Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!
Plot Summary: The odd tale of a killer haunted by ghosts over the course of 20 years.
Review: Obviously this isn't the more famous "The Road" based on the book of the same name, but that doesn't mean this film has nothing to offer. First, I have to say, this is the best looking Filipino horror movie I have ever seen. Finally someone is using a quality camera, although, to be fair, that worn out look was enhancing the atmosphere for many films like "Sukob." But more so, there was a genuine attempt to include the lovely scenery the Philippines has to offer as a backdrop. There's a bit of originality to the whole story even if it mostly touches on concepts we've seen a thousand times or more. The story is told backward starting in 2008, then 1998, and 1988 before jumping back to 2008 to close it out. This was somewhat of an odd choice considering this film was made in 2011 but okay; allegedly it spent a long time in production. Although these times jumps serve more as separate tales rather than a cohesive plot, it does all come together in the end even if predictably. The 2008 portion is where the majority of the scares occur, but it begins by introducing us to some medal-winning police officer, Luis, who presumably begins to investigate killings on this one particular road. This then leads to three dumb teens that wander onto that abandoned road where they find themselves haunted by ghosts. I've read so many people criticize this portion of the film, but I can't understand why. The ghosts have an interesting design and decent makeup effects. In fact, the makeup and other special effects were generally better than 99% of other Filipino movies! I actually thought they used a lot of creativity and ingenuity for some of the shots considering they probably couldn't naturally perform a decent number of the stunts. Some of the scares were good although it could have been significantly better considering how much I liked the appearance of the ghosts and felt they were underutilized. My main concern with this section was how unclear it was whether the ghosts killed the kids or did the killer eventually catch up to them? This is important because if the ghosts did it, that does not keep within the plot established later. The 1998 portion explains how some of those ghosts came into being as the killer, in his teens, kidnapped two sisters whose car broke down on that same road. There's this whole "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" vibe to this segment as the killer mindlessly has his way with the girls all the while we see even more ghosts lingering in the background. There's some decent action and intrigue, but this is essentially the weakest portion to the film only slightly adding to the brutality of the killer. The 1988 segment shows us the origin of it all with the killer as a younger boy living with his abusive and insane mom, wimpy father whose being cheated on, and his first encounter with an attractive woman. I don't blame him though, some random hot chick, named Martha, played by the curvaceous Ynna Asistio, comes to the door asking can she do your laundry, how are going to react?! I know what you're thinking: "Ryan, ANOTHER hot chick?" I know, but this one is offering to do the laundry! Lucky son of a bitch! To be honest, she was way too flirty with the young killer which was kind of unnerving, but I guess she was supposed to feel bad for the boy and was trying to be nice. Anyway, there's this whole "Psycho" vibe to the segment which makes a lot of this movie feel more like an imitation of other films, but they work the material differently enough. So the mom kills Martha, followed by the dad killing the mom, but then he later commits suicide out of guilt leaving our young killer left to grow up batshit crazy. The whole time the killer continues to see everyone's ghosts for some inexplicable reason. Back in 2008, as the police find the only survivor of the three teens, one cop finds a hidden passage at the house the killer lived in. He also finds that medal Luis had won revealing that Luis is the killer...so shocking right? No, not at all. Just the opposite; it's so stupid because why would Luis still be living at the house, how would no one realize this, and wouldn't the police have done a thorough background check on Luis? Whatever, Luis kills the one cop that realizes this, shoots his boss (who was acting like a bitch for some unknown reason), and drives off down this wonderful road where the ghosts of his victims force Luis to shoot himself. Eh, things could have wrapped up more tightly. While this film may turn some away due to the ample cliches, I'd say its real weakness lies with unresolved plot points that don't reach proper resolution or make no sense whatsoever. Why were the teens seeing ghosts in the beginning? Isn't Luis supposed to be the one seeing ghosts and why? If the mom was such a bitch, how the hell did she land two guys?! Seriously, how the fuck did Luis become a cop? How did the first two teens die? Why didn't anyone come looking for Martha? Why didn't the mom's boyfriend ever come back looking for her? Aaaah enough! I think you get my point now. This is an entertaining horror flick with some good ideas that were wasted at some point all the while failing to fill in its many gaps. I liked the look and feel to everything, especially the ghosts, and telling the story through different time intervals was fun. However, it simply made the ending more predictable, no real investment to the characters, and the genre switches from horror film to crime drama needlessly. This film is worth a view even if because it is great to look at, but it becomes a huge letdown when you think of all that it could have been.
Notable Moment: When Ella hilariously falls out of the car! I'm still laughing over that scene.
Final Rating: 6/10
Wouldn't I just love to have Ms. Asistio come up to me offering to do my laundry!
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