The Healing Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: After a group of friends have their illnesses cured by a faith healer, they find themselves stalked by murderous doppelgangers.

Review: I have to hand it to Filipino horror movies, they often have very original and creative ideas. Unfortunately, they typically fail miserably in the execution of those ideas as is the case with this movie. It started off quite promising, but, by the halfway point, the film had completely lost itself and it ends abruptly with little to no explanation for why anything happened. I'm disappointed too, because this came from the same director/writer of "Sukob" and "Feng Shui" which I think are the best Filipino horror movies. The only good thing is that at least they're finally making "Feng Shui 2" as I've been saying! Now, can we get a "Sukob 2: Wrath of the Bridesmaid?"

The story is that there is a faith healer who appears to be legitimate in her abilities. A woman, oddly named Seth (is that short for something?), decides to take her father to the healer after he had a stroke. Later on, the father becomes completely healed catching the attention of the neighborhood who appear to be good friends. The neighbors, with various illnesses, assemble and want Seth to bring them to the healer which she obliges. At the same time, Seth's son's half-sister, Cookie, also seeks assistance from the healer. Played by Kim Chiu, that's one cookie--puts on sunglasses--I'd like to take a bite out of! Aaaaahhhhh! Okay, that was maybe the worst joke I've made. No more of that. Anyway, there is drama with Seth not wanting to help Cookie, because of the ex-husband getting angry but this shit feels like serious padding in retrospect. When the group gets to the healer they discover she is sick from using her powers, but she decides to help the ailing friends regardless with little chocolate chip Cookie showing up last. Of course everyone heals as expected and they celebrate...with a random titty shot that comes out of the blue.

Their joy does not last long as one of their friends ends up murdering a few people before killing herself. Believing it to be an isolated incident, they are further troubled when a stranger they met at the healer is seen on the news murdering people before killing himself. However, it's not until the third person healed goes on a murder-suicide attack that they realize there is a serious problem at hand. Seth realizes that she has been seeing doubles or doppelgangers of each person right before they go apeshit. There's also something with a crow flying around and nightmares but whatever. The fourth person was a cop and he goes crazy right in the middle of busting, what appears to be, a gay prostitute ring? Hell if I know. With only a handful of the friends left, they each seek a way to protect themselves as Seth goes to speak with the healer. It would appear the healer has been murdered as well with part of her house burned down. Okay, this is the point things stop making sense and they don't get any better from here on out. Right after Seth left the healer with her father, there was a man that died, but the healer, against her better judgement, resurrected the man; this resurrection is why the healer was so exhausted when Seth brought her friends. The resurrected man, Dario, eventually killed the healer and was later put in jail where he feeds off the deaths of Seth's friends. The friends are also dying in the order they were healed as told to us by the healer's flunky who serves as the exposition character.

Seth meets with Dario's wife who explains that he isn't the same man anymore after the resurrection. While this is happening, Seth sees more doubles and more friends say bye bye including a little girl who was hiding out at a monastery. I'm glad they had the balls to actually kill a kid off...so tired of them cheating death in every movie. With Cookie as the last one left, Seth and her son try to keep her under permanent watch to make sure her doppelganger never makes contact since the dopplegangers somehow possess you. Seth plans to kill Dario since that is allegedly the only way to end this, but she can't bring herself to do it. Cookie does go crazy, but Seth manages to electrocute her which magically allows the real Cookie to live and kills the cookie monster. Believing things are over--not sure why though--Seth and her dad party like usual but the cookie monster returns. Don't ask me how, but the cookie monster spreads to Seth's son, which doesn't fit the rules of the movie, and he attacks Seth. Right before Seth is about to die, the healer's flunky kills Dario while at jail. This time things appear to be over for real, but then the movie ends with Cookie gasping like this is supposed to be scary. Uhh, did I miss something? What, Cookie is resurrected and it's starting over? Give me a break.

I just want to go over a few things that don't make sense to me. First, they say Seth is the link to everyone and is the reason she can see the doppelgangers and crow. Okay...how? Seth didn't do jackshit. Yeah, she brought everyone to the healer, but what is that supposed to accomplish? The healer's flunky was there too when everything happened, why isn't he the fucking link? We never learn why the healer has these abilities. Come on, no one asked why or how? We get a skeptic in the movie and even he says nothing? What was up with Dario anyway? This isn't "Pet Semetary" here, you gotta give us something to work with for why he became evil after being resurrected. And what's with the damn crow? Again, this isn't "The Crow" here! You can't take random elements from other movies and toss them in a blender. Why do the people possessed by the doppelgangers have one googly eye? Is that supposed to be scary or something? And probably the most nonsensical aspect, what the hell is going on with Seth's dad?! Oh my goodness gracious, the whole movie I kept thinking his plot line was going to have a purpose or a twist but nope. What were they thinking?! Why does he get so much screen time? Why is he acting like he's a teenager? Is he supposed to be comedy relief? Why keep introducing drama with him like a young girlfriend if it is completely irrelevant? Wouldn't it have made more sense if you discovered it wasn't Dario that was resurrected, but that Seth's dad had died mid-healing or something along those lines? Or that Dario was possessing the dad or just something to explain his actions? They blew an opportunity with this and it feels like filler as a result.

I think the thing that bothered me most was that this movie failed to examine its own material thoroughly. They could have explored where the powers came from and the doppelgangers could have been a consequence or side effect. Or there could have been like an exchange whereby life is given therefore life must be taken away somewhere else. I don't get the choice to make the movie about a motive-less killer magically absorbing souls with no explanations. To be fair, they tried, and I'll give them credit for that much. The effects are decent, the ideas are original, and the movie is surprisingly brutal and graphic with the deaths. There is a lot going on here worth checking out, but I wish they had utilized the ideas to their full potential. To sum it up: the film starts off strongly with a lot of intrigue and endless potential but falters too soon and manages to end in utter disappointment.

Notable Moment: When they kill off the little kid. I was wondering whether or not they would wimp out and let the kid off the hook through shenanigans but nope. And an impaling to boot? Well, that's one way to put a horror cliche to rest.

Final Rating: 5.5/10

Cookie monster herself: