‘Uninvited’ keeps viewers engaged
MANILA, Philippines — The last time viewers saw Star for All Seasons Vilma Santos in an off-beat role on the big screen was when she played a serial killer in director Maryo J. de los Reyes drama thriller, “Tagos ng Dugo” (1987).
It has taken Vilma nearly four decades to accept another anti-villain role, this time as an avenging mom in director Dan Villegas’ “Uninvited,” the sophomore entry of John Bryan Diamante’s Mentorque Productions this time to the 50th anniversary of the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF).
The dark, psychological thriller marks the return of director Dan to filmmaking after a six-year hiatus, the last one being “Exes Baggage,” that reunited erstwhile lovers Angelica and Carlo Aquino (2018).
Written by Dodo Dayao, “Uninvited” easily presented the vendetta of Eva Candelaria (the character of Vilma), who avenged the death of her only daughter, Lily Capistrano (Gabby Padilla), abducted and killed a decade earlier with her boyfriend Tofy (Elijah Canlas) by the dirty men of billionaire Guilly Vega (Aga Muhlach).
“Uninvited” was given an R-16 classification obviously because of its themes of rape, sexual assault, revenge and death. The film tropes adopted by this entry were not easily distinguished from the start, although the ending is predictable.
However, as the film unraveled, one could sense the similarity of “Uninvited” with other gripping stories shown in the past. Jennifer Lopez battled with an abusive husband and killed him in “Enough” (2002).
The story of “Uninvited” happens in one night at the grand mansion of billionaire Guilly Vega and the lavish celebration of his 55th birthday, complete with his friends, frenemies and henchmen.
Exploiting young ladies is the wont of Guilly. In his safety deposit box at home, he collects the school IDs of his young female victims, along with his cash, drugs and guns. It rained bills in Guilly’s birthday party to the delight of guests present.
For a change, Aga plays the unromantic lead in “Uninvited.” The last time he essayed a baddie on the big screen was in Rory Quintos’ “Sa Aking mga Kamay” (1995), where he was a serial killer. The suspense-drama was shown nearly three decades ago. The film even became the inspiration for today’s drama series, “Cattleya Killer,” with Arjo Atayde.
Aga expertly rose to the challenge of playing anti-hero in “Uninvited.” He didn’t scrimp on his dialogue and utters invectives when needed, as if he eats those words for breakfast.
As Guilly, he is the filthy rich guy who gets anything and everything he wants because of his wealth and power. He sexually exploits even his spoiled and rebellious daughter Nicole (Nadine) and gets away with it.
Dressed to the nines for Guilly’s party, came in Lily Capistrano/Eva Candelaria whose daughter was murdered by the henchmen of Guilly a decade earlier. She showed up in the party apparently prepared to settle the score and exact revenge with Guilly.
The vengeful mother turned vigilante. In Vilma’s case, a senior lady is bravely out there to seek revenge for her daughter.
She carefully did her research prior to her attack and identified the bad guys — RK Bagatsing as Jigger Zulueta, Cholo Barretto as Celso Batac, Ketchup Eusebio as Jomar Maitim, Gio Alvarez as Randall Ballesteros — subsequently taking them down and vengefully killing them.
There were other victims of Guilly’s violence. However, unlike Eva, the others opt to turn a blind eye to Guilly’s wrath, settle for bribes or leave the country instead of filing legal action and fighting Guilly out in court that will surely be for naught.
One of them was Nonie Buencamino, who gave an affecting performance no matter how short his screen time was.
If at all, “Uninvited” keeps the viewers engaged in the 93 minutes of screen time. There are back stories in between, as direk Dan managed to hold his viewers’ attention throughout the flashbacks he provided within the story.
The ensemble cast delivers powerful performances. Even the likes of Mylene Dizon, who plays Guilly’s wife Katrina Vega, Tirso Cruz III as the colonel Red and Lotlot de Leon as Tofy’s mom Norma, respectively, carried out memorable performances.
Undoubtedly, “Uninvited” is one of the top grossing MMFF entries this year. The film leads the pack of 10 entries that includes films by Vice Ganda (“And the Breadwinner Is”), Dennis Trillo (“Green Bones”), Judy Ann Santos (“Espantaho”), Vic Sotto and Piolo Pascual (“The Kingdom”).
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