Frighteningly good

The day after "Milenyo" destroyed my house, Startalk staffers Gorgy Rula and Richard Arollado visited my place to take shots of what remained of it. During the interview, Gorgy asked me if I got scared during that very moment when the typhoon went pummeling through my roof, then my ceiling until it caved in. My answer was no. No, I didn’t have the time to get scared because I had my hands full giving directions on which lighting fixtures to remove before these too came crashing down with the ceiling.

Typhoons and earthquakes strangely don’t scare me that much. (Sure I worry from time to time, but if it comes, it comes.) The fact that I have chosen a halfway house up the 36th floor is an indication that I am willing to take chances with these natural calamities. It also helps that I don’t have acrophobia and bungee jumping is an activity I have done a couple of times in the past.

So what scares me? Modern technology – believe it or not. I am an idiot when it comes to technology. I get scared trying out new gadgets. I freeze on my tracks when confronted with the manual of a new cell phone.

At the Cinema Evaluation Board (CEB) review the other day, I uncovered another source of fear: watching horror movies that use modern gadgets to scare viewers.

This is the theme of Txt, the first full-length movie of University of Southern California-educated Mike Tuviera (Txt was graded A by the CEB).

Txt is the story of a young caregiver (Angel Locsin) whose dead boyfriend (Oyo Sotto) haunts her via calls, text messaging and picture messages. The idea is very novel, but works very well – thanks to a tightly-woven script by Paul Daza and Penny Daza Tuviera (the very talented children of Jullie Yap-Daza – or should we say now that Jullie is their mother?). Look, ‘Ma, no loopholes! This is a rarity in Philippine cinema where nobody bothers with the screenplay, which is actually the framework of any film.

The performances are also above average. Oyo Sotto is quite a revelation. Angel Locsin is at her best. Dennis Trillo is his usual competent self. This may not be another Aishite Imasu, but he delivers what is asked of him and does it well.

Even the supporting cast members turn in fine performances: Perla Bautista as the favorite patient of Angel Locsin; Eugene Domingo as the nosey carinderia-owner; Bing Loyzaga as the snooty mother of Oyo Sotto; Allan K as the amulet/herbal vendor and Dante Rivero as the psychic who tries to help Angel banish Oyo from her life.

And what a relief that the best friend of Angel Locsin here is not a know-it-all fashionista with a screechy voice – which is a mainstay character in every other local film. In Txt, it is Julia Clarete who plays the best friend of Angel and Julia is simply marvelous here. Her best scene is the part where she is told that she is the next one to die. (How? Just watch the film.) You feel her worry and anguish. And you hate to see her go because she is so good in the movie.

Not just good, but outstanding is the technical quality of Txt. I’ve never seen a Filipino movie as polished as Txt. The music by Jessie Lasaten helps heighten the suspense along with Mike Idioma’s sound effects. The production design of Roy Lachica is also correct in all aspects. Dante Rivero’s house for example, isn’t exaggeratedly that of a manghuhula – to my relief because I’ve always been appalled at how they portray the haunts of occultists in local movies. Everything is overly done complete with crystal balls.

The prosthetics applied by Bo Vicencio on the characters is also a masterpiece. I’ve known Oyo Sotto when he was an eight-year-old – when he was Oyo Boy – and now images of him with his disfigured face haunt me. His effective performance – plus the makeup – has made me forget the cute little kid tinkering with my mini-cassette recorder during one of my interviews with his actress mother, Dina Bonnevie. Frankly, I wouldn’t want to bump into him in person again anytime soon because I’m having difficulty separating his ghost image from the real – alive – person that he is at this point.

Mike Tuviera obviously knows the film medium and has mastered it this early in his career. He knows how to handle his actors (no overacting!) and is capable of bringing out the best in them. He is meticulous when it comes to the technical aspects. More importantly, he is an excellent storyteller.

Doing horror is an area of specialization. It is a difficult genre because it can be very tricky. But Mike Tuviera succeeds as a horror film director who knows his craft – and who knows how to scare without resorting to cheap gimmickry.

In some of my previous columns, I’ve mentioned how I fear for the future of Philippine cinema. My fear, however, has been eased somehow when I saw Txt the other day. It got me scared, all right. (A lot of scenes are frightening and are difficult to shake off from your imagination after you’ve seen the film.)

But with a new kid on the block like Mike Tuviera, my fear for what would become of local films in the near future vanished suddenly.