Segunda Mano: A melodramatic horror movie

Segunda Mano (Agostodos Pictures, MJM Production, and Star Cinema) is a melodramatic and mediocre horror movie. It suffers from bad acting, bad story and scriptwriting, and bad directing. And what is more horrific about it is that many people are watching it!

 

In fairness to Kris Aquino (whose complete name appears in the credits as one of the executive producers along with co-star Dingdong Dantes), she is a rather competent actress in this movie. No more smiling eyes while crying or screaming. But in her role here as someone who is simple, conservative, and soft spoken, she appears to be acting too much (akting na akting) and gives you a feeling that you are watching her in a mediocre school play. This kind of acting is reinforced by the hysterical style of Bangs Garcia whose supporting role of a sosyal owner of a store of secondhand expensive bags is performed like a street hooker. Watching the two in a scene is like watching two colegialas in a role-playing module in a classroom who are out to get the highest grade! It seems that no one is directing them.

 

Helen Gamboa plays Aquino’s mother who for twenty years is mourning the drowning of her daughter during a birthday party by the sea. All her scenes are melodrama acts that sometimes make you forget that you are watching a horror movie. Her heavy dramatic scenes are unwarranted. They put more pressure on Aquino to act more so as not to drown in Gamboa’s tears. Dingdong Dantes, a handsome and competent actor, does not seem sure if he is a matinee idol or a serious character actor in this movie. He is as confused as his role. Of course, Angelica Panganiban is as always a darling of an actress. But her ghostly appearances cannot save the movie from a plague of bad acting.

 

The only actor who seems to have grasped what the movie is all about is Jhong Hilario. His silences and facial expression make one shiver in fear. The horror resides in his eyes. But an excellent actor with a minor role can only do so much in a bad movie.

 

The story and screenplay by Joel Mercado is terrible. The technique of using the cat to frighten the characters and the viewers is used twice. The predictable dream sequence is also employed. Early on, one could predict that Dantes is the killer. I was praying that it would not be Dantes so that my money wouldn’t go to waste. One also needs to suspend disbelief and IQ to believe that the young sister of Aquino who is thought to have drowned is also Panganiban who is murdered by Dantes. Apparently, Gamboa’s daughter did not drown 20 years before. She survived that accident and was rescued and adopted by a kind couple. This is narrated by Gamboa in one scene near the ending. So the viewers have no choice but to swallow this important detail in the story or else everything will fall apart. And everything did fall apart. For if the little girl did not drown, why is she appearing as a ghost? Or is this a case of Gamboa and Aquino creating a ghost in their minds? But this is too psychological, I mean too intellectual, for this movie.

 

The flaws mentioned above can be attributed to bad directing. Dantes and Gamboa are fine actors. If only Joyce Bernal directed them properly, their performance would not have been embarrassing. A visionary director can also do so much to improve a badly written screenplay.    

 

The ending is over-extended. Credits should have begun rolling after the scene where the car containing Panganiban’s body is being salvaged by the police from the river and her beautiful ghost is happily waving goodbye to her mother, sister, and daughter. But a redundant scene was added. Aquino and her niece are eating in a restaurant. Then lo and behold, the evil ghost of Dantes appears to hound them. Suggesting a part two perhaps? Or else this is just a cheap, unimaginative, and pathetic way of shocking viewers.

 

One wishes that the Metro Manila Film Festival would evolve into a real film festival where the word “film” is more associated with artistic integrity than box office profit. The films would be well selected and only the best directors would be invited to join. Or else, we might want to rename it “Metro Manila Foolish Film Festival” and there must be a float reserved for the Festival Fool in the Parade of Stars. –KG, GMA News

 

J. I. E. TEODORO is a writer and critic from San Jose de Buenavista, Antique. He is an assistant professor of writing and literature at Miriam College in Quezon City. He now resides in Pasig City. You may visit his blogs jieteodoro.blogspot.com, bantaytvatpelikula.blogspot.com, and katawgwapa.blogspot.com.