Testemunha Fantasma

Notice I used breakthrough in Philippine Cinema. The formula used by Mikhail Red (who is very young and promising at 28/29 btw), is something we've seen before in some other movies. But he delivered.

The first scenes were a huge turn-off. Because of course, one girl has to go to the comfort room ALONE. Then for some reason (probably had a black out OF ALL DAYS), its dark. Because it has to. And the windows HAVE to be opened so the curtains will fly and make room for a windy atmosphere. Uh-huh. Why oh why can't horror take place in a well-illuminated place???? With a lot of people. At daytime. Haha! At some point, dark atmosphere works against the essence of the film because I can't see the ghost anymore hehe.

Another huge turn off. The overused scene of one picking up a pen that has fallen on the floor then seeing feet on the other side of the table.

A lot of decent jumpscares here. Decent sound effects too. Again, I applaud Mikhail for setting the bar high.

We've seen this all before. The story. The style used by the director. BUT what I find in this movie being a breakthrough is it does create an eerie atmosphere, showing that Philippine horror has evolved. Of course, gone were the days of long-haired pale-skinned ghosts crawling out of the TV. Its time to open the floodgates for themes that may well come under sacrilege, in a country of Catholics. Though, to be fair, there's no sacrilege here as the only religious element involved is the fact that the school is ran by nuns and one of the main (mysterious) characters is a nun. One thing why this movie also did well in the box office and in the critics is for the longest time since Seklusyon (I think), a horror film, that could actually be called a decent horror film, was offered to the masses. Because you know what sells so much like hotcakes here? Infidelity stories! Yeah man, who wants to solve the mystery of the crying lady in the CR anyway when its so much fun seeing the wife pull the mistress by the hair??

Pat (Bea Alonzo) is a guidance counselor in Sta. Lucia Academy, an all-girls school ran by nuns. The atmosphere becomes weird when a student, Erika, commits suicide. Pat encounters visions of Erika and talks to her. Soon, another girl gets killed. Or was she? Pat tries to solve the mystery behind the killings in the school (and the role that the school's head, Sister Alice (Charo Santos has to play), including that of another girl who tries to commit suicide. Everything is not new to the eyes. The ending part was well-made, no mind-bending twists here. The movie was consistent from start to finish.

Now what is truly remarkable about this is the promise of potential from the director, Mikhail Red. Note that he is only 28 or 29...And seeing Eerie, I would've thought this was made by an old-timer. The young man knows what he's doing.

This movie thought it was redefining a whole genre of typical horror movies involving your Catholuc school, dorms, and our favorite comfort rooms, but it just smacked right into the cliches. Boring, predictable, eerie (where did the title come from? The supposedly suspenseful music that was also cliche?) music that should make you scared, the thunderstorm, the close-ups of saints' statues, the quick shots of ugly monster-like faces. All tricks to make you jump, because actually there's no story behind this. Oh, and adding the journalist? Come on.

It is not a complex or very elaborated movie, it is simple, classic and conventional, but, it has good shots, nice cinematography, interesting plot and a good ending.

Because it's filled with every horror cliché there is. The first scare is even the good old mirror trick, and it's poorly done.

There are some promising scenes where the main protagonist talks to the ghosts, but they all end up as jumpscares. Be prepared that this movie is filled with these nonsensical jumpscares. They are everywhere, it's as if every ghost wants to jumpscare the main protagonist into understanding what's going on, all the time.

Was there hype for this movie? I dont get it.

The good: Effective lead actress. Watchable 3rd act.

The bad: The 3rd act paid for all the sins of the 1st and 2nd, and that's the most one can say. Movie's a snooze fest, which isn't necessarily bad because slow burn horrors are usually the better ones; but a snooze fest of cliches? You'd lose count of all the movies this one is trying so hard to be. Quite a handful of nightmare scenes, Freddy Krueger would be offended. Japanese horror? We've got you covered. James Wan? Sure thing. A very important school staff meeting to discuss a student's death? Sure, do it in a chapel lit only with candles; because, you know, a school office of some sort is just too unhorror-ish. What else can we put in it? Oh, yeah, make it 1995. There...Eerie. ;)