Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino : "Salvage" (2017) movie review

SALVAGE, a found footage horror film
by Sherad Anthony Sanchez

It's quite hard to scare people like me who's been desensitized by years of watching countless horror movies in my 23 years of existence. And it sucks, especially because I'm a big horror junkie. I loved being scared. I loved the thrill and excitement. But now, it's very rare to come across a good horror movie. These days, i'm looking for something different. A new brand of horror. Something weird. Something unique. Most of today's audiences have also grown tired of the genre too. So horror movies nowadays need to find new ways to scare people. There's also a scarcity in our local horror movie genre because first, most of the films produced here are romcom or comedies; and second, there aren't a lot of good local horror flicks recently. In Salvage (2015, the film had screenings during the 11th Cinema One Originals film festival), director Sherad Anthony Sanchez wants to subvert horror with one of it's tired sub genres: the found footage.

Taking cues from classic found-footage films before like Ruggero Deodato's Cannibal Holocaust (1980) which revolutionized the found footage style of narrative filmmaking, later popularized by such films as The Blair Witch Project (1999)  and Paranormal Activity (2007), the film has a similar plot as it follows missing documentary film crew. After being suspended, a TV news Team is redirected to an unwanted assignment of Aswang rumors in a town in Central Mindanao. Cynical and unenthusiastic, they follow their lead towards a remote barrio where they experience the varying definitions of salvage. The film stars Jessy Mendiola. JC De Vera, Joel Saracho, Karl Medina and Barbie Capacio, the film was produced by Cinema One and Salida Productions way back in 2015 and is getting a commercial release just now.

The film starts out with your typical behind-the-scenes look on how documentaries are done. Here, we get a glimpse on what the media is willing to do for the sake of ratings and viewership. It's like a satire on today's journalists, and their portrayal is often humorous and at times over-the-top. We are led to believe that the suspect behind those murders in the province are aswangs, but then, the film takes for a turn as it is revealed that the mythical monster is not the real culprit. It's somehow satirical, considering that the real people behind the disappearances and murders in the town is the military there, which reflects the daily news that we watch everyday on extrajudicial killings and overkill by the police force. After this revelation, the movie takes off from being your normal found footage film to a weirder movie that no one, not even me, can still comprehend up until now. Don't get me wrong as to why I still cannot interpret the movie easily. I've seen the film twice now (the first was during last year's Cinema One Originals film festival) but it's still hard to explain what the whole movie is all about. This is when I realized that the film is doesn't really have a straight-forward story and instead, goes for a psychedelic mind-trip. Revealing what really happened will definitely spoil the movie and ruin the experience, but let's just say that the town that they went into is like our country's own local version of the Bermuda Triangle.

The film's use of the found footage technique is quite fun to watch. This subgenre may not be new to moviegoers as we have seen countless of them before, but it is definitely new to local cinema. This may as well be the first found footage horror film that we had (there's another found footage Pinoy horror flick earlier this year entitled Darkroom but it was sort of forgettable). The use of glitches and pixelation in it's scenes, similar to the technique used in Unfriended (2015) was really effective. It adds a gritty feel to the movie because it seems like an actual recovered documentary reel. These glitches and pixelations also creates some really creepy and disturbing visuals. During the first half of the film, we see the action unfold through the lenses of the team's camera. But soon, these characters starts to experience some weird, hypnotic trance and the camera shots eventually get's mixed up with the character's point-of-view, blurring the lines between what reality and fiction. This is what makes Salvage trippy and mind-bending kind of fun. Director Sherad Anthony Sanchez' take on horror isn't like your typical horror flick where you get thrown one jump scare after another. The horror in this film is about the unknown. It's all about uncertainty and unpredictability. You are not sure what you are seeing anymore. You're not even sure if there is an actual plot anymore. But here you are, glued to the screen. You can't take your eyes off it. You have to see what happens next. You have to know where this will lead the characters. You don't care about the story or plausibility of the film. You're like riding a roller-coaster in an amusement park: you just stay and sit there, enjoying the wild ride.

To their credit, the cast were very game in giving their best into this movie. Jessy Mendiola plays Melay, the segment producer of the a news and current affairs show on television. Her portrayal of the role is simple, which makes it believable. Her added charisma works well on screen especially for her character as we mostly follows her through all the mayhem in the movie and root for her survival. JC De Vera plays Neil, the team's cameraman. Though he is mostly not seen for quite some time in the film since he is always the one holding the camera, he still tries his best when it comes to his acting scenes. Barbie Capacio adds humor to the film's gritty atmosphere. The whole theater roars with laughter every time she is present. Joel Saracho and Karl Medina add some great screen presence as they complete the team's cast. It was so fun to watch them run around the forest, screaming and cursing at the same time. Though there were some moments when the acting was a bit rough or may come as over-the-top, it looks like they're just playing around, having fun, and that's what makes it enjoyable to watch (especially that thrilling jeepney chase).

At times, the film is a hit-or-miss and this is most likely due to the film's very limited budget. This film was produced through film grants from the Cinema One Originals film festival and not like those slick Hollywood found footage films we've seen in theaters. But luckily, the crew tries to overcome it's limited financial sources by experimenting on different techniques to create a film like Salvage. I know for sure that this movie may not fit well for the tastes of other moviegoers, but for those cinephiles who wants to see something different from Philippine cinema, this movie is for you. Sherad Anthony Sanchez' Salvage is a bizarre, hallucinatory mindfuck - one that will stick in your mind for along time.

Rating: ✰✰✰✰✰ of 5

Salvage (2017) 

Directed by Sherad Anthony Sanchez,
Starring Jessy Mendiola. JC De Vera, Joel Saracho, Karl Medina and Barbie Capacio

***

The "Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino" is a nationwide week-long celebration where all movie theaters will exclusively screen Filipino films in line with the Buwan ng Wika. This festive event is organized by the Film Development Council of the Philippines in partnership with theaters nationwide and will run from August 16-22, 2017.