Haunted Mansion (a 2015 Filipino horror movie currently streaming on Netflix) successfully delivers the scares as it weaves an old and not so interesting study on teenagers and their hormones with a more interesting back story of the mansion involving two upper class sisters and a commoner.
Ella (Janella Salvador) has a third eye and therefore can see ghosts, making her the object of the school’s mean girls’ bullying. But she’s also the apple of two suitors’ eyes, so she’s getting by just the same. She and her classmates are to have a retreat in an old mansion turned into a retreat house, where a malevolent spirit is about to unleash terror on unsuspecting students and their teachers. Director Jun Lana opted to build the film’s tone and atmosphere really slowly making the first half a bit of a drag, but then it is compensated by the amazingly, aptly creepy photography, with crisp gray skies sort of warning that something wicked is about to befall the characters. And when the horror begins, it keeps you glued while feeling thrilled at the same time.
The special effects are topnotch, with the ghosts looking really frightening. The flashback scenes use a different shade of yellow and gray making the past come alive yet with a realistically old feel to it. Salvador manages to deliver a compelling portrayal of a character torn between praising her third eye and cursing it (because the last time she used it, she got possessed leaving a casualty in her family; and that flashback scene delivers too). Iza Calzado, LJ Reyes, and Joem Bascon provide excellent support as the sisters and the man between them. The scenes are carefully choreographed to intentionally deceive the audience from what truly happened in the past. While one may see the twist coming (I did), it still does not disappoint; and it adds another layer of threatening force to Calzado’s character.
The movie has flaws of course. Even if it’s a retreat, confiscating mobile phones is not a good idea. They are retreatants, not prisoners. So when the use of mobile phones becomes necessary, they all have dead batteries. What the… And with the bits and pieces of the mansion’s history already surfacing, why force the erring students to stay another night in the mansion? These flaws, however, are not enough to ruin the strength of the film’s horror images. So if you want to just get scared, never mind these flaws, and you will enjoy Haunted Mansion.
The Hungry Film Lover 