The Healing

Many Filipino films would rather kiss the conservatives' asses than to create the intended work of art. But the people behind "The Healing" chose not to hold back. I was very happy to have watched a really good Pinoy horror film this year from Star Cinema.

"The Healing" is a movie about a group of people who sought the help of a faith healer to cure them of their diseases. But due to a horrible mistake by the healer, the souls of these cured people are to be collected as reckoning.

Was the film scary? Yes, definitely. It started quite calmly and then developed a frightening feel - making the viewers realize that indeed, there is a terrible series of events that's going to unfold. And when it happened, it never stopped until the very end. People in the movie house (including me) were screaming at the top of their lungs from the surprisingly forbidding scenes that they witnessed.

I also loved how the movie never hesitated to use blood. If there's one word to describe this movie, it would be "gruesome." Many other films have shown violence at the very minimum. But "The Healing" really showed how a horror movie should look like - how scary it is to die without being able to fight for your life from the unknown, and how death chooses no one: male, female, healthy, young, old. This is why the film got a rating of R-18 from the MTRCB.

I believe this is Vilma Santos' first horror stint. From her performance, I can say she's really a very honed, seasoned and versatile actress as her acting seems like she has done this certain genre many times. Superb acting was also delivered by the other casts which truly helped in bringing the much needed fear in the mood of the movie.

I noticed that the film used color themes (same color of outfits, backdrops, props) to set the different tempers of the film. At first it bothered me, but as the film progressed, I felt how it helped in setting the several tones of the movie.

The only thing that the movie could have done better was the special effects like the spinning eyes, tongue sticking out, the burning woman, among others. The dependence on computer applications for effects was very obvious and really looked fake. But this criticism of the film did not really drag the overall quality of the film down.

I am really looking forward to watching more Filipino films of this kind of quality. Horror is what viewers pay for, and that is what they should actually get in return.

My rating: 95%