No arguments are necessary: the horror genre is the most troubled one, clunked with low-grade movies which stupidities sometime come out unbearable. But when the genre takes a moment to work its gears, horror can be one fun ride. Why am I saying this? Nothing. I just wanted to sound smart or something.
But if you want a connection, here: Rico Maria Illarde's Pridyider beholds a distinct horror in it, which wrongness leads it directly to triumph. While generally will be a technically horrible movie throughout, Illarde manages to spark interest in the first part of the pic, and then swiftly losing friction after twenty minutes or so. From there, we already have met the lead character, Tina (Andi Eigenmann) who inherits a house in the Philippines.
On her side quest to start up her own restaurant there someday, she collects the inheritance. The spin? Her emotionally-wrecked of a soul of her mother (Janice De Belen) comes with the package. I forgot to mention that her mother's dead and is now chief in haunting the house. Things become conventionally unscary (except for the flesh-eating fridge, it's rare to find one these days) when it's supposed to be the exact opposite. Flickering lights, cheap scares courtesy of dumb friends who doesn't seem liking the idea of using the front door and a set of stupid characters. You know the drill, don't you?
Illarde's story, I must admit, interests me. Especially with the fact that the continuity of the story (from Shake Rattle and Roll) leads on a different direction. Psychosis and demonic acts are more of the star in this horror pic. The film is wrong in every turn, forgettable characters, if not amorphous and dull are constant reminders. Pridyider is stuffed with moronic use of CGI, but brilliant use of practical effects (and we all know how practical effects are greatly underestimated in Philippine cinema.
Eigenmann's performance is an okay one, there's nothing really bad with her, but then, there's nothing really special either. But in the pic, you'd be reminded of how easy are her on the eyes. Ravishing, really. J.M. De Guzman plays lost-childhood friend and though he's required less of his skills, you dig and root for him. In here we also get to see the overly used characters in Fil-cinema: the obnoxiously talkative gay one (Bekimon), and the even more obnoxiously talkative estrogen (Venus Raj). These characters make stupid decisions from the beginning throughout, appropriate at all since they're running on some not-so very clever script.
There were few scares however that is worth the mention. Illarde seemed to be aware of how unintelligent the script may go, so he embraces it. The product? A pic which ninety minutes is technically draggy, but never wanes of likability. B-
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