Jon Red, who is arguably almost as prestigious a filmmaker as his Cannes Film Festival-winning older brother Raymond Red, occasionally makes movies for Vivamax. The younger Red has also won awards from international film festivals but nothing yet from Cannes. Vivamax began streaming his movie titled Stag, yesterday, 5 April.

Some may not be aware yet that years before Brilliante Mendoza won the Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) award in 2009 at the Cannes for his movie Kinatay, Raymond Red won it for his short film Anino, top-billed by Eddie Garcia. This was in 2000.

Stag is Jon Red's third movie with Vivamax since 2020, beginning with Adarna Gang in 2022, followed by Boso 2 the following year. In 2005, he directed Boso for Viva Digital, starrg Jeffrey Quizon. Boso 2 is not a sequel, though it's also about a voyeur.

With a cast of 25, Stag isn't a miniscule film. It top-bills Gold Aceron, Denise Esteban, Arah Alonzo and Aerol Carmelo, with support from Jaime Fabregas, Alan Paule and Yda Manzano. 

The story features two stag parties, one of which has Aceron's character getting lost in a mysterious house of bacchanalia and debauchery. Red is known for films diluted in myths, and the stag does appear in forest mythology. Aceron's character is also named Gold in the script written by Red himself, as the filmmaker does in most of his films. Aceron seems to have become Red's favorite actor in his sex-loaded films despite the young man's boyish asexual look. Aceron readily executes nude sex scenes.