Metro Manila Film Festival 2024: Filipino found footage horror finds its footing

By Brontë H. Lacsamana, Reporter

Movie Review
Strange Frequencies: Taiwan Killer Hospital
Directed by Kerwin Go
Produced by Reality MM Studios and Creative Leaders Group 8

TECHNOLOGY, social media, and the horrors that come with it are themes that resonate with younger audiences today. Much of our lives is filtered through a lens, be it that of a phone, laptop, or actual camera. Never mind the shaky movements, the off-kilter framing, or the unpredictable elements that pop up onscreen — these days, the cameras are always rolling. And if they’re not, you’re missing out.<

This is the context that motivates the adventurous ghost-hunting team of celebrities and online influencers in Strange Frequencies: Taiwan Killer Hospital. Starring Enrique Gil, Jane De Leon, Alexa Miro, Rob Gomez, MJ Lastimosa, Raf Pineda, and Ryan Azurin as exaggerated versions of themselves, this film delves into the consequences of always being “on,” for clicks, for clout, for cash.

The pursuit of fame and fortune takes the group to Taiwan’s infamous Xinglin Hospital, one of Southeast Asia’s most haunted locations, where they expect to simply generate hype and act out viral-worthy moments for their webseries — until actual paranormal phenomena start to happen.

As a fan of found footage horror (a genre of horror characterized by handheld, shaky camera movement or grainy camera quality due to the footage being “self-recorded”), I was so ready to be disappointed by this. It was probably the unbelievably low level of expectation that made this film such a pleasant surprise for me. It’s actually well-executed, director Kerwin Go was seemingly given a decent budget for the creepy atmosphere and demonic visuals to come to life.

Strange Frequencies: Taiwan Killer Hospital is directly inspired by the 2018 Korean horror film Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum, a fact that it wears on its sleeve with the characters even mentioning it as one of their favorite movies. What people usually ask about Filipino adaptations of Korean movies is whether it’s a trying-hard version of the source material. I’m happy to report that it’s not better or worse, instead becoming a thing of its own. Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum had less distinct characters but more hair-raising scares from what I remember, while Strange Frequencies brings in more memorable character dynamics with some promising scares. Not bad.

(Spoilers ahead!)

Jane De Leon is the stand-out here, her facial expressions, voice, and body language perfectly suited for this genre. So much so that I wish she had been one of the last two to survive. She hit that sweet spot of desperate and smart-but-ultimately-doomed that befits a Final Girl.

With that said, the entire cast did their job, each of them playing up their celebrity qualities well: Enrique Gil’s hubris, Alexa Miro’s cutesy excitement, Rob Gomez’s asshole demeanor, Raf Pineda’s dramatic delivery of lines. Even Ryan Azurin, who is one of the first to die, and MJ Lastimosa, who’s an annoyingly emotionless beauty queen, do their part. It is with this cast that tensions rise and personalities clash, giving us the impression that living in the public eye has messed up their sense of integrity (Fake viral moments to get more views? No problem!).

Of course, none of it completely makes sense. The malevolent entity haunts and plays with them like pawns at times, while leaving them to wander around obnoxiously at others. Some characters die instantly; some are hunted and teased for extended periods. Certain abilities of this demonic spirit are introduced, but its hauntings are inconsistent.

To be even more nitpicky, the rules behind the footage get thrown out the window pretty quickly, with us seeing first-person handheld camera visuals mixed with third-person POV shots. I’m aware that purely found footage would be difficult to pull off, especially with this film that had a lot of moving parts, but some moments could have been better timed to leave more of an impact when there’s a switch from one mode to the other.

A bit more work could have also been done to lessen the glaring plot holes.

For example, they supposedly streamed their whole adventure live and never got caught (when they revealed clearly illegal machinations behind-the-scenes) or got help (when they started getting hurt and dying and were pleading with followers for it). Sure, it could have been a creative choice on the filmmakers’ part to show how desensitized netizens are to viral, clearly sensationalized content online, choosing to believe it’s all fake and therefore not reacting normally, but even then there’s a limit to that conceit.

The ending had a solid message though, which could have been finessed.

The last moments and deaths of certain characters drove home themes of fame and virality that motivate celebrities, content creators, and horror-related content today. Being stupid, inauthentic, irrational, and disrespectful (towards both the living and the dead) yields horrific consequences. It was riveting stuff that evoked the satirical elements of the 2023 American horror-comedy Deadstream, and the thought-provoking yet fast-paced sensibilities of various segments of V/H/S, a popular found footage horror film series.

Strange Frequencies’ meta approach is interesting, its creepy vibe and fun scares definitely worthy of screams in movie theaters — a good sign that Filipino found footage horror has found its footing. The last good attempt was the 2015 Mindanao-set film Salvage by Sherad Anthony Sandhez, and the genre hasn’t really been played with effectively since then. Hopefully we see more of it soon!

MTRCB Rating: R-13