Faux Blood Almighty

Promise, I'll visit you.

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I am actually covering my face in some scenes in the film Dalaw. For that, I have to apologize. To be honest, I am not really fond of watching scary films because I palpitate right away. It’s not because I am scared but more with the calculated horrifying apparitions that come up every now and then. Dalaw has a lot of it and most of it has no freaking logic. I think it’s not entirely new to Asian Horror film-maniacs since they are used to the careless shock approach. But if we will look carefully, it really has no congruency to the story.

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The story starts with Laarni (Katrina Halili) visiting an abandoned house. She is trying to make a fabulous documentary for the TV show ‘Ikatlong Mata’. After a few negotiations with the spirit to show up, she screams endlessly. After a few days, she is now in a state of shock and is in her sister’s (Matet de Leon) care. Her sister views the video footage and we are now introduced to the life of the ghost who is known as Estella. She shows some erratic behaviors and somewhat has a dual personality. She cares for his father like a husband. One day, her mother (Glydel Mercado) died after being slapped by his father (Tonton Gutierrez). A fatal slap, how scary is that. Guilty of the incident, his father locked Estella in the room before hanging himself.

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There are hints when Estella appears or when something gruesome might happen. When she is still alive, while having a severe pain in her menstruation, someone dies. There are local hearsays that ladies having menstruation will be visited by Estella. But the film incorporated this haphazardly. The ghost has really no purpose with all her emergence, whose prime aim is to scare the audience without solid connection to the scenarios. It appears to me that the particular ghost can appear to almost anyone as long as it is being recorded by the camera. She is just shocking but not really scary. The ghost is wearing a white gown wearing a pale make-up and semi-long wavy hair. And why is her mouth and eyes wide open by the way? Maybe they just want to scare without entirely conscious if the script is seamless or not.

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I have noticed in Joven Tan’s film that the cinematography is quite superior, helmed by Romy Vitug. This is also the case in his film Tutok. But both stories are sickening. Dalaw is too impulsive to shock. Even if they try to establish the scenes with the use of flashbacks, it lacks a sophisticated approach to make even the illogical things acceptable to the viewers. They have already tackled tell-tales and ghost legends so it’s really on their hands to infuse the story with more convincing contraptions. The character of Estella as a ghost has really lost a better purpose. Why is she appearing in awkward ways? Is she making revenge through scaring people? Oh please, we are not kids to be tricked. They have to dig to the core of her apparitions.

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Just like in the film, Laarni is inspired to create the documentary that she read from a tabloid. Writers also do the same thing. We get inspirations from headlines, shocking events and tragedies. We fuse more devices and create impossible scenarios and give logic to each scenario and character for it to appear as wholly credible. Dalaw lacks polishing and even its inspiration has no substance to make it more compelling.

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Charlie Koon's Rating: