performing discordant heavy metal endlessly feels like hours before they’re done, especially when they’re not important to the overall plot of the film. Other scenes including showing the daily life of the citizens in the city or the girls going about preparing their day simply serve to add more running time here so that the main biblical prophecy involving darkness raining on them starts way too late.after this filler. Likewise, the other main problem here is that since the majority of the film takes place under the cover of darkness it’s nearly impossible to make anything out. Since we have the girls’ candle to provide the majority of the light in here as the prevailing darkness is a major factor once it’s introduced, things mostly turn into vaguely recognizable shapes interacting throughout the house without much chance of seeing what’s going on. Other scenes are just total blackness with their voices speaking for long stretches of time, furthering how hard it is to tell what’s happening here since this is repeated frequently throughout the film. These aspects are what hold this one down overall.
Overview: **/5
Despite some overlong padding and way too much difficulty at times telling what’s going on, this one still has enough going on with the atmosphere and general craziness of the situation that is watchable enough in the long run. It’s straightforward enough that fans of Khavn’s previous works will be entertained here while also being a serviceable entry-point to his style, while those who are turned off by his approach or the film’s flaws might not enjoy this one.
This review was originally published on Asian Movie Pulse and is gratefully reprinted with their cooperation.
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