'Kutob' - a giveaway hunch

Produced by: Canary Films
Directed by: Jose Javier Reyes

Marvin Agustin - Lemuel
Rica Peralejo - Erica

Liza Lorena - Guada
Ryan Agoncillo - Carlo
Alessandra de Rossi - Mayen
James Blanco - RJ
Bing Loyzaga - Mrs. Ong
Andrea Del Rosario - Sandra

The movie is more of a mix of Psycho and I Know What You Did Last Summer. The twist in the movie is that you know the killer by watching the first 15 minutes of it and that you'll expect carnage only leaving the lead protagonist and antagonist head to head in the end. And my hunch was correct all along.

The story starts with Erica(Rica Peralejo),a low-IQ secretary who's been the constant ire of her boss, doubting her boyfriend's (Carlo/Ryan Agoncillo) fidelity. Lemuel(Marvin Agustin),an obsessed stalker came into the picture when he saw the opportunity of being Erica's "boyfriend". Death strikes to anyone who would pose a threat to anyone who will try to hurt Erica or try to break their "so-called-relationship". Lemuel suffers from psychotic depression caused by the accidental death of her aunt whom he blames as his fault when the latter fell from the stairs caused by their altercation.

The lines in the movie were great. I loved some lines thrown by Rica to Ryan in the mall when she quipped,"Hindi sa niloko kita...madali lang kitang palitan" (It's not that I fooled you...You're just easy to replace"). I find some lines catchy and witty but the direction of the story is predictable.

I laud the movie for its great set of actors, originality and cinematography but there are other portions in the movie that I think isn't needed at all. The other lady that Lemuel has stalked has no basis of being included in the script. Her addition to the movie could have been used to show more of Lemuel's psychotic potentials by ditching her morbidly. That cliffhanger effect was successful. I was left with my mouth open as the scene was dropped with me left clueless in my seat and Lemuel -- grinning.

I remember watching ETK at ABS-CBN and I believe that the girl who won the slot for the contest is the one who played that useless role. She was great though but her scenes weren't even vital to the story. It was in short - a filler.

The idea of identifying the culprit right away is a big no-no for me when it comes to suspense thrillers like this movie. The script writer could have been more creative churning out a twist every moment to get the excitement of the viewers.

The acting department was okay. I have hands up praises to Marvin Agustin, Rica Peralejo and Alessandra de Rossi who have made the scenes believeable and exciting even the script has flaws in it.

If they say that this movie has a great script, I'm quite doubtful giving reviews for other movies.

Though I'm quite disappointed with the movie, I'm still glad to watch this movie than spending my bucks over Shake, Rattle and Roll 2005 which I heard was a horror-flick worth laughing at.

I have posted this same article at Pinoy Exchange