Mallari

Mallari was honestly a good watch. Now for some added context, I’m not really a fan of Filipino-made films as most of their concepts are derived from western films, they tweak it just enough to make it their own. Directed by Roderick Cabrido, known for producing horror films in the Philippines. Both Mallari and Clarita (2019) have made it to Netflix streaming service.

The mixture of Insidious’ astral projection concept, time travel, serial killer, and the famous Filipino folk lore creature known as Manananggal was good, but I’d rather be it solely focused on it being a crime movie, without the CGI creature. Regardless, it blended well to be honest.

Filipino mythical creature, the Manananggal

Now for added information about the said creature. The term “Manananggal” is derived from the Filipino word “tanggal” which means “to remove” or “to separate“. In this case, its translated as “one who separates itself“. A woman who can separate its upper torso from her lower half, leaving the lower half vulnerable. It preys on pregnant women and sucks out fetuses, and as the movie shows, its choice of delicacies are human’s internal organs and intestines.

I was actually surprised to see a Manananggal at the latter part of the movie, it really didn’t occur to me at first that all along the focus would lead to a supernatural creature, it was a bit disappointing though, because they were on the right track with the mental illness running in the family and the astral projection and stuff. The effects and the visual of the creature was good, considering the level of the VFX in the Philippines, this was great. The ghosts weren’t scary, more like eerie and creepy I’d say. The fact that they showed the ghosts very early on was disappointing, it diminished the impact of it.

The time jumps were a bit confusing

The story of Mallari was confusing at first because they didn’t show that time travel was involved, so they kept on jumping from one timeline to the other, and it didn’t help that the 3 timelines had one actor acting out those roles. Disregarding how confusing it was, the story actually unfolded pretty well. They went with showing the near end scene and then went on to tell how they got there. Not a fan of it but this was done well.

Characters

• The big reveal towards the end was great, I mean I had my doubts about Lucas Alarcon’s (played by JC Santos) character, but him changing his demeanor from an innocent priest to being a sadistic killer was to be applauded for. Great performance from him.
• Piolo Pascual’s performance was great as well, but I wasn’t a fan of him acting out those three Mallari from each timeline, I mean I get that all three of them are relatives, but that doesn’t mean that they have to look exactly the same. He did do well acting as a priest, serial killer, journalist and a doctor.
• I had my doubts when I saw Janella Salvador, and I was right, someone else should’ve played that part.

Based on historical facts

What made this movie stand out for me was its background and what it was based from. Juan Severino Mallari was a Filipino Catholic priest and a serial killer. The very first documented serial killer in the Philippines. As with the movie, Mallari believed that his mother was cursed and started to believe that by killing, his mother’s ailments would go away. Mallar was attributed to at least 57 deaths before getting caught and hanged.

Conclusion

I don’t usually like Filipino made movies, but after watching this, it gives me hope and am willing to explore more of what Filipino movies has to offer, specially in terms of the horror genre. This is a well made movie, a bit long in my opinion, and I think if they excluded the Manananggal twist, it probably would’ve received better reception. That being said, still a good watch. I would, however, recommend Outside (2024).