The best 'Shake' so far

Author: Mario E. Bautista
Column: Freehand

WE have a feeling "Shake, Rattle & Roll X" has a good chance of making it as this year's Metro filmfest topgrosser since four comedies will be competing with each other: "Iskul Bukol" with Tito, Vic and Joey' "Tanging Ina N'yong Lahat" with Ai Ai de las Alas, and the sexy comedies "Desperadas 2" and "One Night Only" that both have an all-star cast.

The advantage of the "Shake" movie is that it's the only horror film among the entries and it's a combination of both Kapuso and Kapamilya young stars. Add to that the fact that it's the best "Shake" edition yet . Before, there's usually only one good episode and the other two are "patapon" (just like last year when "Christmas Tree" about a flesh-eating tree was the only good episode). This time, all the three episodes are worth watching.

The first episode is "Emergency," about a male nurse (JC de Vera) who takes an injured pregnant woman (Mylene Dizon) to their hospital not knowing she belongs to a tribe of vampire-zombies. When the baby she's carrying dies, the woman's husband (Wendell Ramos) calls on all their allies to attack the hospital and kill all the people in it. This results in some good scares but the most frightening thing in it is that this hospital has only two doctors, a few nurses, and a hospital chief who's such an asshole.

JC and his doctor girlfriend, Roxanne Guinoo, both give fairly acceptable performances along with Mylene, but it's Wendell who's truly convincing here in his terrifying portrayal of the top vampire. And to think he's also similarly effective as the hilarious cross-dressing gay husband of Rufa Mae Quinto in "Desperadas 2. "

In the second episode, "Class Picture," Gerald Anderson and Kim Chiu lead a group of students doing a project overnight in their old school when they awaken the ghost of murderous nun Sister Begonia (Jean Garcia) who was punished in 1898 for her three missing students. The nun now tries to replace the missing girls in their class picture with three of the female students in the present generation. Her first two victims are Nina Jose and Eda Nolan.

The third victim is meant to be Kim Chiu but since she's the female lead who has Gerald as her protector, the nun faces a lot of resistance. This episode by Topel Lee is the best for us as it's a combination of a horror flick and a slasher movie, with the nun resorting to a sharp razor in getting rid of her victims. The cast is quite capable but no one really manages to stand out.

The last episode, "Nieves, the Encanto Slayer," is a horror comedy and it works mainly because of Marian's adept comic performance in the title role of a woman who happens to be the nemesis of bad spirits like kapres, duwendes, aswangs and nuno sa punso. She's head over heels in love with her inamorato called Adonis. For a while, you'd wonder who this guy could be. He must be so handsome that Marian professes undying for love for him. And he turns out to be comedian Mike "Pekto" Nacua.

When Adonis suddenly disappears, Nieves decides to retire from fighting encantos. But a spunky boy (Robert Villar, Marian's sidekick in "Dyesebel") manages to convince her to teach him how to fight encantos after his uncle (Mart Escudero) is put under a spell by a bad entity residing in a tree he cut down. Marian agrees to coach him and another apprentice, Jennica Garcia, but there's a big twist in Jennica's role that we feel has some good possibilities but was not exploited to the hilt.

Marian's chief opponent turns out to be Acacia (Diana Zubiri), the bad queen of encantos who's up against the group headed by Marco Alcaraz and Iwa Moto. The episode's climax is the fiery showdown between Marian and Diana. This is the episode that makes the most use of a lot of special effects. Some of the CGI works are good, especially the trick with the leaves, but most of it is quite mediocre. But Mike Tuviera's direction has definitely improved compared to his previous "Shake" episodes and his boring full length film, "Txt. " His storytelling is likewise much better now and even the pacing is less tedious.

EUGENE COULD HAVE DONE MORE WONDERS

WHILE watching "Desperadas 2" and "Shake X," we couldn't help but take note that the roles played by Ogie Alcasid and Marian Rivera, which comedianne Eugene Domingo and her manager both turned down, are really excellent acting vehicles. In all fairness to Ogie and Marian, they did quite well in their respective roles as Lugaluda and Nieves, but we have a feeling that an intelligent and perceptive funny girl like Eugene could have done more wonders with it. If ever she'd watch these films, we're sure Eugene would feel some regret that she wasn't able to do them. After all, they're both lead roles while in her remaining filmfest entry, "Tanging Ina N'yong Lahat", she plays mere support to Ai Ai de las Alas.

RHIAN 'COMMITTED' TO JC

'SHOWBIZ Central' was brimming with so many stories and interviews last Sunday. Raymond Gutierrez has a one-on-one interview with JC de Vera about his rumored relationship with his "La Lola" co-star, Rhian Ramos. Is it true he often brings dimsum as "pasalubong" for Rhian on the set of "La Lola"? "Hindi lang naman dimsum but different kinds of foods," says JC. "What's nice about her is that she appreciates anything that I bring her. " So are they really on? "Masaya akong kasama siya everyday at nandun 'yung commitment pero wala pa 'yung label na boyfriend-girlfriend. May hinihintay pa ako mula sa kanya. "

Instead of making a follow up question as to what's that missing element he's waiting for so they'll officially be on, Raymond asked JC another question. Did Rhian get jealous because of his kissing scene with Roxanne Guinoo in "Shake X"? "No, hindi siya nagseselos. Nandun pa nga siya sa 'Shake' premiere night at Megamall. "

And it's true as we both saw them coming out together. Rhian even approached us and made the usual beso-beso with us so we asked them: "Kayo na ba talaga?" And she said no.

