Aurora

I liked it. I thought the main actress was great and she made me care what happened to her and her little sister. The movie seemed very old fashioned to me, like something I would have watched back in the 70's. Maybe it was the music. They kept playing scary music before anything scary was happening, like they used to do to foreshadow scary events coming up back in the day. The music itself was OK but it didn't seem to fit a lot of the early scenes, in my opinion. I did enjoy it though. I like a good old fashioned ghost story.

This film could have been so promising as it had a really good storyline, great acting and casting as well as cinematography but by the time they used the special effects in showing the big giant ghost, it just went all downhill! I guess the ship was already sinking even before the journey began.

I stumbled across this by chance when I was browsing Netflix. Catching up on some Western horror films I'd missed that were recommended to me, Aurora popped up as a suggestion for me. I originally skipped past it before realising it was Filipino and I went back to it to watch the trailer. I've been looking to have my first films and dramas in each country on MDL so I decided to go ahead with Aurora being my fist Filo film after clarifying it was Filipino.

My Twitter friends said that it was hyped up in the Philippines but it was commonly held as a bit of a flop within the horror genre.

Now, Aurora is made and is meant to be a horror film. I went into it expecting to be a little spooked, not to a high degree because of the reviews I had heard said it was pretty bad. The few CGI effects to give this the horror theme completely tanked for me, and I won't lie - the horror is pretty bad. It doesn't hold its own as a horror film in any form.

However, the acting in this, the story behind it are intriguing. It kept me hooked in, it kept me rooted in my seat in pure curiosity. This is definitely a much more sad thriller than a horror film. I finished this feeling devastated, with tears in my eyes after the credits began to roll. The acting in this made this utterly amazing, the cast truly brought the feelings in this to life. It felt like this was currently happening in Asia, watching these families go through their loss and watching Leanna and her younger sister was going through hell. The music in this was as well amazing, it fits the film perfectly; there wasn't a single score in this that didn't help my emotions lift or drop alongside the story.

I think the best way to go into this film is to not expect a good horror film. Expect a sad, chilling thriller that is similar to many real-life occurrences around the world. Not as good as it could have been as a horror film, but definitely give this a try if you like sad films.

Me and the Philippines just don't seem to be on the same page, this is only the third Filipino movie I've seen and despite it only getting a 3/10 it's still the best of the bunch!

It tells the story of a small island community, they're reeling from a ship wreck that is still visible from their shores. They're living in poverty due to the side effects of the disaster but some people are determined to see about locating the dead so they can be laid to rest. But yes this is a horror so ghostly things are afoot.

I liked the premise, it's a pretty movie with interesting characters and I was curious which direction they were going to go with it. Alas it became apparent around the half way mark that the direction wasn't a good one and certainly not an original one.

The movie is dark, bleak but looks great for a movie from the Philippines. Sadly however it's one of those silly supernatural movies that makes the rules up as it goes along and ultimately doesn't make a vast amount of sense.

I get what they were going for, I just think they failed miserably.

Regardless this is still the best movie I've seen the country put out.

The Good:

Some great visuals

Interesting concepts

The Bad:

Falls apart badly

Certain aspects make little to no sense

Kudos to the cinematography, but the plot, characters, theme and type of conflict are frustrating. The movie lacked a unique story line that did not take advantage of the setting.