MMFF 2016: Seklusyon - Review

After ‘On The Job’ and ‘Honor Thy Father’, director Erik Matti returns to explore the nature of corruption in his latest film ‘Seklusyon’.

It follows four deacons (Ronnie Alonte, Dominic Roque, John Vic De Guzman, J. R. Versales) who are placed in a secluded house for a period of time to guard them from demons during their final days towards priesthood. When a mysterious girl (Rhed Bustamante) capable of doing miraculous acts enters the same facility they are staying, their faiths will be tested.

It’s easy to see ‘Seklusyon’ as a straight-out horror film. But the film interestingly comes off as a borderline between a psychological thriller and a supernatural thriller. It presented a series of terrors and thrills that can be partially explained as a result of an internal struggle of a character rather than a consequence of a physical presence on-screen. That being said, this conflict enables the film to become more mysterious than it already is.

‘Seklusyon’ works best when it is embracing its ambiguity, though it somehow unfortunately commits to that all throughout. There is pretty strong material here, in fact, a socially relevant one, but there are moments here that don’t fully work. A subplot involving Neil Ryan Sese’s character investigating the mysteries surrounding the young girl felt like an unnecessary addition to the whole thing, and wasn’t justified to become a wholly effective arc.

If you are looking for actual horror in this movie, you might be disappointed on ‘Seklusyon’. But there’s one to look out for, and that is the young child actress Rhed Bustamante. Bustamante delivered a natural and uneasy performance that makes up for the film’s lacking punch of thrills, easily stealing the spotlight from her more experienced co-stars such as Ronnie Alonte, Dominic Roque, Lou Veloso and Phoebe Walker.

The geek rates it 6/10!

'Seklusyon' opens this Christmas day, December 25, as part of the Metro Manila Film Festival 2016.