The Road

"The Road" tells about a mysterious series of grisly murders that occurred on a lonely stretch of road. The story was told in three parts, spanning three decades. It starts in 2008 when three youngsters were terrorized by a driver-less red car one night when they happened to pick this particular road on which to practice driving. The story shifts to 1998, when two sisters (one of them Rhian Ramos) whose red car overheated on that same road, only to fall victims to a quiet but mentally-disturbed teenage boy (Alden Richards) who had unspeakable violent tendencies. Finally, the story shifts further back to 1988, when a child was being mentally and physically tormented by his virago of a mother (Carmina Villaroel). In the end, the story returns to 2008, when everything was tied up together.

I must say that the opening credits alone was very effective to establish the creepy atmosphere of the whole film. The music (by Swedish composer Johan Soderqvist) was so chilling as the camera follows the spooky shadows that line the titular road. The three parts all had a different kind of horror to show. In the first one, the horror is supernatural. I found the first one the best as we can really feel how helpless the three youngsters were against the vengeful ghost. The second part was scary in a more physical manner, since we can see that the antagonist was an actual psychotic killer. While the third part is more of psychological horror as we see how a little boy's delicate psyche was slowly being corrupted by his parents.

As with most horror flicks, there will be plot holes, some big ones, in fact. But I say, do not think too much, let the eerie atmosphere envelop you as director Yam Laranas tells you his stories with his well-placed camera angles and effects, as well at the amazing lighting of scenes. While the more senior actors like Carmina Villaroel, Marvin Agustin, TJ Trinidad and Rhian Ramos expectedly did well in their respective roles, I was most impressed with the talent of Renz Valerio, the child actor who played the boy in the third part. He was able to convey his gradual descent into madness so well, keeping that last chapter interesting. It is very good to learn that Yam Laranas has once again succeeded to gain the attention of the international market with this release, following his "Sigaw" (2004) which was given the Hollywood treatment as "The Echo" in 2008. "The Road" is a definite must-watch for horror movie fans!

"The Road" starts off very strong. The first segment scared the hell out of me, something that almost rarely happens to me. Sure, the film doesn't have a high budget, and it probably would have benefited if they could manage to pull off the effects they were trying to achieve, but the small budget is sufficient enough. However, after the first segment, the film gets noticeably less exciting as we're given more backstory and information to solve the whole mystery surrounding the story. It would have helped if they tighten up the pace a bit, keep things going rather than slow everything down. Still, there is a satisfying payoff by the end as everything falls into place as well as unexpected emotional pathos rarely seen in horror films. Overall, the film reminds me of a Tarantino horror film. It's ambitious and may be a bit too convoluted for its own good, but it's above-average horror.

I guess I have to point out something positive about the growing numbers of foreigners in our land, in that the numbers will justify cinema from their home country to be viable for big screen outings here. I get my fair share of the latest blockbuster movies from India given that it's one of the major cultural make up in Singapore already, then there's the Thai, Korean and Japanese flicks that not only cater to foreigners residing here, but to its legion of fans from time to time. And with films from ASEAN from The Raid to The Collector gaining prominence everywhere, it's only time to add Philippine Cinema to the list.

It's true that indie or art-house films from the Philippines do make it to film festivals here, but for the mass market audience, The Road is perhaps one of the earliest to hit commercial cinemas here in a long while, as far as my memory serves. And what better way than for a horror film to try and open up the doors, one that features an ensemble cast of stars with idol looks to spark an interest, besides providing Filipinos here with something from home. But as with most horror films around the region, it's usually touch and go basis, and The Road, boasted for getting itself a US distribution, it's somewhat of a roller coaster ride with its fair share of creepy moments, ultimately done in via a runtime that artificially sustained a thin plot.

Written and directed by Yam Laranas, The Road is actually made up of three story arcs each set in a different time line separated by a decade each, and linking them is the titular road along which something strange and macabre even that had happened in a dilapidated house found along it, together with an abandoned car. The opening shot, pardon the pun, set the stage for an epic mystery to be unravelled, with the stage set for a hot shot cop Luis (TJ Trinidad), decorated with a medal for his string of successful case closures, to prove himself in the series of events that follow.

