Sanib was the first movie I saw today kicking off the MFF this year.
With all the hype and promotion this film got, I was expecting something really good and scary but in the end I got very disappointed.
1. Aubrey Miles' acting is still the same: POOR and WEAK. Her "acting" improved slightly when playing her possessed self but overall she is such a pain to watch on the screen. A beautiful pain that is. As always, Aubrey is better off looking beautiful than trying to be an actress.
2. The film has some jumpy moments but the scary moments are almost zero in number. Even with scenes showing of the evil one, I did not feel scared at all. Despite the use of sound effects, nothing was really scary most of the time.
3. The first 60 minutes of the movie is plain boring! We get to see Aubrey living her daily life, then later getting haunted by her long dead sister and we get to see other characters as well. Most of those characters contribute nothing to the film's value but the exception is Raymond Bagatsing as Father Jesse
4. The last 40 minutes of Sanib got some steam in terms of quality and entetainment but this is because it ripped certain moments from the classic horror flick "The Exorcist":
-As Father Gaspar and Father Jesse arrive at the home of Aubrey's folks (where possessed Aubrey is in), we suddenly hear a loud and evil voice scaring them. That was ripped off from The Exorcist when Father Karras and Father Merrin got into the house and heard the evil voice loudly.
-Bagatsing's Father Jesse is ripped off from Father Karras (weakening faith making him vulnerable to evil) but the difference is that Jesse is guilty of having a son despite his priesthood.
-Possessed Aubrey tries weakening Father Jesse by speaking his dead son's voice and looks (in separate scenes) in an effort to weaken the exorcism. This is a copy of The Exorcist wherein possessed Linda Blair speaks to Father Karras with his dead mother's voice.
5. The cast of characters are not very useful save Raymond Bagatsing's Father Jesse, Father Gaspar (very short though) and Aubrey's parents.
6. The flashback scenes, which explains Aubrey's child character having conflicts with her sister who later died while being trapped in a freezer right in their family home, are simply way too long and way boring to watch. Direk Celso could have cut a few minutes of footage to speed up the pace and still maintain the story telling but no!
7. Some serious moments were deliberately presented as comedy. Like a priest, when asked if he would want to go back to see possessed Aubrey, saying he does not want to go back (yet did not admit scare). Then later we saw a hired man at the house, who left with his bag (he's not returning because he's scared).
And worst of all is the dark scene inside Aubrey's apartment where 1 of her friends walked alone feeling haunted and scared, then freaked out when she just bumped accidentally to another friend.
8. The ending gave a dead giveaway for a sequel: Sanib 2 in the future. In the end, Aubrey is well and normal, she's with Father Jesse, her fiance Leandro and her folks paying their last respects to her long dead sister.
But with them is one woman, a friend, who turned out to be possessed. The camera focused on her and zoomed straight into her evil face right before the screen goes dark.
In short, Sanib is an over-hyped movie that does not deserve real attention. Sanib is best viewed in home video, not the theaters. And in terms of presentation, Sanib lacks polish. By comparison, Sanib lags way behind the scary factor of Spirit Warriors 1 (a horror comedy!).
The only saving grace in Sanib is Raymond Bagatsing's strong performance as Father Jesse. He even had a crying scene plus he is very convincing in his act. Bagatsing deserves to be nominated for his role!
