Look past the production value of The Echo (Sigaw) and you'll know what I'm talking about.
While yes, the cinematography, direction and editing is good, the attempts at scaring viewers is too obvious and highly predictable. After 10 minutes into the film, I already know the basic story and the possible outcomes. At least The Others had me wondering for an hour.
One thing Laranas must take into account is more attention to detail. He spend too much time making sure his shots is eerie enough to be part of the horror genre, but he (and the entire production crew) forgot details that would have added much realism to the movie. Yllana's "costumes" are way too clean for a two-bit police officer - his uniform is too new and doesn't look even used. I was bothered at the lack of blood splatter on him and his clothes during the hacking scenes. Was he wearing an invisible shield? Even the stick was clean (and not dripping with blood after hitting Calzado several times over) when he went for the little girl. Getting beaten up on the head by a police stick would usually result to a cracked skull, and not merely a small wound oozing out blood. Normally, a person would be literally knocked out and be unable to stand, much less protest. The wound on Guevarra's head changes places - from the right side of her head when she first appears in the elevator, and then on the left sometimes center side in other parts of the movie. Can someone make a decision where the wound should be? And stick to that decision.
On to the actors: too rehearsed, bad and not to mention "forgetting what to do next". They are all too conscious of their own looks. I'm sure that if I get kicked, dragged, punched my hair would be a mess. But not Locsin, whose hair falls back into place quite beautifully after the scene. Another idea for a hair commercial? Probably. Secondly, night-after-night beatings would definitely result in a swollen upper lip, a bruised cheek and all that. This time, not Calzado, who only has a few minor "charcoaled-in" bruises.
The eerie-ness of the movie was not helped by the sound effects that were just too loud. After a while you started to expect it already. It would have been better to have more naturally creepy sounds than music that get too loud at "suspenseful" moments.
There are also scenes that elicit a "huh?", which I will not discuss because I am sure that there are people who has not seen the movie yet. It's not a great "scare" movie but if Hollywood will do a remake, maybe it will be a better version. Laranas should review his movie and plug the holes so there will be no leaks this time.
While yes, the cinematography, direction and editing is good, the attempts at scaring viewers is too obvious and highly predictable. After 10 minutes into the film, I already know the basic story and the possible outcomes. At least The Others had me wondering for an hour.
One thing Laranas must take into account is more attention to detail. He spend too much time making sure his shots is eerie enough to be part of the horror genre, but he (and the entire production crew) forgot details that would have added much realism to the movie. Yllana's "costumes" are way too clean for a two-bit police officer - his uniform is too new and doesn't look even used. I was bothered at the lack of blood splatter on him and his clothes during the hacking scenes. Was he wearing an invisible shield? Even the stick was clean (and not dripping with blood after hitting Calzado several times over) when he went for the little girl. Getting beaten up on the head by a police stick would usually result to a cracked skull, and not merely a small wound oozing out blood. Normally, a person would be literally knocked out and be unable to stand, much less protest. The wound on Guevarra's head changes places - from the right side of her head when she first appears in the elevator, and then on the left sometimes center side in other parts of the movie. Can someone make a decision where the wound should be? And stick to that decision.
On to the actors: too rehearsed, bad and not to mention "forgetting what to do next". They are all too conscious of their own looks. I'm sure that if I get kicked, dragged, punched my hair would be a mess. But not Locsin, whose hair falls back into place quite beautifully after the scene. Another idea for a hair commercial? Probably. Secondly, night-after-night beatings would definitely result in a swollen upper lip, a bruised cheek and all that. This time, not Calzado, who only has a few minor "charcoaled-in" bruises.
The eerie-ness of the movie was not helped by the sound effects that were just too loud. After a while you started to expect it already. It would have been better to have more naturally creepy sounds than music that get too loud at "suspenseful" moments.
There are also scenes that elicit a "huh?", which I will not discuss because I am sure that there are people who has not seen the movie yet. It's not a great "scare" movie but if Hollywood will do a remake, maybe it will be a better version. Laranas should review his movie and plug the holes so there will be no leaks this time.