In the first arc, three friends go out for an illegal joyride, making a detour into The Road to avoid a police roadblock, and in what would be a case of bad luck, encounter ghouls that seem to be stuck in groundhog day fashion, repetitive hauntings of the trio. Things don't really happen with much logic here, and the strength of friendship amongst the trio got rather telling when it becomes every man (and woman) for him/herself. So much for solidarity when the poop hits the fan. This arc was more teenage drama before the effects and make up crew shifted gears and made it their own toward the end.

The second arc tried to become a mini outing along the torture porn genre, but unfortunately with the more violent offering in practically every film in the genre, this arc turned out to be rather tame, with a man inexplicably hammering his victims, two sisters, away without remorse or reason, making it a battle for survival against complete madness. It's also responsible for some interest to wane, as the story here proved to be one of the weakest, and overstayed its welcome through a series of scenes that dragged out quite unnecessarily. We know who's alive and who's not from the earlier arc, and the narrative really took its time to get there.

But thankfully, the redeeming factor came from the third act. While it didn't offer anything we don't know about nor new in the narrative sense with similar themes being explored before in other films, and tosses up some more questions than answers, it is the actors here delivering better performances from the rest, and a story that's set against a dysfunctional family, that showed of Laranas' strength in storytelling. The narrative got creepier as it went along, with practical effects enhancing moments within that will make your hair genuinely stand on ends. By now you'd realize that Laranas rarely dips into the oft used box of the same old techniques used to scare audiences with quick jump cuts and edits, preferring to let the camera take its time in revealing presence that's spot on in creating both suspense, and eerie atmosphere.

The Road plays on the gimmick of having a horror film told from three expanded story arcs with common characters linking them all together, and in essence scores in its effort. However, horror film fans with a penchant for the same old boo scare tactics dished out by filmmakers may find this a little bit sterile. and not offering that adrenaline rush each time a scare comes on. For those who wish to explore what horror and their films mean to friends from the region.

"The Road" is an odd mix of crime, horror and drama, with an end result that is actually worth watching. However, it is not one of the best movies I have seen, nor is it one of the worst. The movie is fairly average, but it does have some pretty interesting moments here and there.

What I enjoyed about the movie was that the movie backtracked, taking us backward in time to the things leading up to the things that happened in the beginning of the movie. That was a pretty good move on director Yam Laranas behalf - sort of like the way the Korean movie "Peppermint Candy" was built up, and it worked out quite nicely for the overall flow of the movie.

As for being a Tagalog (Philippine) horror movie, well then I must say that I didn't find the movie overly scary, but then again I am not really familiar with Tagalog movies, so I don't really have anything to compare this with. However, compared to the many Korean and Japanese horror movies, this was like a picnic in the park.

"The Road" does have some interesting moments, as I mentioned above. Aside from not being scary, the movie does a great job at building up some suspense and an even better job at taking us back in time and showing us the things that lead up to the events in the start of the movie. There is so really interesting character's and portrayal of these characters. Personally, I enjoyed the 1988 segment the most, because it was the most interesting of all the segments, and it was the one that really had the best of acting performances as well. Plus it was initially the foundation of the previous segments of the movie.

For a Westerner, then this movie didn't really offer much in the scare department, but the movie is worth watching because of the interesting story and the approach that the director had taken with it. And on the plus side, it was nice to have an Asian horror movie that didn't focus on a ghostly woman in a white dress with long, black hair covering her face.

An off-beat and gripping Filipino ghost tale.

It is essentially a sort of Pinoy Norman Bates story told in retrospective spanning two decades, with heavy amount of supernatural and sufficiently creepy elements thrown in for a good reason.

The yarn is simply structured and easy to follow. The chain of events revolving around the stark consequences of abused childhood experience is pretty dark and disturbing. Overall, in my opinion, the film has balanced mix of mystery, horror, drama ... and comedy.

Comedy? Well, I must be kidding, but I count one particular instance, which may be regarded, to certain extent, as a kind of comic relief in the midst of mostly depressive storyline: a redundant exposure of excessive puke masses ejected on the floor wasn't a fun part unless accompanied by the mother's self-mocking chant. Yum!

The direction perhaps is too heavy-handed at times with superfluous horrific clichés methodically stuck on one another, and the conclusion is somewhat rushed and improbable. But hey, the horror genre is rarely and less than anything else associated with scientifically correct, 100% logical, polished, visually stunning and accomplished piece of art.

Not bad at all.