Sigaw (aka The Echo) Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: After moving into a new apartment, a man realizes the neighbors that have been keeping him awake are actually ghosts.

Review: I want to like this movie, but it's pretty much a complete fucking mess. In one respect, the story has an interesting setup, and the atmosphere is decent. On the other hand, the pacing is abysmal, and the narrative structure makes no conceivable sense; it's hard to describe--the basic concept of the "beginning, middle, end" is not designed or presented properly. If they cut out, say, 20 minutes of filler, and punched the sound guy for hitting the scary music cue every two minutes, this could have turned out infinitely better. I guess we could say this is yet another example of wasted potential.

The positive aspects are primarily surface level accompanied by good ideas that were buried under the mistakes. The film quality uses that same, shitacular grain from "Sukob," but, as with that movie, this successfully enhances the atmosphere. Speaking of which, the apartment building looks more ominous and thoroughly worn due to this film grain. The story's setup almost works, and I do appreciate the kind of twist they were building toward; the goal is simply not achieved. This idea that the main guy, Marvin, is not supposed to realize everyone are ghosts is cool in theory. Showing the audience past events as if they're occurring in the present, all the while blending the scenes together with Marvin, would have been impressive. I will still give credit where it's due despite the failure to truly realize this vision. Another aspect worth mentioning is Marvin's girlfriend, Pinky, played by Angel Locsin. Hot.

So, while I commend the attempt at pulling a twist on the audience, I can't ignore that this also serves to create a nonsensical story structure. For one, it's not a twist when the film goes out of its way to emphasize the ghosts are...well...ghosts long before the actual reveal to Marvin. In other words, this ain't "The Others." Whoops...spoilers for that movie too! But it's not just the bumbling of the material...the film's pacing is far too slow to make the payoff worthwhile. There are times when nothing is happening for long periods of time as well as the ghosts not looking scary whatsoever. Likewise, too much effort is put into making the ghosts feel sympathetic when their story isn't all that compelling. It also makes no sense why the ghosts are fixated on Marvin even after he stops living in the apartment. By the way, if the ghosts are stuck in a loop, how in the hell are they appearing outside of the apartment anyway?! The story inconsistencies aren't an isolated incident either as there are plenty of shenanigans afoot. Marvin didn't realize he was living in a different apartment number...really?! What about setting up his mailing address or, ya know, actually talking to the landlord?! Making matters worse, Marvin and Pinky are not interesting, and their added drama to the mix slows down the pacing even more--bringing things to snail-like levels by the ending. By the way, the ending is lackluster, also a bit incoherent, and they had to include that final zinger, huh?

Eh, I thought this was merely okay the first time I saw it, but, upon a second viewing, this really isn't very good. Sure, there were good ideas scattered about, and the look and tone are certainly there to make a memorable horror movie. Unfortunately, the story is too messy with the entire movie feeling amateurish. The pacing is horrendously slow, the twist is needlessly predictable, and there appeared to be little effort to make the ghosts look scary. Come to think of it, if this were, maybe, a 30 minute short tacked onto an anthology, this might have worked a helluva lot better.

Notable Moment: After Pinky tells Marvin about her experience seeing the little girl's ghost. There is skepticism and then there is being a dumbass. Marvin is saying things like it's a big elevator (for why the ghost disappeared)...yeaaah, because you can lose someone in an enclosed space. Then Marvin says the blood on the ghost's face was probably just ketchup. Pinky, baby, you can do waaaaay better than this fool. Well, if they were striving for comedy this scene did make me laugh.

Final Rating: 5/10