A disappointing gothic horror from the Philippines

The movie reminds me of some of the old Hammer films, cheaply produced but entertaining. This production is not as entertaining but retains that same essence of gothic horror. That said it does come with some hefty warnings: Sexual violence towards women (mostly offscreen but acknowledged in the story), era-typical blackface characters (servants), and general violence towards women (mother vampire is whipped and imprisoned). If those things bother you I would avoid this film.

Story (3.5/10): The story doesn't waste time with character development and instead starts on the mystery of the woman in the basement. The use of lighting as a story device is rather clever during the mother vampire's scenes but the use of red/blue lighting can be somewhat jarring to the viewer. There is a heavy emphasis on catholic imagery throughout the story that can feel a little heavy-handed at times. The story is mostly driven by bad decisions made by various characters so I would say the story can get a bit frustrating to watch and is very easy to predict.

Acting/Cast (4.5/10): There is an actor who plays a servant (during the scene where the father reveals the mother) that looks to have blackened his face for some reason. He sounds like an "Igor" character but I'm confused as to why the film found that necessary (budget constraints/cultural/era-typical racism?). It was repeated with several female servants as well. I'm new to Filipino-produced films and so I can't make any solid judgments or conclusions as to why they used blackface. So warning for potential racist blackface/racist undertones?
Many of the character's actions make them hard to like or emphasize with their struggle. In fact, the whole family dynamic is unhealthy and problematic. It made it hard to stay engaged with the movie. Their actions are sometimes for a lack of a better word, really dumb and it makes the fine irritating to watch at times.
Amalia Fuentes (Leonore) is perhaps the most interesting character to watch. I think this is mostly due to the actress being a decent acting talent. She has an emotional quality to her that makes her performances more intriguing to watch compared to several of the other main actors.
Romeo Vasquez (Daniel) is rather wooden for an actor trying to play a naive young hero type. I found his performance rather flat especially when paired with Amalia Fuentes. Eddie Garcia (Eduardo) did a decent job as a villain and his acting was more nuanced than Romeo Vasquez's but he isn't in any way likable and due to one of my prior warnings (sexual violence towards women) in the scenes with Rosario del Pilar (Christina) I was hoping he would be killed sooner than later.

Music (4/10): The music isn't awful but it is a rather large step down from the gothic horror soundtracks used by the popular horror film companies in the US during this era. This isn't surprising but I had hoped the music would help the film's pacing and tension. The dubbing is not great either. It was not synced very well to the film and some of the character's lines were hard to understand.

Rewatch Value (1/10): I had a hard enough time watching the entire film and found myself having to avoid hitting the fast-forward button several times. I doubt I will ever give this a second watch.

Overall (3.5/10): The only real part of the film that I found interesting was how the genre of gothic horror was treated in the Philippines during the 60s/70s horror movie era. It was not a very entertaining watch but it's definitely not unwatchable either. If you are determined to watch it I suggest having a remote handy or doing an additional activity like ironing or laundry.

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A fun show to watch while stuck in bed

Koi to Dangan or as I will refer to it in my review Yakuza Lover was one of those shows where I turned the lights out, got some popcorn, and dived in. Watching the ML and FL hop through the story made me cackle, groan, and giggle like a 14-year-old again. What this drama does well is that it retains the spirit of the manga and doesn't attempt to be more than it is: a josei manga adaptation.
Story-5.0:
The story is from the manga My Yakuza Lover and I recommend giving it a go if you like romance and cute characters. I felt that the overall message from the Manga about how Life is short and it's better to love than not love at all was well retained in the drama. The romance was surprisingly good and the love scenes were very artistic which I came to enjoy. The story is capable of some good comedy moments making some of the more unrealistic parts more watchable and also grounds itself in reality when a more serious bit starts which was refreshing. The story is only 9 manga volumes/9 thirty minute episodes so don't expect a slow burn or tons of backstory. The drama is very fast-paced and to the point without any filler.
I took points off my score mainly due to three issues. The first problem I had with the drama was how it reordered arcs from the manga and left out several vital pieces of context that give you a better understanding of why the ML/FL are happy, upset, angry, etc. It also makes certain scenes feel like they come out of nowhere when in the manga you can understand that character's motives clearly, like the scenes with Jin in them.
The second problem was that the pacing is a little rushed and I felt the story would have been better served if they had given all 9 episodes an hour each that way an hour is given to each manga volume. The depth of the plot and characters might have been a little more developed then.
The third and perhaps biggest issue with the whole drama was the lighting. I don't know why but nearly half the scenes have a bright light obscuring the cast's faces during scenes or a light glare on them. It got fairly irritating by episode 4 and I was really to chuck my phone by episode 7. These issues made me wonder if some corners were cut with the budget in the lighting department.

Acting/Cast-7.0:
The overall cast was a little hit-and-miss for me. Some characters were very reliable and similar to the manga and others were pretty underwhelming. For the most part, they didn't take me out of the story so the cast gets points for that. Also, none of the cast were so cringey or unbelievable that it makes the drama unwatchable so points for that too.
Furukawa Yuuta /Oya-san was the most enjoyable character to watch throughout the entire drama. He had a good sellable charisma on the screen that kept me invested and his tattoos were well replicated from the manga. He has a good emotional range and portrayed Oya's soft side with Yuri very well. He plays Oya pretty much in line with the manga character which was great because deviating from that would have made a lot of scenes nearly unwatchable.
Hashimoto Manami/Mama was also very well portrayed. Her role as the mature and understanding female support lead was very well done and I enjoyed all the scenes with her present. Arai Myra/Mai and Nakao Yuuka/Erina both did a good job as Yuri's best friends. They are present and remind you that Yuri does have a life separate from Oya and both actresses avoided being the in-your-face, BFFs forever type of character which was great. I also enjoyed watching the goons Nanase Kou/Shogo and Yamanaka Jyutaro/Ginji for the same reasons.
Baba Fumika/Yuri was a little disappointing. I liked her for the most part but she lacked the bubbly personality of Yuri. She was a little wooden in some of her scenes where instead of smiling and being sad she just looked surprised or scared. Her scenes with Oya were alright but sometimes I felt like he was doing the bulk of the acting. Also, a pet peeve of mine was her wardrobe. In the manga, Yuri wears a lot of cute but classy clothing in soft colors and while the drama wardrobe was nice I didn't think it fit her character well.
Kimura Keito/Jin did alright but he lacked the emotional depth the manga character had. This is mainly due to a lack of plot complexity. The same problem occurs to a bigger degree with Nakamura Shizuka/Chouko who was a bigger antagonist in the manga. Kuroba Mario/Cemilio was portrayed well and emulated how weird his character was in the manga pretty darn well.

Music-9.0:
No complaints with the music except for the occasional volume issue during a scene. The music score complimented the drama very nicely.

Rewatch Value-7.0:
I will probably rewatch this while I'm sewing, knitting, or doing chores. It would also be a good girl's night watch or something entertaining to watch on a sick day.

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