Main cast: Ma Isabel Lopez (Aning), Patricia Javier (Alicia), Mara Lopez (Ayumi), Sue Prado (Belen), Gene Padilla (Estong), Gino Ilustre (Ricardo Gardhouf), Rexie Dalisay (Kiko), Franco Guerrero (Aswang), Jess Sanchez (Manong Hukluban), Richard Duran (Tatang Kanor), Sure Manuel (Lola), Jetty Kahur (Aswang), and Guy Lockwood (Mario)
Director: Neal Tan
Unveiling: The Horse Demon is a Filipino movie, although it’s in English instead of Tagalog, so the horse demon in question is clearly a tikbalang.
However, it is revealed early during the opening credits that the real horse demon is a guy with dadbod wearing a horse head, so there’s that.
The story is about this fellow, Mario, who travels from the UK to Penang to the Philippines to look for his father. What are the odds that his father is the guy wearing the horse head?
While this is marketed as a horror movie, what it is… well, I have no idea, honestly.
For almost an hour of its about 90-minute runtime, this thing is like a travel documentary as I follow Mario as he goes from one scenic location to another. While the scenery is pretty, I live in this part of the world, so I’m not exactly bowled over by how “exotic” the whole thing is. It’s like visiting the neighborhood. Charmed, I’m sure, but can we have something exciting to liven up things?
Eventually Mario settles down in his new neighborhood, and I guess it must be the local custom for him to walk around shirtless pretty much most of the time then. Now, I do enjoy this scenery, as Guy Lockwood has this wiry, rangy physique that looks really good when it’s not covered up.
However, again, I’m bored because pretty can only be interesting for so long when, remember, this is a movie and not an actual hot date with Mr Lockwood. Can someone please entertain me? This movie seems to be laboring under the delusion that it is a Shirtless National Geographic special.
Finally, there are guys in horribly fake and cheap-looking costumes awkwardly grappling one another in a momentarily entertaining scene straight out of those weird wrestling videos they have on the fetish aisle of the Internet, and then it’s over.
To cap things off, the acting is horribly wooden from the main cast members, especially Mr Lockwood, so it’s the actor’s shirtless tour of duty that is holding this thing together, and that’s only in the much later parts of the movie.
So yes, the scenery is nice, but this is not a horror movie or even an interesting movie. I don’t know what it is, except maybe a showcase of Mr Lockwood’s bare upper body. That’s a nice upper body, but I’m not sure if it’s a reason good enough to slog through this thing.
