Movie Review: Jose Javier Reyes's "Spirit of the Glass 2: The Haunted" (2017)

A scene from "Spirit of the Glass 2: The Haunted" featuring it's cast.
Source: Spirit of the Glass 2 Facebook page

Spirit of the Glass is a 2004 Filipino horror movie directed by Jose Javier Reyes and starred Rica Peralejo. The film was released on October 13, 2004 and follows a group of young adults who are being haunted by ghosts after playing the Ouija board and opening a portal to the spirit world. Thirteen years later, Jose Javier Reyes returns for a sequel, entitled Spirit of the Glass 2: The Haunted. The movie, produced under Octoarts Films in association with T-Rex Entertainment, stars Cristine Reyes, Janine Gutierrez, Daniel Matsunaga, Benjamine Alves, Ashley Ortega, Enrico Cuenca, Maxine Medina with Teri Malvar, Janine Gutierrez, Dominic Roque, and Aaron Villaflor.

The movie follows the same story line of it's predecessor, featuring new characters and a different twist. Bea (Cristine Reyes), a lifestyle editor of a popular magazine, inherits some boxes containing old family stuff, one of which contains an antique Ouija board. Out of boredom, she and her friends, Lisette (Maxine Medina) an up-and-coming young actress, and Chelsea (Ashley Ortega) a sought-after model, and their respective boyfriends, Enzo, Jag, and Andre, played the game and unwittingly opened a portal to the spirit world. The spirits that they have summoned start harassing the three girls which forces them to connect with a blind medium (Teri Malvar) to help them in unraveling the mystery of a crime committed 50 years ago to end the haunting (hence, the title The Haunted, obviously).

To be honest, this film would have worked thirteen year ago when Filipino audiences weren't that picky when it comes to horror flicks. But watching this film this 2017, I can't help thinking that this sequel came a bit too late. I mean, as a sequel, they should have thought about making the film bigger and better (or at least, scarier) than the first movie. Sequels always comes with the responsibility of topping over or at the very least, meeting the expectations of viewers who have seen the original. Unfortunately, this film doesn't try anything new. The first problem I had was the story itself. A group of friends playing the ouija board unwittingly summoning spirits that soon stats haunting them? Sounds familiar? Because it is. There are dozens of horror movies that have used the same story line for the past couple of years. Some of them are far better than others. But this movie did not really stand out among them. When you recycle a used story line, you need to at least come up with something to make the film memorable. Sadly, this film doesn't even try. It's not even campy nor fun to make it entertaining. Then, there's that bad editing. And don't even let me start with all those fade-to-black transitions that anyone with a Windows Moviemaker in their computer can do with their home made videos. 

Screenshots from the trailer

There's also a big problem with the spirits haunting the characters in the story. They are not just scary at all. They look like people in dress-up and don't even look so ghostly at all. I'm not sure why the characters in the movie feel scared and always scream on top of their lungs whenever these ghosts pop up. The people in Halloween costumes during the film's special screening that I attended were way more creepier than the ghosts in this film. I don't really see any effort in making them scary.

Which leads to the next problem of the movie. There's no actual danger here. Because the ghosts doesn't even look scary, you don't feel like they are any threat at all to the characters. I thought these ghosts were angry and vengeful. But while watching the movie, I didn't even felt like there is any danger at all in the story. There is no turning point, no tension, no dread. The so-called climax of the film doesn't feel so climactic at all. I was even surprised that the film has already ended because I didn't noticed that it already reached it's conclusion. Sorry to say but I got bored during the climactic part of the film. I have great respect for director Jose Javier Reyes and the casts, but this horror film was supposed to be scary. But it wasn't.

The only good thing about the movie that got my attention was the brilliant performances of Teri Malvar as the blind psychic that helped the group and Janine Gutierrez who plays one of the vengeful ghosts in the story. They're the only reason why I'm giving this movie a star. I love the flashback scenes featuring Janine as they were the most interesting ones to watch. Teri is always a delight to watch on screen. The scene where they played the ouija board for the very first time was a bit fun and deserves a star too. Seeing Benjamin Alves getting dragged into a room by an unseen force put a smile on my face. But aside from all of this, there's nothing else that made an impact to me as a viewer and as a horror fan.





Again, this review is just based on my own opinion. So maybe, just maybe, other people would find the film scary or fun to watch. As for me, sorry but it's not just scary enough.
Rating: ✰✰ of 5






Spirit of the Glass 2: The Haunted (2017)
Directed by Jose Javier Reyes, starring Cristine Reyes, Janine Gutierrez, Daniel Matsunaga, Benjamine Alves, Ashley Ortega, Enrico Cuenca, Maxine Medina with Teri Malvar, Janine Gutierrez, Dominic Roque, and Aaron Villaflor.