A few weeks ago I reviewed The Echo. This was a remake of a movie from the Philippines. At the time I had yet to see the original film, which is called Sigaw (which translates into Scream actually). Lucky for me, Netflix has Sigaw, so once I got it I knew what my next review for here was going to be. I was interested in watching this one just to see what was changed for the American remake. The disc I got from Netflix was damaged though, it has a deep scratch in one spot. I was hoping it wouldn’t affect my viewing experiance too much though. As luck would have it, I didn’t really hit a problem until close to the end of the movie. Such is life with Netflix sometimes.
Marvin (Richard Gutierrez) is a young guy that has decided to get his own place against his mother’s wishes. Marvin has found an appartment that is pretty cheap, and pretty haunted. Marvin has trouble sleeping because a few doors down lives a family that fights a lot. Bert (Jomari Yllana) abuses his wife Anna (Iza Calzado) because he thinks she is sleeping around with someone in the building. He also believes their daughter Lara (Ella Guevara) is not his daughter. Anna often knocks on his door asking for help, but Marvin doesn’t know what to do. He also hears strange noises from within his own place, and sees some strange things. He eventually learns that the family lived there three years ago, and all died there as well. Will Marvin help Anna?
The story is pretty close with both films, which did surprise me a little bit. Two things really set the two movies apart though. One is the main character. Marvin is just a guy looking to be on his own. In the remake he is an ex con. The other noticable difference is that Sigaw spends more time telling the story of the family that is haunting the place. I wouldn’t call it a lot more time, but it does show what happens behind the closed door more than the remake did. It also tells the story of Jude (James Blanco), who did try and help Anna and Lara a little bit at least. I found this story a little confusing at first since I didn’t notice right away that it was a different guy from Marvin, even though the apartment was the same. This did help explain some of the things that Marvin was seeing and hearing though. Those things went unexplained in the remake though. Since Marvin is at the apartment as much as the main character is in the remake, it does makes sense that they fill the time with backstory.
The fact that it is filled with more backstory though makes it less creepy than the remake though. The line of reality and ghosts are not as blured as it was in the remake I didn’t think. It didn’t really take me long in the remake to realize we were dealing with a ghost story. It takes much longer for that line to blur here, and I think it loses some of its edge. A ghost story can be scary, while abuse can also be scary (if it were happening to me I know I would be scared) but mostly it is just sad. One of the things I didn’t like is that Marvin didn’t always react to things. Like he is looking under the bed and sees Lara run towards the bed. When he looks though, Lara is no where to be found. This would really freak me out, but Marvin doesn’t seem too bothered by it. The movie also feels a little slower because of the backstory, and is longer than the remake. The ending is left open for a sequel, maybe anyway, but it isn’t as open ended as it was in the remake. The story of Marvin in this building is wraped up nice and neat.
The acting was a little bit of a problem for me. I didn’t care for Richard Gutierrez in the lead role, or Angel Locsin as the girlfriend. They weren’t bad actors, I just didn’t care for them that much. I did get a laugh from a scene with Pinky, Angel’s character, and her parents though. The woman playing the mother made me laugh with the way she was trying to hush her daughter. I think the biggest problem wasn’t the acting so much as it was the sub titles. They didn’t seem to be translated very well. Some of the things said in the sub titles didn’t always make sense to me, even if I could figure out what was meant. Knowing the plot helped with this some. What I thought was odd, but is apparently pretty common, is that English words or entire sentences would be interchanged with Philippino. At first I thought maybe it was just certain words, but after a while I felt I was wrong about that. Not much for special effects, just a little blood here and there.
One thing I was happy to find different is that Sigaw doesn’t have The Grudge feel to it that the remake had. The ghosts are seen outside of the building, but only by Marvin and Pinky, and only after they learn the truth. One scene where Marvin sees Anna outside of the building was pretty cool. He doesn’t notice her right away while Pinky and himself takes in a movie. The way the screen was lighting up Anna looked very cool. Add that she was also a little out of focus, which made it even better. If I had to pick between the two movie I would have trouble doing so. Both have things I liked about each, and didn’t like. I think maybe Sigaw wins out, but just barely. I certainly liked the ending better, which is why I think I might have to go with this movie as the best. If you don’t mind sub titles, even if they are a little off, this is one movie worth checking out sometime.
3 out of 5 Silly ghosts just don’t know when to quit