‘Dark’ drama

Donnalyn Bartolome (left) and Ella Cruz in “Cry No Fear”

Initially, we were fascinated by the intriguing premise fueling Richard Somes’ suspense-thriller “Cry No Fear,” about half-sisters Kaycee (Donnalyn Bartolome) and Wendy (Ella Cruz), who are constantly at each other’s throats.

They fight like cats and dogs when Kaycee isn’t flirting with her boyfriend on the phone. On the other hand, bullied Wendy retreats to the safety of her bedroom, where she dances her blues away.

But, the catfights stop one stormy night when the sisters are forced to put aside their differences and fend for each other, especially after a murderous quintet of scorned beggars (among them Christopher Roxas, Patricia Javier and Lander Vera-Perez) forcibly enters their house.

Kaycee and Wendy’s actor-father (Lito Pimentel) is out of town for a gig, while their guardian Dory (Sheree) has been stabbed to death.

What to do? The girls fight for their lives with all their might, that’s what.

In “Cry No Fear” (from left): Ella, Donnalyn, Sheree

Somes often uses remote locations (“Yanggaw”) to remove viewers from their comfort zone, but his latest flick is predictable as heck. Moreover, it is more nonsensical than sinister.

Worse, viewers can’t see much of Ella and Donnalyn’s life-or-death struggle because, for a considerable chunk of its running time, the slasher flick plays out its story in very darkly lit sequences, so all you see are silhouettes suggesting chase scenes with actors mouthing perfunctory lines.

In fact, it was easier to exercise our squinting skills than focus on the story itself, which turned out to be a by-the-numbers hybrid of, among others, “The Strangers.”

If all we wanted was to hear damsels in distress whimpering, screaming and crying, we needn’t have spent our free time watching pa-kwela goons praying before eating, or committing their dastardly deeds. Alas, we should have listened to radio serials, instead!

Ella Cruz