Needless to say that I hadn't heard about this 2023 Filipino thriller titled "Death By Desire" prior to getting the opportunity to sit down and watch it. And given my love and fascination with the Asian cinema, of course I had to see what director Prime Cruz had to offer.
The storyline in "Death By Desire", as written by Jenilee Chuaunsu and Prime Cruz, was a fairly straight forward one. The narrative was adequately layered and presented, and the pacing of the movie was also good. However, with that being said, then I have to say that "Death By Desire" was ultimately a very generic thriller. Writers Jenilee Chuaunsu and Prime Cruz offered a fair enough script, but the movie offered no surprises or plot twists, so you pretty much saw things coming a mile away.
"Death By Desire" has a small cast ensemble, of which I was familiar with none. It should be noted, though, that the acting performances in the movie were good, especially from actresses Iana Bernardez (playing Nikki) and Denise Esteban (playing April).
Visually then "Death By Desire" was an adequate movie. It was not a movie that relied on special effects, and thus the movie doesn't really have any special effects in it, for better or worse. I liked a movie where it was low key and down to earth, as too much CGI can be a bit tiring.
Fair enough for what it was, and perhaps worth checking out if you are a fan of the archetypical thriller genre, with a menage a troi with a deadly outcome. I was adequately entertained by "Death By Desire", though this is not a movie that I will be returning to watch a second time.
My rating of director Prime Cruz's 2023 movie "Death By Desire" lands on a five out of ten stars.
