4.0 out of 5 stars
Yam Laranas rocks. (And breaks.), December 1, 2010
This review is from: Sigaw (DVD)
Sigaw (Yam Laranas, 2004)
When I sat down to watch the surprisingly competent Hollywood remake of this movie, I didn't know it was a remake; when I discovered that during the title credits, I noted the title and set about hunting it down. Once I did, I watched it almost immediately (something I rarely do with movies I watch at home; some have been sitting for a couple of years waiting for me to get to them, just because the mood hasn't struck me yet), and discovered that the reason the Hollywood remake was as good as it was is because they'd re-hired Yam Laranas, the Filipino director who'd made the original--which is very good indeed. (As a side note, completely unrelated to anything else in this review, Laranas is also a champion breakdancer.)
Marvin (Patient X's Richard Gutierrez) is a newly-released ex-con looking to get on with his life somewhere quiet. He rents a room in an almost abandoned apartment complex that seems to be just what he's looking for; almost no one else lives on his floor, and the only visitor he has is Pinky (Angel Locsin, from the Mano Po series of films), his girlfriend. Life is good until the family down the hall starts worming their way into his life. Bert (Most Wanted's Jomari Yllana), the husband, is an abusive cop, and his mousy wife Anna (Working Girls's Iza Calzado) and their daughter Lara (Seance's Ella Guevara), overjoyed to have a new tenant on the floor, start looking to Marvin for protection. This, of course, leads to both Bert and Pinky thinking there's something going on between Marvin and Anna. Turns out there is, though not at all what anyone involved thinks...
This is straight-up, solid, atmospheric horror from what I'm hoping will become the next big horror capital of Asia; Laranas has already popped out a second horror flick (Patient X, which I haven't seen) and I'm starting to hear things about other recent/upcoming horror flicks from the Philippines. (And really, it's the country that brought us the Bomba subgenre. Can you possibly go wrong with horror from a culture that made something like Silip: Daughters of Eve?) Most of the other Asian horror markets seem to have stagnated in the 2000s; time for something to erupt. Maybe Sigaw is the first stirrings. ****
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Flip Flop Yeeah!, July 4, 2007
This review is from: Sigaw (DVD)
No disrespect intended. This is one of the sharpest "horror" films from Asia yet. There's a guy who moves in to some bedsit...always a bad move because he ultimately learns why he shouldn't have. The downside is that I couldn't understand what they were saying, much less identify the language...until the end....
No matter what, this film will keep you hooked (I really don't believe in spoilers) and if you feel like taking a chance, take a chance on this one.
Come on, Amazon, send me my copy. It's been on order long enough!
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