Horror-comedy films have always been the most profitable in the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF). This year, the most successful franchise of them all returns to terrorize a new generation of moviegoers with a brand-new installment: "Shake Rattle & Roll 2K5," produced by Lily Monteverde’s Good Harvest Films, sweeps into theaters starting Christmas Day.
As the first "Shake Rattle & Roll" movie to be produced in the 21st Century, the horror-trilogy will be the series’ first to employ the show-stopping, computer-generated visual effects which have transformed this generation’s movies. The last SRR movie, part 6, was shown in cinemas in 1997. SRR 2K5’s special visual effects will be created and executed by effects house Ignite.
As befitting a project dependent on gross makeup effects and slimy prosthetics, SRR 2K5 will be helmed by three directors with very keen visual senses: Box-office hitmaker Uro Q. Dela Cruz (his horror-comedy "Bahay Ni Lola" was the MMFF top-grosser of 2001); cult horror director Rico Maria Ilarde ("Babaeng Putik" and "Dugo Ng Birhen"); and production designer turned debuting director Richard Somes ("Pa-Siyam").
At the center of each segment in "SRR 2K5" is a foul creature on a blood-thirsty rampage:
"Poso" is about a fake occultist (Ai Ai de las Alas) who retires from the business of communicating with the dead when her last job goes terribly wrong. But when a wealthy client (Miss Gloria Romero) promises Ai Ai a huge fee to contact Gloria’s dead grandson (Marco Alcaraz), the comedy queen can’t refuse. Together with her assistants-in-crime (Rainier Castillo, Janine Desiderio, and Biboy Ramirez), they take on this last job, only to realize that they may not live to see another day. Yasmien Kurdi also stars as Gloria Romero’s nurse-slave.
"Aquarium" is the second of the three stories. A family which has just moved into a new condo unit is terrorized by a creature lurking in an aquarium left behind by the previous tenants. "Bubble Gang’s" Ogie Alcasid domicile of doom by the creature. Child actor Paul Salas plays their son, who unleashes the evil in the fish tank. Sexy comedienne Wilma Doesnt plays the perky domestic helper, while Reggie Curley is the handsome plumber who becomes one of the aquarium’s first victims.
The final segment, "Lihim Ng San Joaquin," is SRR 2K5’s showstopper. The residents of a sleepy rural town are alarmed when an attractive women (Elizabeth Oropesa) turns up one day, attracting all the town’s hot-blooded males. When the men are brutally murdered one by one, the townspeople begin to suspect their new neighbor of being the granddaughter of a famous mananangal from the 1940s. "Lihim..." stars comebacking stars Mark Anthony Fernandez and Tanya Garcia as a newlywed couple whose bliss is quickly transformed into blood-curdling horror.
Producer Lily Monteverde knows that there’s a lot of anticipation for Good Harvest’s newest fright flick. "People have been asking me for years when I was going to make another Shake Rattle & Roll movie," says the tireless producer. "We finally got around to it this year because we got three really scary stories for the project. I promise everyone that ‘Shake Rattle & Roll 2K5’ will be worth the 9-year wait!"
"Shake Rattle and Roll 2K5" is now nearing the end of principal photography. A Good Harvest production, SRR 2K5 is an official entry to the Metro Manila Film Festival, and will screen in selected theaters nationwide starting Dec. 25. It’s a creepy, delightful blend of fun and fright for the whole family!
