By Brontë H. Lacsamana, Reporter
Movie ReviewV/H/S BeyondSM’s Sine Sindak
FOR teenagers and young adults, Sine Sindakwas the ideal Halloween treat. Too old to partake in Trick or Treat and too young to organize family visits to the cemetery, this segment of the youth was more than happy to check out an affordable horror film festival brought to malls nationwide by SM Cinemas.
With tickets priced at P150 per film, and P300 for an all-day pass, barkadas were able to scare each other effectively in a dark, comfortable, and immersive movie theater. BusinessWorld joined in the fun on Nov. 4, the day before the festival closed.
V/H/S, an American horror anthology composed of short found footage films (a genre of horror where the camera is supposedly held by a character, often leading to shaky camera movement), released its 7th installment this October.
Titled V/H/S Beyond, it was one of the many offerings at Sine Sindak that horror fanatics and eager barkadas flocked to see. Unlike other installments in the franchise, it had a central theme — science fiction and dangerous life forms — promising a bloody experience in the theater.
As with any anthology, the films presented were a mixed bag.
Stork, helmed by Jordan Downey and Kevin Stewart, was a strong start and definitely benefited from its heavy use of the video game visual style. Filmed from the point of view of body cams on a crew of cops, it follows their mission into an old house filled with what seem to be zombies. It genuinely feels like watching a video game unfold, as the characters shoot and stab their way through the horde and up to the attic where they uncover the mystery behind the alien-zombie cult colony.
A group of high school kids who were hanging out at the cinemas the whole day for Sine Sindak (probably using the watch-all-you-can day pass) came in just for this segment. They had an uproarious time reacting to it and scaring each other, then left immediately after — showing just how much fun it is for that particular demographic.
Dream Girl had potential to show us something more than a freaky monster finally running loose, but never dug in to any level of depth. It was made by Virat Pal and Evan Dickson. In it, two tabloid news cameramen gain access to the busy set of Bollywood star Tara’s latest movie, hoping to catch footage of her. While they most certainly do, it comes at a cost as they find out what kind of goddess she actually is.
While the film touched very lightly on the brutality of making it big in the film industry and the exploitation that takes its toll on aspiring stars, none of it ever really amounted to something in the plot. The climax was “beautiful star turns into a monster and goes on a killing spree while a catchy Bollywood tune plays,” which was awesome to behold, but not as satisfying as expected.
Live and Let Dive was one of the weaker films. Made by Justin Martinez and Ben Turner, it follows a group of friends going skydiving to celebrate the birthday of one of them. Before they can do so, they spot an unidentified flying object (UFO) which crashes their plane and feasts on them. While it has an interesting concept, the execution is obnoxious and all over the place.
Fur Babies, another weak link, got understandably strong reactions from the audience since it centered on a pet daycare run by a deranged lady abusing dogs. Christian and Justin Long nailed the necessary beats to get people engaged, with animal rights activists trying to infiltrate the daycare. But it was tonally out of place in an anthology of insane alien stories.
The wraparound section by Jay Cheel, named Abduction/Adduction, was a YouTube-style mockumentary attempting to thread all the films together. Though passable, it didn’t offer much enjoyment, especially the lackluster ending that didn’t leave an impact.
Stowaway should have been the strong note to end on. It was this writer’s absolute favorite, the only segment that compelled audiences to genuinely care for the lead character. Helmed by horror filmmaking couple Kate Siegel and Mike Flanagan, it followed a UFO documentarist who goes out to the Mojave Desert to document a recent influx of sightings by locals.
Little tidbits of her personaltiy, like her attachment to a keychain from childhood, and her undying curiosity being both a strength and a weakness, endeared her to audience members. Once she encounters an alien spaceship in the desert and makes the poor decision to enter the mysterious craft, the brutal transformation that awaits her builds up to a horrific end. By the end, the pure terror of her fate stays with you, providing not just visual and narrative dread, but also existential dread. Definitely one of the best in the V/H/S franchise.
Today, Nov. 5, is the last day of Sine Sindak at SM Cinemas nationwide.