Deleter

In Deleter, Mikhail Red delivers a decent horror that's both familiar and accessible. At its core is Nadine Lustre, whose magnetic presence keeps you engaged throughout. She's has a great register on cam and is clearly the film's focal point, and it's no surprise she's becoming Red's muse with another horror follow up, Nokturno.

The movie feels like late '90s and early '00s Japanese horror films like Ringu and Kairo, using glitchy CCTV and webcam footages. What sets Deleter apart is how it captures the everyday anxieties of office life in the Philippines-from the toxic co workers and low wages to the darker realities of exploitation and workplace assault-all within the high-stress backdrop of a BPO environment.

Red has a knack for storytelling given limited characters and locations. Be it in a vast Philippine forest or in a clasutrophobic Manila concrete jungle.

Ultimately, Deleter offers a fun, fleeting horror experience, delivering exactly what it promises: jump scares, stylized visuals, and over 90 minutes of Nadine Lustre - all we need for a li'l Netflix and chill, only time it is only streaming at Amazon Prime.

I get why there are mixed reviews about this movie. The concept is new, it is not everyday that we get to take a look at a life of a "content moderator" - and an industry that not everyone is aware of yet something relatable since everyone uses social media. This could be why the reviews are kind of extreme. Some people really love it and some hate it. As a horror fan, i find it disappointing. Given the new plot and concept, it really has great potential but it failed to deliver. The slow pace, the failed build up of characters, problematic and illogical timelines killed it. I've seen this type of genre where it banks on psychological and eerie ambience which should have worked for this type of story but it just didn't for me. Probably because there are too many unnecessary scenes. I have to give it to the main actress (Nadine) for her acting and I totally admire her portrayal of the protagonist. If you are looking for a jump scare or unexpected twist then this is also NOT for you. The story apart from the concept is also nothing new and is very predictable. A wasted opportunity for a promising concept.

One of the most successful Horror films from the Philippines, "Deleter" takes on the rarely discussed life of the content moderator and expounds on the awful and grisly nature of the job with a corresponding tale of horror and revenge. A troubled, vape-imbibing young woman with a job as a "content moderator", someone who edits videos of all kinds (and the awfulness that implies) is haunted by her past and present which eventually catches up to her. Filmed in dark tones the corporate world of Metro Manila is the setting in this sordid tale of darkness and vengeance. With her exotic allure Nadine Lustre is the star as she ably leads and steals every scene with her portrayal of a disturbed and fundamentally unsympathetic young woman whose unpleasant and self-serving nature prove to be her undoing. The film shows the underlying hypocrisy and plasticity of human interaction in the capital and hence the world and is a representative work of the times. The movie sacrifices flash for reality by limiting the CGI / special effects and is a double-edged sword. While making the film less juvenile by limiting technology the film fails at times to convey the nightmarish scenarios it tries to convey by at times flat attempts at realistic real-time horror. The movie slips here and there in trying to get the right balance and the inconsistency marrs what could have been a topnotch film. Viewing this nonetheless it's good to see Philippine film finally catching up with international cinema by utilizing the strengths of Hollywood with good directing, sound casting, consistenly solid acting, seamless cinematography and a well-written, realistic script. While flawed this is worth watching for Nadine Lustre and for anyone who wants a good unsettling scare with a different slant to it.

A content moderator experiences bizarre visions and nightmares after her co-worker dies. The aftermath of this death criss-crosses with the stress of her job and her own past. The first 30 minutes was good: dark subject matter, eerie atmosphere, appealing questions to answer. It was a fine setup. Sadly, the film went down from there but not so much as to call this film a failure.

The best part about this film is the rarely explored world of content moderation. We see here the trauma that workers in this field experience, how even though they try to disengage from the terrible videos they watch regularly, they can't. Watching just the snippets of these videos in the movie made me look away, and I can't imagine what these people go through. They tackled this well and that is the biggest reason why I gave this film 6 stars and not 5 or 4. I wish they explored and used this theme more than they did.

The acting, overall, was nice. There were scenes where I wanted more from the actors, but the positives outweigh the negatives. Also, I wish they used their characters more or gave viewers more information about them.

The atmosphere was creepy in the first half but downgraded from there. It would have been better if they went all-out and removed some background music. Also, the dark lighting of the film became tiring to the eyes as the film went on.

The biggest downside of this film is the mystery/reveal. That was a letdown considering the good setup from the beginning. They have something great and yet they chose a weak, uninventive answer to the mystery.

The ending was another letdown. It's open to interpretation but it was bad.

This film had an interesting subject, decent acting, and nice first-half atmosphere. But, the second half didn't hold up to the first one, especially with the weak mystery and bad ending. Still, I think it had some positives that Filipino horror filmmakers should build on.

There were a lot of useless scenes and the few jumpscares weren't enjoyable to watch. Their intent to make this movie a slowburn wasn't achieved -- it's just plain and dry. There's no real climax. The storyline and scenes aren't even coherent at all. It's past an hour into the movie and still not one good scene.

Some lighting is good but the rest of the movie is just overly darkened to no purpose.

Overall, it's not worth the hype (if there ever is hype). No need to watch this if you are looking for some good horror. Maybe if they did another round of brainstorming in the writer's room, they can save this movie.