That the Best Editing award at the Metro Manila Film Festival went to Benjamin Tolentino's work for (K)ampon instead of his two other nominated films, Becky & Badette and GomBurZa, says a lot about this horror flick produced by Quantum Films.

Tolentino's cuts are not only short and sharp that make the pacing fast and crisp, but they also create an emotional meaning to help the viewer get into the story.

Clark Martinez (played by Derek Ramsay) is an ex-cop who has turned the house he shares with his wife Eileen (Beauty Gonzalez) into a fortress with CCTV cameras that he constantly monitors. It's eerily puzzling then that one rainy night, a child suddenly turns up at their door. The young girl hands out a piece of paper to the couple that says her name is Jade Bitangcol (Erin Espiritu). Little Jade also calls Clark by his former police rank "Colonel," and insinuates that she has a connection to his past.

The distrustful, even paranoid, Clark is expectedly suspicious and wants to turn Jade away, but Eileen, who's been longing, also pressured, to be a mother, insists on keeping the girl at least for the night — or until they resolve the issue. Through the help of Clark's friend in the police force (Nor Domingo), a DNA test is conducted to prove the paternity of the child.

Simultaneously, horrific incidents start occurring in Clark and Eileen's house that involve Jade. She turns out to have close ties with the dying woman Loretta (Zeinab Harake), who, in the opening sequence, is brought by her brother Ranulfo (Nico Antonio) to a faith healer, Na Almera (Lui Manansala), and subsequently gets possessed by a powerful evil spirit.

Quiet dream

Director King Palisoc crafted from Dodo Dayao's script a horror movie that's more edge-of-your-seat rather than a screamfest — but it may linger longer in the mind. The mood and tempo, as observed by filmmaker and MMFF juror Jose Javier Reyes in his blog Chocking on My Adobo, "approximated Ari Aster's 2018 film Hereditary where the dread comes quietly and slowly until you finally get the wallop in the end."

Beyond the bloodied faces, distorted figures, sinister looks and gory acts, the movie also offers far more frightening scenarios. There's the societal pressure for Eileen to conceive, though the various doctors they've consulted point to Clark as the one having reproductive problems. Clark's apparent machismo and implied misconduct while still in uniform can be talking points, too. The same goes for Loretta's affiliation with a cult-like religious group that may or may not be the result of her resurrection-like healing from Na Almera.

Those issues, unfortunately, are not fully explored as the narrative progresses without much clarity and coherence. The viewer is then left asking for more as the closing credits roll.

But if you're looking for some low-key scares but maximal film experience, (K)ampon is the MMFF movie for you.

The 2023 Metro Manila Film Festival runs until 7 January 2024.