DINGDONG ESCORTS MARIAN AT PREEM NIGHT

Marian Rivera was interviewed by Pia Guanio who inquired about her tiff with Karylle. "Ayoko nang pag-usapan 'yun," she says. "Nasabi ko na ang gusto kong sabihin, tama na 'yun. " Pia asked if she has forgiven Karylle? "Oo naman. "

Marian is happy that the cast on her foot has finally been removed. "Pero naka-flat shoes pa rin ako at bawal pang mag-heels. Saka na ako uli hahataw ng sayaw. Sa January pa ang start ng taping namin ng 'Babaeng Hinugot sa Aking Tadyang' and by then, siguro magaling na magaling na ako to do the action scenes na ipagagawa sa akin. "

So on which float will she ride in the Parade of Stars tomorrow? "One half sa 'Desperadas 2' at pabalik, I will transfer to 'Shake Rattle & Roll X' para makasakay ako in both floats ng dalawa kong entries sa filmfest. "

At the premiere night of "Shake," Dingdong Dantes was there as Marian's escort and they were even seated together. Of course, you can't prevent tongues from wagging to conclude that they're really on since they now appear together in public, with Dingdong showing support for Marian's movie.

EVERYTHING'S OK BETWEEN KATRINA, DRA. BELO

Katrina Halili, Diana Zubiri and Jennylyn Mercado, stars of "One Night Only," were interviewed together by Raymond G on 'Showbiz Central. ' As expected, Katrina was grilled about her alleged involvement in the breakup of Dr. Vicki Belo and Hayden Kho. "All I can say is okay kami ni Dra. Belo," says Katrina. "Nagte-text kami at kate-text nga lang niya sa akin, kaya ayoko nang pag-usapan 'yan. " How about her beau, Kris Lawrence? Did he really get jealous because of her alleged fling with Hayden? "Okay kami ni Kris. Pupunta ako sa kanila sa U. S. after Christmas. "

Jennylyn was asked about her relationship with ex-BF Mark Herras.

"Okay kami ni Mark and I feel so blessed to have a friend like him. We'll be taping "Paano Ba ang Mangarap" sa GMA-7 soon. We remained friends naman kahit nag-break kami so I'm comfortable with him at okay lang with me for us to work together again. "

CHRISTMAS BREAKUPS

THERE were a lot of other interviews. DJ Mo asked Iza Calzado of "Desperadas 2" about her breakup with non-showbiz boyfriend Jerry Garcia. "Okay naman kami and we parted as friends. I'm not closing the doors naman on him. "

Isabel Oli admitted she has broken up with Paolo Contis and says she can be happy even if she's single again this Christmas.

KC Concepcion and Richard Gutierrez were interviewed on the occasion of their new movie, "Save the Best for Last. " They say that even if they both got busy with other projects after their first movie together, "For the First Time", they have managed to remain in touch through texting. "We're both excited to work with each other again," they say.

Their movie will now be directed by Joel Lamangan, who told us he called up his friend Joey Reyes first to make sure that Joey has already resigned from the project before he decided to accept it. "Sinigurado ko munang hindi sasama ang loob niya sa akin tanggapin ko man ang pelikula that was first offered to him," Joel says. "Now, we have to work overtime as we have a February 11 deadline to meet and we're shooting pa on location in Palawan starting January 6. "

SERIOUS QUESTIONS, FUNNY ANSWERS

Vic Sotto and Joey de Leon took the lie detector test of the "Don't Lie to Me - Face Off" edition, with Tito Sotto helping Pia in interrogating them. In the first two questions, Vic answered yes to both questions while Joey answered no. Both of them turned out to be lying, even if they have differing replies. The questions are: Na-in love ba noon si Joey kay Miss Tapia (Mely Tagasa)? and Totoo bang mas maraming naging girlfriends si Joey kaysa kay Vic?

John Lapus was absent so the guys who did the dancing each time they answered a lie were their own sons: Oyo Sotto, Gian Sotto and Keempee de Leon. One of the funny questions was: Totoo bang naging girlfriend ni Joey si Lolit Solis? Both of them vehemently denied it, like it's unimaginable for Joey to fall for Lolit. "Para namang diring-diri sila kay Manay Lolit at walang karapatang ma-link ito kay Joey at all," says one writer.

Joey added that Lolit tried to sexually harass him when they were young. We know this is meant to be a joke but some young people who were watching it with us thought Joey was serious and said: "Maniac naman pala 'yung si Lolit. "

Source: People's Journal