"CREEPY TO THE EXTREME"

The Road – Review

Posted by Jason Bene on Dec 2, 2011 in Reviews, Theatrical | 0 comments

Part I: 2008 -  Three teenagers get lost taking a joyride down an old desolate road, one that has been boarded up in hopes of keeping a three decades old murder a distant memory. Their short cut down takes them into the unknown, a pitch black stretch that is only illuminated by the headlights on their car, that is until another vehicle passes them by, sans a driver – a ghost car. The evil machine sidles up next to them revealing a figure with a bag over its head, with blood splattered inside. Getting frustrated by not finding a way out, they try by foot, and run smack dab into the wreckage of the car that was haunting them, with the charred remains of someone who is reaching out for help, wanting to release their trapped soul from purgatory.

Part II: 1998 – Two sisters seek help from a troubled young man after their car breaks down on the road. He takes them back to his home and takes them prisoner after knocking them out. The disheveled abode is a true house of horrors, as the girls are murdered without the killer uttering a single word. His lack of dialogue makes the murders even more disturbing. No rhyme. No reason. The dingy living conditions speak volumes for themselves, they represent he is out of touch with reality. This segment is a nice antithesis to the torture-porn drudgery that was so prevalent in years past.

Part III: 1988 – A young boy is smitten by a neighbor girl, but his overbearing mommie dearest of a mother has closed him off from the outside world. She doesn’t allow him to go outside, and locks him in a closet for his disobedience, and just long enough so she can’t cheat on her husband with another man. This is one abusive woman, and because of her careless actions, her son’s virgin eyes see death, abuse, infidelity and suicide – all  in one fell swoop.

Three decades of terror collide in a film that is structured like Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible, where the plots unravels backwards as the films rolls on. Director Yam Laranas shows restraint as he allows the characters to develop, then he tears out our hearts by pulling back the cover and showing family dysfunction is not limited by race, religion or creed.

This is quiet genre film that is beautifully shot. The use of the widescreen camera (great use of lens flares) doesn’t take away from the unease you feel as the road feels like it is not part of our time and space, but an alternate realm that is trapped in time by the insane doings of normal people. The score really punches up the jolt scares that come at you in spades.

In my humble opinion, the J-Horror scene has been dead for some time and is played out. Maybe it is time for F-Horror (Filipino Horror) to re-emerge in popularity like it did in the 70′s and 80′s (watchMachete Maidens Unleashed!), except with classic scares that are more about the emotion of horror and not the exploitation.

After successfully remaking The Echo (Sigaw), my fingers are crossed that Yam Laranas’ Patient X will be released so we can see folkloric Filipino vampire-like creatures. Until then, be on the look out for this movie. The Road is creepy to the extreme. It gets under your skin and stays there.

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