Pwera Usog

Now, I rarely watch Filipino-made films (even though I’m a Filipino myself), and this one I gave it a chance on a whim, unfortunately it sucks and a waste of time. Directed by Jason Paul Laxamana, he directs music videos as well, usually his genre is under romance mixed with others, he does have other notable works like: Mercury is Mine (2016), Instalado (2017), and To Love Somebody (2018).

The plot of Pwera Usog is very simple and predictable. A group of aspiring young adult internet influencers goes to an abandoned building to park and rest from the long drive. They encounter a teen beggar asking for change, so they thought they could make a viral video wherein they’ll scare the kid to death only to give her ₱5,000 (roughly $86). So proceeded with their plan and when they got to the rooftop and was about to hand over the cash, the girl had a mental breakdown and continued to step backwards until she fell to her death. The spirit of the said girl came back to haunt them. Basically that’s it.

Poorly executed effects

I get that the effects will appear dated, as with most Filipino-made films, unfortunately here, it looks dated and was executed poorly. Its like a parody of a U.S. B-movie. Heck, I’d watch a B-movie more instead of this. The porridge-like vomit got an A for effort, the blood was annoying though.

Forced romantic scenes

The reason why I avoid watching Filipino made horror films, and even just Filipino-made films in general is they really really try to squeeze in one cheesy-romantic scene that it disrupts the flow of the current scene. Then they top it off with that “romantic” background music, it gets annoying and they never stopped doing it for years.

Most of the cast were annoying with mediocre acting. This is what we get when they hire young Filipino actors. Girls are always all dolled up, even for a horror scene.

What I didn’t like

There are moments that I hated that I felt the need to enumerate them:

• First half of the film, they speak in Tag-Lish (mixed English-Tagalog), and they sound like those entitled kids of rich parents. The 2nd half, they speak in mostly Tagalog. I don’t know if it was based on script or what, but it was an annoying shift. I’d prefer them just stay true to who they are. Filipinos speaking Tagalog.
• When they were getting ready for the supposed “final battle” with the witch, Catalina (played by Eula Valdez), the main girl, Jean (Sofia Andres), gets ready by tying her hair, while the others were gathering weapons such as branches with leaves, wooden staves, saliva in a bottle, and holy water and amulets.
• After they “got ready”, the four of them marched out of the hut. Imagine this: the camera was positioned around knee level facing upwards to their faces, their movement was slow-moed, with a superhero-like music playing in the background. It was very cringe, the only thing they were missing was an explosion behind them and it would’ve been perfect.
• When the mother, the head healer (played by Aiko Melendez), learned the skill to heal someone from afar. She appeared out of thin air with a bright light, it was awful. She slowly walked towards the dying victim, and we see a close-up shot of her licking her palm, and not just any lick, a full tongue from the wrist up to the end of the palm, I thought she was going to shout “WHOOO!” just like Ric Flair from Wrestling. Then she shouted “Pwera Usog!” Her palm shone, and the other cast members were 90 degrees facing the wrong way, they were facing forward, the light was under them.

Pwera Usog in Filipino culture

Now let’s discuss the good bit of Pwera Usog. The phrase “puwera usog,” “pwera usog,” or “pera usog” originates from the Spanish word fuera and the Filipino word usog. It translates literally to “go away, usog!” or “be gone, curse!” and is used to ward off a hex believed to be caused by someone greeting another person. Infants and young children are thought to be especially susceptible to usog.
I also loved the performance of the beggar, Luna (played by Devon Seron). She was able to properly portray a mentally challenged beggar, from her screaming out of fear to her chase scenes. She was the best out of the lot in my opinion.

Up to this day Pwera Usog is being practiced, when there’s a new baby in the family, relatives or family friends would swing by for a visit, then they’d lick their thumb and put a cross symbol on her forehead. So as to ward off any curse the baby has on them.

Conclusion

Pwera Usog made me not want to see another Filipino-made film for a while. A complete waste of time. It could’ve been better if they didn’t try too hard. Outside (2024) was a properly done psychological-horror film, watch this instead.