REVIEW: Corazon (Ang Unang Aswang)
*spoiler alert!
*Opinions*
This is a story of a woman named Corazon (Erich Gonzales) who, for 5 years, failed to conceive a baby with his husband, Daniel (Derek Ramsay), not until they sought the help of a lady who showed them a possible way but would require deep faith, sacrifice, and religious devotion. It all paid off when Corazon got pregnant, yet the world turned upside-down on the day the child was born -- dead. This hideous event made her feel betrayed by fate and as a revenge, cursed that children's crying will no longer be heard and be silenced by death.
A nostalgic setting in a hacienda with a quite long establishing of the story made me think twice if this is indeed a horror story. But after seeing the whole movie, I think the story telling part was quite necessary especially that it aims to create a strong foundation on how the first "aswang" came into being. Yet all the "horror" parts were piled towards the end. The ending seemed to be idealistic with Corazon and Daniel together; feels like a "you and I against the world" type.
Personally, I find it sensitive that the target of the "aswang" are children though the actual killing were never shown. Also, despite being a horror movie, it didn't really bring much chills. Maybe the "aswang" scenes and chases were quite predictable, or there were too much "love story" feel which were very evident throughout the whole movie. "Corazon" means heart so maybe the intention is to create a horror-love story, far from the usual suspense-gory type of horror movies.
*The Cast*
I've never seen Erich Gonzales before in a movie of her own, yet this is something good to add in her portfolio. The movie started with the usual Erich roles -- plain, reserved, kind, say all the good qualities. Yet after the death of her child, there's the "psychotic" character where she may appear fierce, at times caring to her dead child, or whatever goes. A big twist when she turned into an "aswang" with her creepy looks and gestures as she hunts children during the night. Being paired with Derek means mature roles are on her way. Derek Ramsay, on the other hand, never fails to show machismo, yet could have shown more especially on the crying-drama parts.
