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Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) 2023 entry “Mallari.” Image: Mentorque Productions, Warner Bros.
Generous budget aside, the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) 2023 entry “Mallari” devoted its efforts to ensuring that the audience would enjoy frightening and thrilling visuals. Showcasing concepts that go from time travel to Filipino folklore, “Mallari” effectively did its purpose: to delve into too many themes without exhausting its viewers as it tells the stories of three people from different generations.
After experiencing terrifying visions that concerned his girlfriend, Dr. Jonathan de Dios made a trip to his ancestral house in Magalang, Pampanga, to get some answers. As he goes in the direction of finding solutions to his present-day problem, Jonathan discovers footage made by his great-uncle, Johnrey Mallari, and experiences events that remind him of the town’s former parish priest and notorious serial killer, Fr. Severino Mallari.
Despite such complex ideas already demonstrated in various international films, Enrico Santos’ screenplay for “Mallari” remains ambitious to tackle the same challenging concepts, as it proves that Filipino films can now strive to meet the same standards of the globally accepted definition of horror and science fiction. Sharing the same mindset, director Derick Cabrido made sure that the cast’s performances would display a smooth transition from one era to another. Headlining this aspect is Piolo Pascual, as he brings three personas to life with such nuances.
Every single member of the cast purposefully transforms into their respective roles. JC Santos gave a convincing performance as the young, insecure deacon, which gives him the right to every fright and panic expressed by the viewers. Elisse Joson’s little screen time made a memorable impression as she assumed the role of Felicity, the Fil-Am wife of Johnrey, showing a persuasive portrayal of a woman in that era. Janella Salvador’s expertise in combining the sweet and thrilling acting styles also pitched in for the film’s effect. Gloria Diaz’s effort to keep the movie in motion is also not hard to miss.
Aside from the obvious motivation of scaring its viewers given that it is a story based on the Philippines’ first documented serial killer, the message of “Mallari” goes six feet under, as it reminds the audience that sometimes the monsters are not usually the dead, but the beliefs and values that we carry or honor with little to no justification that put ourselves or sometimes the people we love in danger.
“Mallari” is the film that you should see if you do not want to see a perfectly crafted Filipino horror film, but rather if you want to see a film that shows the efforts of our filmmakers to uplift the local film industry.
“Mallari” is currently showing in local cinemas along with nine other entities for this year’s MMFF.