Haunted Forest (2017 film)
Haunted Forest is a 2017 Filipino supernatural horror film directed by Ian Loreños, and starring Jane Oineza, Maris Racal, Jameson Blake and Jon Lucas.[1] It tells the story of a teenager who is forced to leave her life behind when her estranged policeman father is reassigned to the province.[2] The film deals with supernatural mythical creatures, among them is the "sitsit,"[3] a creature that preys on women at night and is believed to be the cause of sudden disappearances and deaths of women in the subject town.[4]
Haunted Forest | |
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Directed by | Ian Loreños |
Written by | Jeps Gallon |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Rommel Sales |
Edited by | Tara Illenberger |
Music by | Francis Concio |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Regal Entertainment |
Release date |
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Running time | 110 minutes |
Country | Philippines |
Language | Filipino |
Box office | ₱56 million |
Haunted Forest was released in Philippine cinemas as an official entry to the 43rd Metro Manila Film Festival, on December 25, 2017.[5]
Plot
The story revolves around Aris (Raymart Santiago) and his estranged daughter, Nica (Jane Oineza). When Aris was reassigned, he immediately starts on a case investigating a murder which is staged similarly to the death of a childhood friend that haunts him. While her father is away, Nica, her cousin and her local friends went for an outing where she started to get weird things happen to her. She tries to shake it off at first, but it gets worse day after day.
Cast
Main cast
- Jane Oineza[6] as Nica
- Jameson Blake[6] as RJ
- Maris Racal[6] as Mich
- Jon Lucas[6] as Andre
Supporting cast
- Raymart Santiago[3] as Aris
- Joey Marquez[6] as Nardo
- Jerald Napoles
- Myrtle Sarrosa as Lorena
- Miho Nishida
- Betong Sumaya
- Beverly Salviejo as Merly
- Fiona Yang
- Kelvin Miranda
Production
Haunted Forest was produced under Regal Films and is directed by Ian Loreños. Loreños described the direction of the film as a mixture of Regal Film's "usual style" on horror and his own take on the genre. He said that the production team decided to put more "organic horror" elements in the film aside from relying on scaring the audience by surprise while adding that the film had "story" and "lessons". He stated that his film as an all-in-one film being a horror, family story, and love story while making sure the film won't have the impression of being a "mishmash".[7]
Release
An official trailer for Haunted Forest was released by December 4, 2017. The film was premiered in cinemas on December 25, 2017, as one of the eight entries of the 2017 Metro Manila Film Festival.[3]
Reception
On January 4, 2018, Lily Monteverde of Regal Films was satisfied of the box office gross of the film despite describing the then undisclosed figure as "not overwhelming".[8] It was later reported that the film grossed about ₱56 million and was the fourth most sold team during the official run of the 2017 Metro Manila Film Festival.[9]
See also
References
- "Cast of Regal Films movie 'Haunted Forest' revealed". ABS-CBN News. July 27, 2017.
- "'Haunted Forest': A different type of horror film". Rappler. December 15, 2017.
- "Horror movie 'Haunted Forest' trailer released". ABS-CBN News. December 4, 2017. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
- "Raymart Santiago returns to big screen via horror movie 'Haunted Forest'". Inquirer.net. October 12, 2017.
- "The last four MMFF 2017 entries are Siargao, Haunted Forest, Deadma Walking, Ang Larawan". Pep.ph. November 17, 2017.
- "Cast of Regal Films movie 'Haunted Forest' revealed". ABS-CBN News. July 27, 2017. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
- Del Valle, Precious (December 15, 2017). "'Haunted Forest': A different type of horror film". Rappler. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
- Baby E (January 4, 2018). "Mother Lily kuntento na sa kinita ng Haunted Forest" [Mother Lily content with Haunted Forest's sales]. Pang-Masa (in Filipino). Philippine Star. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
- "'Gandarrapido: The Revenger Squad' tops MMFF 2017 box office". Rappler. January 18, 2018. Retrieved January 21, 2018.